(CNN)Troops have been deployed to India’s ethnically diverse northeastern states of Assam and Tripura, amid violent protests against the passing of a controversial and far-reaching law that offers a path to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim minorities from three neighboring countries.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was approved by President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday, a day after the country’s parliament passed it. It has been described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s Hindu nationalist government as a means of protecting vulnerable groups from persecution.
Critics, however, say the bill marginalizes Muslims and undermines the country’s secular constitution. Others say it risks bringing an unwanted influx of immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan into India’s northern states.
