{"id":764478,"date":"2019-12-13T15:54:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T15:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/12\/13\/what-does-indias-new-citizenship-law-mean\/"},"modified":"2019-12-13T15:54:49","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T15:54:49","slug":"what-does-indias-new-citizenship-law-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/12\/13\/what-does-indias-new-citizenship-law-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"What does India’s new citizenship law mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mumbai – A new Indian law that grants citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan prior to 2015 has led to violent demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the citizenship bill late on Thursday, signing it into law, an official statement said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Clearance of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill triggered widespread protests in eastern state of Assam, as protesters said it would convert thousands of illegal immigrants into legal residents.<\/p>\n

Some Muslims also protested against the law as it does not give the same rights to citizenship as members of other faiths, a move critics say undermines the secular constitution.<\/p>\n

Passage of the bill was a key election promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, re-energising his nationalist, Hindu support base.<\/p>\n