
Contrary to the raging headlines dominating media right now, the new Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by the Indian government is an asylum policy to accommodate persecuted minorities in neighbouring countries and is in no way a move to disenfranchise any other classes. It will be fair to say that India is not the flavour of the season in the western media. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) 2019, passed by the Indian Parliament, has received the worst, and mostly ill-informed and irresponsible - even biased - coverage possible. The headlines are alarmist. They seem to suggest that India's largest minority, the Muslims, are being disenfranchised. Some reports even suggest that the new law will deprive Muslims of their Indian citizenship. This is a motivated lie being spread by some Indian politicians and an influential section of the Indian and foreign media. Nothing could be further from the truth.