Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella strongly criticized a new citizenship law that the government of India, one of the company’s largest markets, passed last month.

The law, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act, fast-tracks Indian citizenship for immigrants from most major South Asian religions except Islam. It has received criticism at home and abroad from those who see it as an attempt to destroy India’s secular ethos and reshape it as a Hindu state that treats Muslims as second-class citizens.



“I think what is happening is sad. ... It’s just bad,” Nadella told BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith at a Microsoft event in Manhattan on Monday, emphasizing the role that technology and immigration have played in his life and career. "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.”

Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, all of which have major elements of their business in India, have not yet responded to requests for comment.