Star Report

Protests paralysed major cities in India’s northeast states yesterday as BJP-led ruling Hindu nationalist government won parliamentary approval for a far-reaching citizenship law that critics say undermines the country’s secular constitution.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to grant Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs, but not Muslims, who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 2015.

The legislation was passed 125-105 by the upper house yesterday, after the lower house voted in support of it just after midnight on Tuesday. It will be sent to the president to be signed into law, with his approval seen as a formality.

“A landmark day for India and our nation’s ethos of compassion and brotherhood!,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted after the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.

Opponents of the legislation have threatened to challenge it in the Supreme Court, saying it violates the principles of equality and secularism enshrined in the constitution.

“Today marks a dark day in the constitutional history of India,” Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said in a statement.

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