After India’s ‘Citizenship Amendment Act’: Religious Conflict and Coronavirus

Although ‘Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill’ in Hong Kong and ‘Citizenship Amendment Act’ (CAA) in India were two different amendment bills by nature for comparison, both amendments in 2019 triggered intense street protests and serious social divide respectively. This commentary article introduces Hong Kong Chinese readers that refugees persecuted by religious causes from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are included in protection, and the controversy is that Muslim refugees are being excluded by the CAA. Since President Modi and the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were in power in 2014, India’s Muslims felt being marginalized in the rise of Hindutva ideology. One recent example was the Indian court issued verdict over the destruction of Babri Mosque and giving Ayodhya Holy site to Hindus. Though the Hindu-Muslim street conflicts temporarily suspended due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the article argues that relation between Hindu-Muslim remains difficult, as the Muslims of Tablighi Jamaat were blamed as the source of ‘super-virus spreader’. Because India’s Hindu-Muslim relations impact the stability of South Asia and Southeast Asia, the changing situation in India deserves our ongoing observation.

Read Wai Yip Ho’s article on Ming Pao website here.