On March 11, after first being introduced more than four years ago, India has implemented the Citizenship Amendment Act, which provides amnesty and a fast-track to citizenship for certain refugees already in India who fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, prior to December 31, 2014.
CAA does not alter the rights of any Indian citizen nor does it establish any religious test for general immigration or exclude Muslims from immigrating to India, as is sometimes wrongly said and reported.
In response to the implementation of CAA, Hindu American Foundation Executive Director Suhag Shukla commented: “India’s Citizenship Amendment Act is long overdue and necessary. It protects some of the most vulnerable refugees in India, granting them the human rights they were denied in their home country, and the clear and expedited path to citizenship needed for them to begin rebuilding their lives. CAA mirrors the long-established Lautenberg Amendment in the US, in place since 1990, which has provided a clear immigration path for persons fleeing a select group of nations where religious persecution is rampant. I’m proud to see both the oldest and largest secular democracies in the world — the US and India — be a beacon of hope by extending a pathway to freedom and a new life to those who have suffered gross human rights violations simply because of their religion.”
