11th December, 2019
India’s ruling Hindu nationalists pushed for final parliamentary approval on Wednesday, for a law that might undermine the country’s secular constitution by granting citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from three neighboring countries.
Amit Shah, India’s Home Minister tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the upper house of India’s parliament, a day after the lower house gave its approval.
Opposition parties, minority groups, academics, and a U.S. federal panel have contested the bill, which for the first time provides a legal route to Indian citizenship based on religion, calling it discriminatory against Muslims.
The proposed law seeks to give citizenship to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis, and Sikhs, who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan before 2015.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said, on Monday, that Washington should consider sanctions against Shah, a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi if India adopts the legislation.