India’s Parliament has approved a controversial citizenship bill that grants citizenship to minorities facing persecution from three neighbouring countries – but excludes Muslims.
A day after clearing the lower house, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed on Wednesday by the upper house, with 125 members voting in its favour and 105 against it.
Critics say the legislation undermines the country’s secular constitution by granting citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
It seeks to grant Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs who fled the three countries before 2015.
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