India’s recent move to pass a contentious law granting citizenship to illegal immigrants from six persecuted religious minorities—but excluding Muslims—has alarmed some Buddhists in the state of Bihar, especially in the Buddhist enclave of Bodh Gaya, who fear the implications the bill may have for them, with the proposed rollout of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) apparently imminent.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), passed by India’s government on 11 December and approved by President Ram Nath Kovind on 12 December, aims to fast-track citizenship for Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Parsi, and Sikh migrants from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, amending a 64-year-old citizenship law that prohibits illegal migrants from becoming Indian citizens. The Indian government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), maintains that the new law will provide people fleeing religious persecution with sanctuary, but critics say the bill is part of a BJP agenda to marginalize Muslims in India.

The CAB enactment also raises the specter of a nationwide NRC, which requires residents to show proof of family residency going back decades. Originally drawn up to identify and control illegal immigrants in the northeastern state of Assam, which borders Bhutan to the north and Bangladesh to the south, senior leaders in India are now seeking to apply the register at the national level. If implemented, those who are excluded from the NRC would be divided into two categories: Muslim migrants, who would be deemed illegal, and all other migrants, who would have been deemed illegal but for the CAB—but only if they can show their country of origin as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan.

There is considerable uncertainty over the status of many Tibetans in Bhihar, said Tenzin Lama, a senior Buddhist monk from Tibet now based in Bodh Gaya. “There is an uncertainty over our status. If the situation allows, we may consider going back to Tibet,” he said. (Hindustan Times)

According to census data for 2011, Bihar is home to 25,453 Buddhists, representing 0.02 per cent of the state’s total population, but there are also thousands of Buddhists from other countries who have lived for several generations in the area where the historical Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment.