Narendra Modi.
(Image credit: PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)

Amid nationwide protests, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is refusing to give way.

Modi on Sunday defended his Hindu nationalist government's recently passed citizenship law that has sparked protests across the country as nothing less than a humanitarian gesture. The law allows illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to claim Indian citizenship if they can show they were victims of religious persecution. But it only extends to non-Muslims and has been criticized for breaching India's secular constitution and for attempting to marginalize Muslims.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.