MNS organises rally in Mumbai to support new citizenship law

Supporters of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) attend a rally in support of a new citizenship law in Mumbai, India, February 9, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

MUMBAI, February 9 (Reuters) - The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held a rally in India's financial capital Mumbai on Sunday to support a citizenship law introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year that has triggered nationwide protests.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path for non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim-majority nations Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to gain citizenship, has triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests against Modi's government.

If combined with a proposed national register of citizens, critics of the CAA fear it would discriminate against India's Muslim minority and chip away at its secular constitution.

The rally called by the MNS, a regional party from Maharashtra, was the first big demonstration in support of CAA, apart from rallies organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray said the rally was organised to counter protests opposing the new law, adding: "If you mess further, a stone will respond to a stone and a sword to a sword."

Thackeray blamed infiltrators from the neighbouring countries for terrorist attacks and crime in India.