Microsoft's CEO has publicly criticised India's new law discriminating against Muslims

Last month, India passed a law called the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The act was an update from the original in 1955 and was put in place in order to support those who fled prosecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan prior to December 2014 by giving them a fast-track to Indian citizenship. The people this supports are those who follow Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious beliefs. It does not, however, support Muslims.

This has caused outrage throughout the country, with many rioting over the lack of inclusivity of the Muslim population, who make up 11% of the country’s total. India is also home to the second-largest Muslim community, in a non-Muslim country, in the world.

In response, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a Hyderabadi native has called out the act, saying, “I think what is happening is sad. … It’s just bad,” at a Microsoft event in Manhattan on Monday. “And even a story like mine being possible in a country like this — I think, if anything, I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or becomes the CEO of Infosys. That should be the aspiration. If I had to sort of mirror what happened to me in the US, I hope that’s what happens in India.”

Statement from Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft pic.twitter.com/lzsqAUHu3I

— Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) January 13, 2020