In the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India, protestors have gathered across India claiming that this new act is yet another act that discriminates Muslims both within and outside of India. This statement comes from people who are worried that, by not including Islam in the protected religions under the bill, Muslims will be forced to leave India or will be prohibited from entering without proper documentation. Is the CAA yet another response by Modi to promote an “all-Hindu” country, or is there a reason behind this bill that has drawn worldwide attention?

Why are Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, etc are protected under this bill? In neighbouring countries, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh there is and has been persecution based on religious grounds by Islamists in the area. For example, thousands of Christian, Hindu girls forced to convert to Islam every year in Pakistan. Independent Human Rights organizations say that religious minorities face increasing legal and cultural discrimination in Pakistan. Forced conversions and murders of Christians, Hindus and other minority groups are on the rise. About 5,000 Pakistani Hindus migrating to India every year to save themselves from the hostile persecutions. The section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code states that "defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."

Due to continuous religious persecutions, non-Muslim minority populations are drastically decreasing in Pakistan. The answer to where the Hindus have gone lies in the killings, conversions, and forced migrations of millions over the past decades. In such cases, the CAA aims to protect religious persecution by granting rights to the religious minorities in this area so they can have citizenship in India should they desire to come. The CAA does not question the Indian secular constitution since it is protecting the rights of religious minorities who have been persecuted on religious grounds.

Interestingly, the CAA is not a bill that is new to the world. For example, the United States introduced the Lautenberg Amendment in 1990 through the Foreign Operations section in order to provide sanctuary to refugees persecuted on religious terms, similar to how the CAA protects religious minorities in other countries. Through the HIAS, a Jewish American organization that provides humanitarian aid and refugee relief, the Lautenberg Amendment served to protect Jews, Christians, and Baha’is from Iran, and each year, they are accepting more refugees from various religions to protect from religious persecution. After a physical residence in the United States for at least one year, refugees may apply for a Green Card without VISA availability. Similar to the CAA, the Lautenberg Amendment does not include Muslims within its list of protected religions, which highlights the double standard between calling Modi’s government a Hindu extremist party while not calling America a “Christian Theocracy.”

As per HIAS:

Lautenberg Amendment, first enacted in 1990 as part of *the U.S. foreign operations budget to facilitate resettlement of Jews from the former Soviet Union*, allowed HIAS to bring tens of thousands to safety. As the worldwide refugee situation changed, the Lautenberg Amendment was expanded to *include persecuted religious minorities in other countries, such as Jews, Christians, and Baha’is from Iran.*

LA Times reports:

Enacted in 1989 to facilitate resettlement of Jews from what was then the Soviet Union, the program later was expanded to include non-Muslims from Iran. Run in partnership with the Austrian government, it requires refugees to have a U.S. sponsor who will cover the costs associated with their travel as well as the typical three- to six-month stay in Vienna.

The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has resettled more than 36,000 Iranian religious minorities under Lautenberg since 2001, the government said. Many of the refugees are Armenian Christians; others resettled under the program include Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahais and Mandaeans

CAA is to grant citizenship to religious persecuted minorities from the three Islamic Nations, it doesn’t have any provision to take away anybody’s Indian citizenship.

Muslims who are from these countries or any other nations can still apply for Indian citizenship, CAA doesn’t change that.

Sources

Image Credits: United_States_Capitol_-_west_front.jpg: Architect of the Capitolderivative work: O.J. [Public domain]