Why is India’s Citizenship Amendment Act so controversial?

The law, which comes into force on the eve of elections, creates India’s first religion-based citizenship test, discriminating against Muslims and some other refugees.

The Indian government on Monday announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a law that was passed by parliament in 2019 but was not enforced until now.

This decision on the CAA – whose passage in parliament had set off protests across the country five years ago over allegations of an anti-Muslim bias – comes weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term in office through national elections.

So what is the law about, and why is it so controversial?

The Act, which was an amendment to the 1955 Citizenship Act, was first introduced in the parliament in July 2016 and passed in December 2019.

Before the CAA, any foreign national seeking Indian citizenship through naturalisation needed to have spent 11 years in India to become eligible.

The CAA expedites Indian citizenship applications of Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who escaped to India from religious persecution in Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before December 31, 2014. They become eligible for citizenship in five years. Applicants from these faiths are eligible even if they are currently living in India without valid visas or other required paperwork.

Home Minister Amit Shah, a close confidant of Modi, posted on X that the law will enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in neighbouring countries to acquire Indian citizenship.

The Modi government today notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan