NEW DELHI
India’s cabinet signed off Wednesday on legislation that stands to give citizenship to certain religious minorities but not Muslims, in what critics say is a fresh attempt to sideline the 200-million-strong community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), re-elected in a landslide in May, has long been accused of following a “Hindutva” agenda favouring officially secular India’s majority Hindus.
The amendments to the six-decade-old Indian Citizenship Act, approved by Modi’s cabinet on Wednesday, could go before the lower house of parliament as soon as this week.
The bill would grant nationality to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, and Parsis fleeing persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh and Afghanistan even without any documentation.
Modi’s party has said Muslims were not included because they are able to take refuge in Islamic nations across the globe. Senior minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters on Wednesday that the legislation would follow the principles of “natural justice” and is “not against anyone”.—AFP
