India's lower house of parliament has passed a bill which offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from three neighbouring countries.
The bill seeks to provide citizenship to religious minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Citizenship can be provided to members of six religious minority communities - Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian - if they can prove that they are from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
They will only have to live or work in India for six years to be eligible for citizenship by naturalisation, the process by which a non-citizen acquires the citizenship or nationality of that country.
The government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, says this will give sanctuary to people fleeing religious persecution.
However, critics of the bill say it is being introduced as part of a BJP agenda to marginalise Muslims.
Speaking in defence of the bill, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said: "No country in the world accepts illegal migration.
“Naturalised citizenship is an option for others who legally claim Indian citizenship. All other illegal [immigrants] will be infiltrators."
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