US body voices concern on India registry of Muslims

A US body on global religious freedom fears India's drive to register citizens in Assam can disenfranchise Muslims

WASHINGTON: The head of a US government advisory board voiced concern over India's drive to register citizens in the north-eastern state of Assam, amid fears it could disenfranchise millions, most of them Muslims.

Tony Perkins – chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which issues recommendations to the government but does not make policy – said that religious pluralism was "a bedrock of Indian society."



"However, we remain concerned with the potential abuse of the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the resulting introduction of a religious requirement for citizenship, which are contrary to the ideals of religious freedom in India," he said in a statement.

India has given Assam residents until the end of the month to prove they, their parents or grandparents were in the state before 1971, when millions fled a war after which Bangladesh was formed.

Home Minister Amit Shah, the right-hand man of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has called for the ejection of "termites" from India and, before their Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's election triumph this year, vowed to take the Assam-style campaign nationwide and "send back the infiltrators."

In another move, India's lower house of parliament passed legislation in January to grant citizenship to people who came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan at least six years ago – but not if they are Muslim.

Perkins is president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group close to President Donald Trump's Republican Party that is known for its opposition to acceptance of homosexuality.

Joining his statement of concern was Anurima Bhargava, a member of the commission appointed by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi.



She said the commission was "troubled" by any actions that target minorities, saying that the registration "must not become a means to target and render stateless the Muslim community in north-eastern India."

The United States rarely criticises India, an emerging ally, and has been guarded in statements on Modi's recent stripping of autonomy for Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).