page_title: Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 / Reception
caption_attribution_description: English: Anti CAA NRC protestors in New Delhi. JMI students and locals.
context_page_description: The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for illegal migrants of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities, who had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014. Muslims from those countries were not given such eligibility. The act was the first time religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law.
  The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the Indian government, had promised in previous election manifestos to offer Indian citizenship to members of persecuted religious minorities who had migrated from neighbouring countries. Under the 2019 amendment, migrants who had entered India by 31 December 2014, and had suffered "religious persecution or fear of religious persecution" in their country of origin were made eligible for citizenship. The amendment also relaxed the residence requirement for naturalisation of these migrants from twelve years to six.
caption: Locals and Jamia Millia Islamia students protest against CAA/NRC in New Delhi on 15 December 2019
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