Elyas Thumbe Condemns Modi Regime’s Discriminatory Immigration Order as Assault on India’s Secular Fabric

Elyas Muhammad Thumbe, National General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India, strongly condemns the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, issued on September 2. This order grants exemptions from passport and visa rules to non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India by December 31, 2024, citing religious persecution. By deliberately excluding Muslims, the Modi regime has taken another blatant step toward institutionalizing religious discrimination and undermining the secular foundations of our Constitution.

The order is not an isolated move. It is part of a systematic pattern of anti-Muslim policies pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2014. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019, which fast-tracked citizenship for non-Muslims from the same countries while excluding Muslims, laid the groundwork for this exclusionary framework. That law triggered nationwide protests, claimed at least 31 lives, and remains under challenge in the Supreme Court. SDPI has consistently opposed the CAA as unconstitutional and divisive. This latest order extends the same bigotry by a decade—granting security to post-2014 non-Muslim arrivals while exposing Muslim refugees to criminalization and statelessness. It strikes at Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality and prohibit religious discrimination.

SDPI demands the immediate withdrawal of this discriminatory order and a repeal of the CAA. India needs a refugee policy that is secular, humane, and free from religious bias. We call on all citizens to reject this divisive agenda and to stand united against hate. Muslims are an integral part of India’s fabric. We refuse to be rendered invisible in our own country.

The stakes are high. Another term for this regime will only embolden Hindu far-right extremism and deepen the assault on India’s democracy. SDPI remains steadfast in our struggle for justice, equality, and the protection of minority rights. Through peaceful protest and legal challenge, we will continue to defend the constitutional values that bind our nation together.