US Commission appalled at passage of Indian Citizenship Bill; seeks sanctions against Home Minister

Appalled at the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill – which excludes Muslim immigrants from Indian citizenship – in the lower house of the Parliament, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended sanctions against Home Minister Amit Shah, should the move get upper house approval as well.

In a statement, the USCIRF called the bill as a “dangerous turn in the wrong direction.

The passage of the bill has drawn condemnation from Pakistani leadership, with Prime Minister Imran Khan saying it violates all norms of international law and bilateral agreements with Pakistan.

“The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is deeply troubled by the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), originally introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah, in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) given the religion criterion in the bill,” the Commission said in a statement.

USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress, has been monitoring the Indian ruling party BJP’ exclusionary move short-named as CAB.

Indian PM Narendr Modi congratulates Amit Shah as he takes charge of BJP Image India PM Office/Wikimedia

The bill will now move to the Rajya Sabha (Indian Parliament’s Upper House).

“If the CAB passes in both houses of parliament, the United States government should consider sanctions against the Home Minister and other principal leadership,” the U.S. Commission says.

The CAB enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion, the Commission notes.

Meanwhile, Opposition leaders in New Delhi have warned against implications of the passage of the bill as being antithetical to Indian Constitution.

The Indian Government has rejected the USCIRF’s criticism of the CAB passage.

Indian Muslims have been bearing the brunt of violent attacks from allies of BJP, which made CAB a part of its 2019 election manifesto. The BJP and its allied extremist groups like RSS follow exclusionary Hindutva ideology for domination of the majority Hindu population in a country with long tradition of inclusiveness.

“The CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith. In conjunction with the ongoing National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam and nationwide NRC that the Home Minister seeks to propose, USCIRF fears that the Indian government is creating a religious test for Indian citizenship that would strip citizenship from millions of Muslims,” the US Commission said.