Rajya Sabha passes Citizenship Amendment Bill: What is a Hindu and why are Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka left out of CAB?

The Hindus in Myanmar are facing atrocities if not from the government but from the Rohingya Muslim militants. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 says : “Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause of sub-section of section 3 of the Passport Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act.” Many civil society groups and student organisations in the North East are up in arms against the Centre for seeking to impose the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the region on the pretext that granting citizenship to any illegal migrant irrespective of religion is an infringement on their rights as bona fide citizens and a direct threat to the culture and identity of the indigenous people. As such Rohingya Hindus “have faced persecution on grounds of religion” but the Citizenship Amendment Bill does not cover those from Myanmar while Muslims despite being a minority in the country also do not fall under the Citizenship Amendment Bill as the proposed law excludes those following Islam. “The Bhutanese authorities removed assurances of citizenship, forced Buddhism cultural and religious codes on the Hindu and Christian minorities and used both physical violence and intimidation to evict people belonging to Nepali ethnic groups,” said a Firstpost piece The ethnic cleansing hidden behind Bhutan’s happy face. It is strange that the Citizenship Amendment Bill which concerns with those people who “have faced persecution on grounds of religion” barring Muslims ignores sufferers from Sri Lanka.