Satya Nadella criticises CAA: Meenakshi Lekhi lashes out at Microsoft CEO about 'Syrian Muslims'; Abhishek Singhvi shows support

A day after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella criticised the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in a statement to Buzzfeed, the software and tech giant’s chief in an updated statement said that he hopes for an India “where an immigrant can aspire to found a prosperous start-up or lead a multi-national corporation”.

In a statement on Tuesday, Nadella said, “Every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and set immigration policy accordingly. And in democracies, that is something that the people and their governments will debate and define within those bounds.”

On Monday, he had said that he would be keen to see a Bangladeshi immigrant “creating the next unicorn in India” or becoming the next Infosys CEO.

BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi countered Nadella's statement by suggesting to grant CAA-like provisions to Syrian Muslims instead of Yezidis in the United States, calling it a “perfect example” of “how literate need to be educated”.

Meanwhile, author and historian Ramachandra Guha and Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sanjay Jha supported the Microsoft chief's stand against the contentious Act. While Guha expressed dismay over Indian IT czars not having the courage to stand against CAA, Singhvi dared supporters of the Act to now work for Microsoft, LinkedIn and other companies that fall under the tech giant's umbrella.

The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by Parliament on 11 December. According to the legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till 31 December, 2014, due to religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

Protests have broken out against the CAA across the country, with those opposing the law contending that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA along withe the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is intended to target the Muslim community in India.

With inputs from PTI