Modi Pushes to Grant Citizenship to Non-Muslim Immigrants
- Citizenship Bill listed for latest parliament session in India
- Economic policies will dominate the rest of the winter session
Parliament House in New Delhi.
Photographer: T. Narayan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is set to push ahead with a controversial bill to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim illegal migrants from neighboring countries, a move that is expected to lead to heated debates as parliament reconvenes on Monday.
The legislation seeks to provide citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Muslims are excluded from the list. Modi’s political opponents say the move to shelter non-Muslim refugees is a way for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to push its Hindu nationalist ideology.