India’s cabinet approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) and sent it to Indian Parliament on Wednesday [December 4, 2019] to give citizenship to those religious minorities who persecuted in neighboring Muslim countries.
Last month, Amit Shah, India’s Home Minister, told parliament that non-Muslim minorities – Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis – who fled from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan would be given Indian citizenship under the proposed law.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was first introduced in 2016 by the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but was withdrawn after an alliance partner withdrew support and protests flared in India’s remote and ethnically diverse northeastern region.
This is the first time that the India is seeking to grant nationality on the basis of religion.
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