<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>India has implemented a controversial citizenship law that has been widely criticized for excluding Muslims, a minority community whose concerns have heightened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The rules for the law were announced Monday. It establishes a religious test for migrants from every major South Asian faith other than Islam. Critics argue that the law is further evidence that Modi’s government is trying to reshape the country into a Hindu state and marginalize its 200 million Muslims.</div><div><br></div><div>WHAT IS THE NEW CITIZENSHIP LAW?</div><div><br></div><div>The 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. The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.</div><div><br></div><div>It also amends the old law, which prevents illegal migrants from becoming Indian citizens, and marks the first time that India — an officially secular state with a religiously diverse population — has set religious criteria for citizenship.</div><div><br></div><div>The Indian government has said those eligible can apply for Indian citizenship through an online portal.</div><div><br></div><div>The implementation of the law has been one of the key poll promises of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the run-up to the general election, which is scheduled to be held by May.</div><div><br></div><div>Modi’s government has dismissed the notion that the law is discriminatory and defended it as a humanitarian gesture. It argues the law is meant only to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution and would not be used against Indian citizens. - AP</div>