India’s legislature has proposed a controversial bill that would give citizenship to minorities from three neighboring countries; Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. This Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), would grant a legal pathway to Indian citizenship on the basis of religion. The bill is intended to extend citizenship specifically to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis, and Sikhs, who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan before 2015. The CAB has sparked nationwide protests, with many arguing that the bill discriminates against Muslims and violates India’s secular constitution. In response, India’s foreign ministry claims that the bill seeks to help persecuted religious minorities already within India.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal panel that makes foreign policy recommendations to U.S. leadership, has recommended sanctions against principal leadership in India should the bill pass. The CAB, however, must first pass the upper house of parliament, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP lacks a majority.
