As published by the Asia Times on December 12, 2019, despite the opposition of the Congress and other opposition parties, India’s Modi-led, BJP majority parliament has approved a controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). The bill grants citizenship to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians(but not the Muslims), who migrated to India before 2015 from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The bill has been widely criticised in India and in the world over, being religion based and highly discriminatory to Muslims. As per the Asia Times, the critics say that the legislation put forward by the Hindu nationalist ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) undermines the country’s secular constitution, with opposition parties, minority groups, academics and a US federal panel calling it discriminatory against Muslims. Sonia Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party said, “The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill marks the victory of narrow-minded and bigoted forces over India’s pluralism.” According to CNN on December 13, 2019, critics say the bill marginalises Muslims and undermines the country’s secular constitution. Others say it risks bringing an unwanted influx of immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan into India’s northern states. According to The Telegraph on December 12, 2019, the amendment has also been criticised for pushing Modi’s ‘Hindu first’ agenda by not offering protection to Muslims. In an article published in the Bloomberg on December 12, 2019, it is stated that the Indian opposition has called the bill anti-constitutional because it makes religion a key determinant for citizenship. A US federal commission has called for sanctions against India’s home minister if the legislation is passed. According to the Bloomberg, since December 11, 2019, angry protests have erupted in Assam and in other northeastern states, including Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura, forcing the government to send hundreds of soldiers to aid local police. People fear that undocumented Hindu migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh could be granted citizenship, thus creating problems for the preservation of their indigenous culture. In Modi and BJP’s game plan, the Indian Congress and other opposition parties are easily neutralised by BJP by stating that by opposing CAB they are supporting Pakistan’s position As published by BBC on December 12, 2019, the main reason for the tensions in Assam is that it is one of India’s most complex and multi-ethnic states. Assamese and Bengali speaking Hindus live here, as do a medley of tribal people. A third of its 32 million residents are Muslims, the second-highest number in any part of India after the Indian-administered Kashmir. As per the New York Times on December 12, 2019, tens of thousands of protesters rioted in three states across India’s northeast, some defying a government curfew and military deployment to demonstrate against the passage of the contentious CAB, which will grant citizenship to thousands of migrants on religious grounds. From the above-discussed situation, it appears that to perpetuate their rule by winning future elections, by masking their economic and other governance failures, Modi and the BJP are strengthening their Hindutva based politics, and targeting the secular tradition of the Indian constitution. This evolving environment in India with CAB, discriminating only with Muslims, indicates that under the BJP’s perpetuated rule, the Indian Muslims will remain vulnerable to persecution by Hindus. The Kashmiri Muslims’ lockdown and persecution being done for the last 132 days should be an eye opener for the Indian Muslims. In Modi and BJP’s game plan, the Indian Congress and other opposition parties that are opposing CAB are easily neutralised by the BJP by stating that by opposing CAB they are supporting Pakistan’s position. Therefore, basically, Modi and BJP’s politics in India rely on exploiting two factors-Hindus’ hatred for Muslims in India and arousing Hindus’ sentiments against Pakistan. In this context, the BJP leaders do not realise that this religion based politics is extremely dangerous to India’s integrity and its international image. This is especially true in view of the fact that with their ongoing economic and governance failures, winning over of India’s 70 percent Hindu population, living below the poverty line, will not be possible for too long. Also, making pro-Hindutva speeches by targeting other minorities and Muslims, and nurturing and exploiting Hindu majority’s sentiment against Pakistan will not be enough to satisfy the poverty struck people in a long term perspective. Unless and until the BJP focuses on India’s economy, already in free fall, and addresses its poverty, poor Hindu masses will ultimately rise against the BJP rule, as they are already fiercely protesting against CAB to protect their jobs and for economic security. Since it is important to keep the internal stability and regional peace for any country’s economic progress, it would be appropriate to suggest that India’s Modi, the BJP, other political parties, the intelligentsia and its media understand that respecting Indian minorities and building peace with Pakistan by resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through a dialogue is the only beneficial option to work on. Otherwise, India will remain bogged down in dealing with the issues of its internal stability, its Pakistan enmity will also ultimately prove too costly, and its dreams of becoming a major world power will just evaporate. The writer is a former research fellow of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, Islamabad, and Senior Research Fellow of the Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad