By Shayan Shakir
New legislation approved by Indian lawmakers which grants citizenship to all refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan but only if they are not Muslim, has ignited large-scale protests.
The amendment bill aims to grant Indian citizenship to individuals that are Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis who fled their countries before 2015, however it discriminates against Muslims.
Opposition lawmakers present in parliament believe that the bill will be taken to and challenged in court. Sonia Gandhi, from the opposition Congress Party said:“Today marks a dark day in the constitutional history of India”.
In response to the new law there have been wide-spread protests which have left six people dead. The demonstrations started in the north-eastern state of Assam on Thursday, before spreading to other parts of northern and eastern India. Unrest has been seen in the capital Delhi as well as in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
The bill was introduced by the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. According to Modi, it was a “landmark day for India” and the introduction of a law of this kind would “alleviate the suffering of many who faced persecution for years”.
Home minister, Amit Shah, claimed that the bill was not anti-Muslim as it did not affect the regular procedure communities have to go through to receive citizenship.
Protests against India’s new “Anti-Muslim” citizenship law
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, a bill that seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities persecuted in neighbouring Muslim countries, in New Delhi, India on 10 December 2019. (Photo by Indraneel Chowdhury/NurPhoto via Getty Images)