(New York, NY. 12/23/2019) – Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York, an umbrella organization of over 90 mosques and Muslim-led organizations, condemns the new Indian anti-Muslim legislation and state violence against peaceful protesters.
On December 11, 2019, the Indian Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill which makes religion a basis for citizenship. However, Islam was specifically removed from the list of accepted religions even though India has over 200 million Muslim citizens. While the law promises to grant persecuted minorities Indian citizenship from neighboring countries, many view it as an anti-Muslim policy to exclude Muslims from the national identity of India, promoting Hindu supremacist agenda.
The passing of this bill comes after years of anti-Muslim rhetroic, displacement, rape, and oppression of Indian Muslims. After revoking the semi-autonomy of Kashmir to change its demographics in favor of Hindu presence, the Bharatiya Janata Party is now intensifying its efforts to push the Indian Muslim population towards statelessness, leading to an epic political and humanitarian crisis.
While the National Register of Citizens has been invoked to render two million people stateless in the northeast state of Assam, the CAB aims to ban persecuted Muslims from seeking asylum in India, including the Rohingya refugees. Furthermore, the Indian government is replicating a much worse version of the US President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. In addition, there are people already being put into detention centers as more are being built.
We are deeply concerned about the well-being and safety of Muslims in India who are facing displacement, repression, and ethnic cleansing. Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York calls on allies and the New York Muslim community to stand with the people of India during these difficult times.