India’s new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)
A resolution expressing serious concerns about India’s new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was put to a vote last Thursday in the EP’s plenary session.
India’s new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which was adopted by Indian lawmakers in December last year, offers amnesty to non-Muslim irregular immigrants from three countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan – and amends the country’s previous 64-year-old citizenship law, which prohibited irregular migrants from becoming Indian citizens.
This new law, however, marginalizes India’s large Muslim minority and undermines the country’s secular constitution. Combined with a yet-to-be implemented nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), part of the Indian government’s plan to cement a new citizenship verification process, the law could potentially strip Indian Muslims of their citizenship and would leave them facing an uncertain future. It has, therefore, prompted widespread protests across India, with many protesters wounded or killed.
The vote, which was expected to conclude on last Thursday, will now not be held until the end of March.
Motion for a Resolution: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/RC-9-2020-0077_EN.pdf
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/plenary/video?debate=1580325314896