WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government and the United Nations expressed concerns about a controversial religious-based citizenship law in India, with the UN labeling it as “fundamentally discriminatory in nature.”
Rights advocates have slammed the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that the Indian government sought to enforce on Monday. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International argue that it is biased against Muslims.
In the lead-up to Indian elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration has been pushing for the law, which facilitates Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-majority South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Activists point out that the law excludes Muslim minority groups such as Shia Muslims from those nations, as well as neighboring countries where Muslims are in the minority, like the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
“As we expressed in 2019, we are worried that India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) is fundamentally discriminatory and violates India’s international human rights commitments,” a spokesperson from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights informed Reuters.
The US also voiced doubts. “We are concerned about the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act on March 11. We are closely monitoring its implementation process,” a spokesperson from the US State Department informed Reuters.
“Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment for all communities under the law are core democratic principles,” the State Department representative emphasized in an email.
Some activists fear that in conjunction with a proposed national register of citizens, the law could lead to discrimination against India’s 200 million Muslims – the third-largest Muslim population in the world. There are concerns that the government might strip the citizenship of Muslims without proper documentation in border regions.
After its passage in 2019, Modi’s administration did not put the law into effect due to protests and sectarian violence erupting in New Delhi and elsewhere. Numerous casualties and injuries were reported during the clashes.
The Indian government denies accusations that the law targets Muslims and asserts that it aims to assist minorities facing persecution in neighboring Muslim-majority countries. It has dismissed the earlier protests as politically motivated.
The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comments on the reactions from the State Department and the UN human rights office.
Rights groups allege mistreatment of Muslims under Modi’s leadership, which commenced in 2014. In addition to this law, they highlight the revocation of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status in 2019, the destruction of Muslim properties under the guise of eliminating unauthorized construction, and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP ruled that state.
Modi’s administration refutes claims of minority mistreatment and asserts that its policies are designed to benefit all Indian citizens.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and David Gregorio)
