> countries didn't have borders until after independence
This only applies to anyone who entered after 1971, by when the borders were well established.
> attempt by the government to remove poor Muslim populations from India and blatant religious persecution
That is the allegation from the opposition. The current government denies that and only anyone who entered illegally after 1971 (in accordance with the assam accords) would not be granted full citizenship. It is hilarious that you consider this religious persecution, when the accusers themselves (The INC) were the ones that came up with this bell in the first place for Assam.
The act also does not allocate any special funding to deportation. This means that while some groups would have gotten citizenship, others would have remained just as illegal as they were before this.
There was a lot of misinformation around the act, but the idea that the entire muslim population without documentation would be deported was not just overblown, it was straight up lying.
Western establishment media loves to jump to conclusions on something that there was no indication would happen, and have continued attacking a strawman that has never existed.
> The current government in India is going from a democracy to a Hindu nationalist state.
There is zero indication that this is the case. The Modi Govt. is trying to actively privatize India and that goes actively against the RSS's isolationist ideals. This Govt. is giving opportunities to lower castes that the Congress would never even let stand among them. The party is not nepotistic and rewards grassroots merit instead of the monarchy that India has seen with the Gandhi family for 60 years. If anything, India is far more democratic today than ever.
As for the political power of Muslims, there is a huge caste issue within there that is not addressed at all. The majority of muslims in power are those that trace their roots to upper castes or timurid/persian/afghan invaders. They refer to themselves as Ashraf, and adopt a noticeably non-indic identity. They constitute 15% of all muslims in India, but control the vast vast majority of institutional power for muslims. On the other hand, the common folk who converted, also referred to as Pasmanda get zero representation despite constituting 85% of the population. [1] [2] [3]
Historically, the Congress has loved to give a lot of power to Ashraf Muslims. Modi has stopped giving them the time of day. That is true. IMO, it reflects the last cry of an old elite who have realized that there will be no more free lunch.
At the grass roots, Modi has actually increased funding towards poor muslims [4] and has maintained every special accomodation given to them throughout his term.
The CAA would have given much needed protections to hindu minorities across the border that are being mercilessly slaughtered by muslim fundamentalists that are far more radical than any form of Hindu fundamentalism that exists today. [5] [6]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8_6ryRZcU0
[2] https://theprint.in/opinion/indias-muslim-community-under-a-...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_among_South_Asian...
[4] https://theprint.in/india/more-muslims-govt-scholarships-mod...
[5] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/mob-bur...
[6] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/durga-puja-processio...