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Opinion

India's citizenship changes are immoral and self-defeating

Making it harder for Muslims to become citizens risks global backlash

| India
A laborer whose name is excluded from the final list of the NRC stands at a construction site of a detention center in Assam on Sep. 1: the real challenge is what India is going to do with the people who do not make it on to the NRC.   © Reuters

The reelection of Narendra Modi as Indian Prime Minister in May 2019 with a larger mandate than before has made his government almost unstoppable in passing controversial laws. In August, it passed a bill demoting and dividing the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and now it is amending citizenship rules to the detriment of Muslims.

In the face of protests on the streets and recommendations of sanctions from a U.S. government commission, Modi has amended the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955 to allow Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Parsees -- but not Muslims -- fleeing from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to apply for Indian nationality.

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