The Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, is a law passed by the Indian Parliament in 2019. It aims to amend the country’s citizenship laws, defines illegal immigrants and lays down the rules and prerequisites for applying for Indian citizenship. It allows minorities of six communities, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, from India’s neighboring countries — Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh — who entered India before 31 December 2014 to get citizenship more easily on the grounds of religious persecution.
The introduction of this bill led to mass protests from students, civil society, and the opposition parties as religion for the first time was made a test of Indian citizenship. The most notable was a 100-plus day protest in Shaheen Bagh, a working-class Muslim neighbourhood in the country’s capital, New Delhi with Muslim women at the forefront of this protest.
Four years after the CAA’s initial introduction and passing, the rules were brought into effect in March 2024.
Friendship with the United States – in a spirit of bipartisanship in both countries – remains the cornerstone of Indian foreign policy. It is difficult not to detect a note of disappointment in this US spokesperson’s remarks on the direction in which India is heading. Both on here and now issues like trade, which is especially salient to President Trump, and the shared values of democracy, which is not a cliche. It is evident that the series of full Jaishankar talks has left the Americans unmoved. 2. President Trump will love speaking to a stadium full of fans, genuinely appreciate the warmth of his welcome. However, if the relationship is to unlock its potential, India needs to change course. 180 degrees.