Contentious citizenship bill passed in parliament

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed legislation that will grant citizenship to members of certain religious minorities but not Muslims, sparking protests in the country’s northeast. The bill covers select groups — including Hindus, Christians and Sikhs — who moved from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and who have lived in India for at least six years. Critics have called the proposal, contained in a Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, blatantly anti-Muslim and an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to boost its Hindu voter base ahead of a general election due by May. But the interior minister said India wants to give citizenship to immigrants belonging to religious minorities persecuted in neighbouring countries because they have nowhere go. “They have no place to go except India,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament. “The beneficiaries of the bill can reside in any state of the country.” But there is significant opposition to the proposal, in particular from the northeastern state of Assam, where residents have for years complained that immigrants from Bangladesh have put a big strain on resources. But Singh tried to reassure Assam it would not have to bear any burden alone. “The burden of those persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country. Assam alone should not have to bear the entire burden,” he said. The legislation, which still needs approval in the upper house, sparked a second day of protests on Tuesday in the northeastern state of Assam, where millions have settled in recent decades after fleeing neighbouring countries. Demonstrators in the state are angry about the bill not because it excludes Muslims but because it grants citizenship to settlers from elsewhere, accusing the migrants of taking away jobs from indigenous groups. — Reuters/AFP