On Tuesday, the lower house of the Indian legislature passed the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which will effectively marginalise 200 million Muslims who form a minority in the country.
The amended bill will grant citizenship to religious minorities from neighbouring countries but not Muslims. The bill states that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians fleeing ‘persecution’ in Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan may be granted Indian citizenship; similar provisions have not been made for Muslim refugees.
The bill was voted in amidst protests in the northeast of the country but still has to be voted on by the upper house of the Indian legislature before it can be implemented as law. In the lower house, the bill sailed through with 311 votes in favour and only 80 against.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a statement saying that the US is ‘deeply troubled’ by the legislation. According the the USCIRF, the US will consider placing sanctions against senior members of the Indian political leadership if the bill is enacted as law. It noted that the bill specifically excluded Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion. “The Citizenship (Amendment) Billis a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism,” the statement said, “USCIRF fears that the Indian government is creating a religious test for Indian citizenship that will strip citizenship from millions of Muslims.” The US House Foreign Affairs Committee also condemned the passage of the discriminatory bill in the Indian lower house, stating a so-called ‘religious test’ for citizenship undermines the democratic values shared by the US and India.