This week, India’s parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, fundamentally changing the country’s Citizenship Act.

QWhat is the Citizenship Amendment Bill?

AThe law previously prohibited illegal immigrants from becoming citizens. The amendment allows Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsees and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to become citizens, and to file expedited claims. It leaves Muslims off the list of protected groups.

QWhat are the implications of using religious criteria for citizenship?

ABharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders justify excluding Muslims, saying the goal is to aid victims of religious persecution in their home countries. The government has provided no explanation for singling out migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, given that the country receives more migrants from other neighbouring nations. Asylum seekers typically are Afghans, Tibetans from China, Tamils from Sri Lanka and Rohingya from Myanmar, so if the government intended to aid victims of religious persecution, these countries also would be included. It overlooks, too, persecution that certain Muslim sects face even within Muslim-majority countries. Legal scholars argue the law violates articles of the constitution that guarantee equal protection for all and prevent discrimination on the basis of religion.

QWhy did the government push this bill forward?

AThe law fits within the BJP’S larger agenda to construct a Hindu nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has already taken three key steps toward this. The National Register of Citizens in Assam led to the identification of 1.9 million people as illegal immigrants, who now risk statelessness. In August, New Delhi revoked the autonomous status of Muslim-majority Kashmir. In November, the Supreme Court granted Hindus permission to construct a temple on the site of the Babri Mosque, which Hindu extremists had demolished in 1992.