The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned India’s discriminatory, anti-Muslim implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), signaling a dangerous turn in the country’s treatment of religious minorities under far-right Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva nationalist government.
SEE: Why India’s new citizenship law is so controversial | AP News
SEE: Citizenship Amendment Act Is an Assault on Muslims, but It Will Come for Hindus Too (thewire.in)
SEE: ‘Anti-Islamic’ law that guarantees fast-track citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Muslim-majority countries is announced by India (Daily Mail)
SEE: India implements ‘anti-Muslim’ 2019 citizenship law weeks before election (Al Jazeera English)
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said:
“The far-right Modi government’s discriminatory implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in India underscores the urgency for immediate action by the Biden administration. The State Department must acknowledge the gravity of this issue and designate India as a Country of Particular Concern to address the alarming erosion of religious freedom in India. India’s advancement of the CAA marks a pivotal moment where the U.S. government must determine whether India is truly a partner in upholding democracy.”
Background on CAA and NRC
Adopted in 2019, India paused the implementation and promulgation of the CAA’s administrative rules in response to international condemnation and domestic protests over its exclusion of Muslim immigrants. The CAA fast-tracks naturalization for individuals from other South Asian countries and specific religious backgrounds, namely Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians, while explicitly omitting Muslims. The CAA reinforces fears of marginalization and state-sanctioned discrimination against India’s 200 million-plus Muslim community.
The exclusionary nature of the law, compounded by the looming threat of the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), threatens to disenfranchise millions of Muslims in Indian society. The NRC is inherently biased against Indian Muslims as it primarily targets Indians to provide documentation proving their citizenship, a burden that disproportionately affects marginalized communities including Muslims from the Assam region near Bangladesh.
The CAA-NRC combination is not merely bureaucratic but a systematic assault on the rights and identities of marginalized communities, primarily Muslims. The timing of the CAA notification, during the holy month of Ramadan, and several weeks before India’s national elections, further exacerbates the far-right Modi government’s discrimination against Indian and regional Muslims.
Designating India a CPC
CAIR has repeatedly raised concerns flagged by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and joins in USCIRF’s longstanding call for the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of State to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC). This designation is crucial in addressing the alarming trajectory of religious freedom violations targeting Muslims and other marginalized communities in India.
In December, CAIR reiterated its longstanding appeal to the Biden administration, echoing the recent statement by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), urging the immediate designation of India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
USCIRF’s call aligns with the pressing need to address widespread religious freedom violations in India, particularly targeting India’s Muslim, Sikh, and Christian populations.
“Due to India’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief, USCIRF implores the U.S. Department of State to designate India a Country of Particular Concern (CPC),” stated the recent USCIRF release.
SEE: USCIRF Deeply Concerned by India’s Transnational Repression Against Religious Minorities | USCIR
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com