LETTER: India is not anti-Muslim
Amendment to act enables foreigners to get citizenship on account of religious persecution
Your editorial suffered from a perceptual barrier when it comes to understanding the intent of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (“Trump, Modi use state visit for own political ends (https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/editorials/2020-02-28-editorial-trump-modi-use-state-visit-for-own-political-ends/)”, February 28). This is not a new citizenship policy. The act does not mean Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan can never get Indian citizenship. The present legal process of acquiring Indian citizenship by any foreigner through naturalisation or registration stays operational.
Hundreds of Muslims migrating from these three countries have been granted Indian citizenship during the past five years. If found eligible, all such future migrants will also get Indian citizenship, irrespective of their numbers or religion. In 2014, after the settlement of Indo-Bangladesh boundary issues, 14,864 Bangladeshi citizens were given Indian citizenship when their enclaves wer...
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