Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has implemented a controversial citizenship law that has been widely criticized for excluding Muslims. Muslims in India make up a large minority that exceeds 200 million people, or 10% of the entire world’s Muslim population.

India's Citizenship Amendment Act provides “a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014”. However, the law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.

This is the first time that India, officially a secular state, has set religious criteria for citizenship. Previously, illegal migrants were prevented from becoming Indian citizens. The new law allows eligible migrants to apply for citizenship via an online portal.

Amnesty International has said the law “legitimizes discrimination based on religion.” Modi’s critics have charged that he is eroding the foundation of a secular state and pushing the country towards beoming a Hindu nation. His silence on anti-Muslim violence has emboldened some of his party’s most extreme supporters and triggered frustration and protests among India’s Muslims.