India Moves to Implement Citizenship Law Opposed by Muslims

India announced today, Monday, the rules for implementing the citizenship law issued in 2019, which critics describe as anti-Muslim, just weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to win a third term for his Hindu nationalist government. The amended citizenship law grants Indian citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from predominantly Muslim Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan before December 31, 2014. Modi's government had not issued the rules previously due to protests and sectarian violence in New Delhi and elsewhere within weeks of the law's passage in December 2019, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries over days of clashes. A government spokesperson stated in a text message: "Modi's government announces the implementation of the amended citizenship law." He added: "It has been an integral part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's electoral agenda for 2019. This will pave the way for the persecuted to obtain citizenship in India." Islamic groups argue that the law, along with a proposed citizenship registration system, could lead to discrimination against India's 200 million Muslims.