India Implements Controversial Citizenship Amendment Act

The Citizenship Amendment Act, sparking protests and criticism, aims to fast-track citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from neighboring countries, excluding Muslims.

India's government has implemented the contentious 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), leading to sporadic protests and criticism from opposition groups and rights organizations.
The CAA fast-tracks citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but excludes Muslims, raising concerns about discrimination and undermining India's secular constitution.
Opposition parties, Muslim groups, and international bodies like the UN and the US have expressed concerns, calling the CAA fundamentally discriminatory.
The implementation of the CAA, weeks before national elections, has sparked debates on its timing and potential to polarize voters along religious lines.
The Indian government defends the CAA as a humanitarian measure for persecuted minorities, denying allegations of anti-Muslim bias and stating that the law is meant to grant, not revoke, citizenship.

Amnesty International