Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing an accelerated pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived in India by 2014. The eligible minorities were stated as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians.^[3][4] The law does not grant such eligibility to Muslims from these countries.^[5][6][7] Additionally, the act excludes 58,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who have lived in India since the 1980s. The act was the first time that religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law, and it attracted global criticism.^[7][a][b][c]

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the Indian government,^[8] had promised in previous election manifestos to offer Indian citizenship to members of persecuted religious minorities who had migrated from neighbouring countries.^[9][10] Under the 2019 amendment, migrants who had entered India by 31 December 2014, and had suffered "religious persecution or fear of religious persecution" in their country of origin, were made eligible for accelerated citizenship.^[4] The amendment relaxed the residence requirement for naturalisation of these migrants from twelve years to six.^[11] According to Intelligence Bureau records, there will be just over 30,000 immediate beneficiaries of the act.^[12][d]

The amendment has been criticised as discriminating on the basis of religion, particularly for excluding Muslims.^[5][6] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called it "fundamentally discriminatory", adding that while India's "goal of protecting persecuted groups is welcome", this should be accomplished through a non-discriminatory "robust national asylum system".^[16] Critics express concerns that the bill would be used, along with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), to render many Muslim citizens stateless, as they may be unable to meet stringent birth or identity proof requirements.^[17][18] Commentators also question the exclusion of persecuted religious minorities from other regions such as Tibet, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.^[17][19] The Indian government said that since Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have Islam as their state religion, it is therefore "unlikely" that Muslims would "face religious persecution" there.^[10][20] However, certain Muslim groups, such as Hazaras (mostly Shias) and Ahmadis, have historically faced persecution in these countries.^[21][22][23]

The passage of the legislation caused large-scale protests in India.^[24] Assam and other northeastern states witnessed violent demonstrations against the bill over fears that granting Indian citizenship to refugees and immigrants will cause a loss of their "political rights, culture and land rights" and motivate further migration from Bangladesh.^[25][26][27] In other parts of India, protesters said that the bill discriminated against Muslims, and demanded that Indian citizenship be granted to Muslim refugees and immigrants as well.^[28] Major protests against the Act were held at some universities in India. Students at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia alleged brutal suppression by the police.^[29] The protests have led to the deaths of several protesters, injuries to both protesters and police officers, damage to public and private property, the detention of hundreds of people, and suspensions of local internet mobile phone connectivity in certain areas.^[30][31] Some states announced that they would not implement the Act. In response, the Union Home Ministry said that states lack the legal power to stop the implementation of the CAA.^[32]

On 11 March 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs officially announced the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act, following Home Minister Amit Shah's announcement to notify them before the 2024 national elections.^[33] Subsequently, on May 15, 2024, the first set of 14 migrants received "Indian citizenship" certificates under the CAA in Delhi, initiating the process of granting nationality to migrant applicants, nearly two months after the notification of CAA rules.^[34][35] On the same day, over 350 migrants received Indian nationality digitally, under CAA, in other parts of the country.^[36] After getting Indian citizenship, many Hindu refugees from Pakistan expressed hope for a better future in India.^[37][38]

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