India starts applying controversial ‘anti-Muslim’ laws

India is the second most populated country, with 1.44 billion people calling it home. The South Asian nation also has 10% of followers of Islam in the world, with 204 million Muslims. However, despite being its largest minority, conflict have been brewing between Hindus and Muslims for a long time.

Al-Jazeera reports that the Indian government has started to implement the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed by the government of Narendra Modi in 2019.

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The CAA declares that Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians fleeing from Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan before 2015 were eligible for Indian citizenship.

The BBC highlights that the CAA is meant to amend India’s citizenship laws, which currently bar any illegal immigrants from becoming Indian citizens.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, Al-Jazeera writes, has been described as “anti-Muslim” by several human rights groups, raising concern over the secular character of one of the biggest democracies in the world.

According to the BBC, the Constitution of India prohibits religious discrimination against the citizens of the South Asian nation, guaranteeing equality before the law.

The Citizenship Amendment Act would therefore be granting benefits to some religious group while excluding the biggest minority in India.

Reuters explains that India didn’t implement the CAA back in 2019 due to massive protests and social unrest, with dozens killed and many more wounded between clashes among different religious and ethnic groups.

Another reason it was not implemented is due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, which heavily affected the South Asian nation.

Muslim groups fears that the CAA, along with a proposed national citizen registry, could be used against India’s over 200 million Muslims, particularly undocumented immigrants in India’s border states.

Tension between Hindus and Muslims in India are brewing as the country prepares for a general election in 2024 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking for an unheard third term leading one of the most populated nations in the world.

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According to The New York Times, the CAA would hardly change the electoral landscape of India but shows very clearly Modi’s vision of a Hindu-first country.