On Monday 11 March, the Indian government announced rules of a citizenship law that excludes
Muslims. This anti-muslim law has previously caused much controversy, but will they go through
with it now?
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) provides an easy path to citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs,
Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains who fled to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
However, the law does not include Muslims, who are the majority citizens of those 3 countries.
Though this law is not new, as it was created in 2019, it was supposed to be implemented but it
provoked many protests where numerous people were arrested and some even died. Prime minister
Narendra Modi decided not to implement the law after all the deadly protests.
Human rights company ‘Amnesty India’ even called the law ‘discriminatory’ and said it is ‘based on
religion’. They even went as far as to say, ‘it goes against the constitutional values of equality and
international human rights law’. However, the announcement was not a surprise for many as the
government has been dropping hints for its implementation for a few months now. However, the
declaration has sparked a few protests in a few states.
What do you think about this law? Should the Indian government go through with it? Leave me
know your thoughts in the comments below.
By Anabia Yr8
Boston High School Newsroom
Well written article. No discriminatory laws should be implemented in India or anywhere in the world.
Very well written and interesting. This is truly very eye opening as to what has been happening around the world!