India moves to implement citizenship law opposed by Muslims

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- India announced rules on Monday to implement a 2019 citizenship law that critics call anti-Muslim, weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a rare third term for his Hindu nationalist government.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants Indian nationality to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014.

Modi's government had not crafted implementation rules for the law, after protests and sectarian violence broke out in New Delhi and elsewhere within weeks of the law's December 2019 enactment. Scores were killed and hundreds injured during days of clashes.

"The Modi government announces implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act," a spokesperson for the prime minister's office said in a text message.

"It was an integral part of BJP's 2019 manifesto. This will pave [the] way for the persecuted to find citizenship in India," he said, referring to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 2019 election manifesto.

A Home (interior) Ministry spokesperson said the rules will enable those eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the granting of Indian citizenship, and that applications would be submitted online via a web portal that had been provided.

Muslim groups say the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, can discriminate against India's 200 million Muslims -- the world's third-largest Muslim population. They fear the government might remove the citizenship of Muslims without documents in some border states.

The government denies it is anti-Muslim and says the law is needed to help minorities facing persecution in Muslim-majority nations.

It says the law is