The contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday. While it dominated the front pages of major English newspapers in India, editorials have also critiqued the Bill since it was first cleared by the Cabinet on December 4. Most major English newspapers seem united in their stance that the Bill is, at the very least, problematic.

The Hindu carried an editorial today on the CAB, calling it “brazenly discriminatory”. “It would be a sad day for the republic if legislation that challenges its founding principles of equality and secularism is allowed to be passed,” the editorial said.

Indian Express published an editorial on December 6, saying the Bill “undermines the very foundation of the Republic” and that it is a “drastic and unconstitutional change in the character of the nation”. The editorial said: “…the proposed law violates the fundamental right to equality assured by the Indian Constitution, and its explicit prohibition of discrimination on the basis of religion.”

Telegraph, apart from slamming the Bill on its front pages, carried an editorial on December 4, saying: “There has been rising concern about the distance that now separates India from pluralism: what else can be deduced from the periodic, targeted lynchings of Muslims or the Bharatiya Janata Party’s encouragement of the unconstitutional provisions of the citizenship (amendment) bill?”

Deccan Herald published an editorial on the CAB on December 9, saying it “violates the right to equality and other rights and ideals, including secularism, which form the basic structure of the Constitution”. It pointed out that the Bill, along with the NRC, seeks to “establish the idea that the country is for Hindus, and others are unequal or second-class citizens”.

On December 9, the editorial in The Times of India implored the government to not “unleash chaos”. “It said the Bill “creates grounds for disaffection in Kashmir” as well. It also noted the proposed introduction of an Inner Line Permit in Assam, before the Bill is tabled, “will be a death knell for the state’s development and India’s Act East policy”.

Business Standard called the Bill a violation of the “spirit of the Constitution”. In its December 7 editorial, the newspaper said: “The second version of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), due to be tabled on Monday, cannot be called an improvement on the version that lapsed in the previous Lok Sabha, even though it is likely to pass the Rajya Sabha gauntlet owing to support from more political parties.”

On December 6, The New Indian Express‘s editorial called the Bill “contentious…it seeks to discriminate the grant of citizenship on the basis of religion”. It said the Bill “could face legal hurdles”.

Tribune had an editorial on the CAB on December 6 too. “A legislation under which nationality will be granted on the basis of religion is fraught with communal complications,” it said. “A witch-hunt targeting a particular community will fly in the face of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’, the NDA government’s lofty slogan.”

On December 6, Economic Times published an editorial headlined “A law on refugees is what India needs” which said the idea of the CAB is “troublesome”. “If the aim is to give formal refuge to victims of religious persecution in neighbouring countries who have fled to India, the stated goal of the law, what India needs to draw up is a proper law on refugees. The basic problem in CAB is that it offers to make citizenship based on religious affiliation.”

Hindustan Times, however, did not present its editorial line on the Bill over the last one week. One of its editorials on December 6 elaborates on Narendra Modi’s “governance policy”. The editorial is pegged on Modi’s inaugural address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit last Friday. “He also spoke, with great coherence and clarity, about the underlying reforms the government is undertaking, which, he believes, will lay the foundation for a better tomorrow,” the editorial noted.