India moved on Monday to implement a 2019 citizenship law that has been criticized by human rights activists as discriminating against Muslims, weeks before general elections take place in April and May.
The Interior Ministry said eligible people could apply from Monday for Indian citizenship through an online portal.
Passed by parliamentarians in December 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) makes it easier for religious minorities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan to get citizenship in India. It grants Indian nationality to refugees who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist, but not Muslim.
The new law is considered an amendment act of the 1955 Citizenship Act, which prohibits illegal migrants from acquiring Indian citizenship.
Opponents of the law and rights groups say the new law is exclusionary and violates the secular principles enshrined in the constitution.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Act is fundamentally discriminatory in nature and in breach of India's international human rights obligations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not implement the law following its December 2019 enactment as protests and sectarian violence broke out in New Delhi and elsewhere. More than 100 were killed and hundreds injured during days of clashes.
Human rights activists say the new law is part of the Hindu nationalists to marginalize India's Muslim minority.
Also, residents in the northeast of India, a region with frequent inter-communal clashes and sensitive immigration issues, fear that the new Act will facilitate the arrival of Hindu migrants from the Bangladesh border.
Rights groups also fear that the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, might remove the citizenship of Muslims without documents in some border states.
The National Register of Citizens would require people to prove their citizenship by showing family documents going back decades. Critics say the new citizenship law will help protect non-Muslims who are excluded from the register, while Muslims could face the threat of deportation or internment.
In a speech delivered in December 2019, Modi said Muslims “don't need to worry at all” provided they are genuine Indians. He also said that there had been “no discussion” about a nationwide register of citizens, which many Muslims in India fear is targeted mainly at them.
The new law does not provide a route to citizenship for people who've fled persecution in non-Muslim majority nations, such as Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka or Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, of whom there are many thousands in India.
The ruling party promised in their 2019 national election manifesto to pass the CAA.
The main opposition Congress party said Monday's announcement was motivated by the approaching election.
“After seeking nine extensions for the notification of the rules, the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarize the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam,” Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said on X.
Authorities said protests broke out in the eastern state of Assam and the southern state of Tamil Nadu late Monday after the law was announced. There were no reports of damage or any clashes with security forces.
