Explainer: What is India’s anti-Muslim bill about?

Last week, India passed a new law that grants citizenship to religious minorities from Muslim-majority countries — Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh — but excludes Muslim immigrants.

The new legislation, known as the Citizenship Amendment Bill, is an amendment to India’s Citizenship Act 1955. It proposes to grant nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhist, Jains and Parsis, who arrived in India before 2015.

The law also fast-tracks the citizenship process for non-Muslim immigrants. Earlier, the 1955 Act prescribed immigrants to prove residency of 11 years, which has now been reduced to six years.

Thus, non-Muslim immigrants, even if they do not have valid documentations, will not be deported. However, Muslims will still continue be treated as illegal immigrants as the law does not offer them any protection.

Under India’s The Foreigners Act, 1946 and The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, illegal immigrants can be jailed and deported.

The citizenship bill, however, will not be applied to some areas of the northeastern states, which had protested against the legislation, including parts of Assam, Tripura, Meghalayan and Mizoram.

The critics decry that the bill specifically targets Muslims, and unfairly makes religion a condition for applying for citizenship. This, they say, is a violation of Article 14 of the Indian constitution, which guarantees the right to equality.