India protests spread over 'anti-Muslim' citizenship law

Published December 13, 2019
Students of Jamia Millia Islamia University stage a protest against the government's Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in New Delhi on December 13. — AFP
Students of Jamia Millia Islamia University stage a protest against the government's Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in New Delhi on December 13. — AFP

Protests in India against a new citizenship law that opponents say is anti-Muslim spread to other regions on Friday, a day after two people were shot dead by police in the northeast of the country, the epicentre of days of demonstrations.

Police with batons and firing tear gas clashed with hundreds of students in New Delhi, television pictures showed, as Muslim protesters set fire to placards in Amritsar and other rallies were held in Kolkata, Kerala and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat.

A protester waves an Indian flag during a demonstration against the government's CAB in New Delhi on Friday. — AFP
A protester waves an Indian flag during a demonstration against the government's CAB in New Delhi on Friday. — AFP

The protests in Guwahati in the northeast, where medical staff earlier confirmed two people were shot dead out of 26 who were admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds on Thursday night, prompted Modi and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to postpone a summit in the area slated for Sunday.

With four people still in a critical condition on Friday, the UN human rights office in Geneva called on India “to respect the right to peaceful assembly, and to abide by international norms and standards on the use of force when responding to protests”.

In Guwahati, the main city in Assam state, rioters on Thursday left a trail of destruction, torching vehicles, blocking roads with bonfires and hurling stones at thousands of riot police who were backed up by the military.

With the internet suspended in many areas of the city, several thousand people gathered for a sit-in protest on Friday and no major incident was reported. Many cash machines had no money, shops were shuttered and petrol stations closed.

Authorities in Meghalaya, another north-eastern state, cut off mobile internet and imposed a curfew in parts of the capital Shillong. Around 20 people were hurt in clashes there on Friday, reports said.

“They can't settle anyone in our motherland. This is unacceptable. We will die but not allow outsiders to settle here,” protester Manav Das told AFP on Friday in Guwahati.

“We will defeat the government with the force of the people and the government will be forced to revoke the law,” said local activist Samujal Battacharya.

Hindu agenda?

The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) — approved this week — allows for the fast-tracking of applications from religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but not Muslims.

For Islamic groups, the opposition and rights organisations, it is part of Modi's Hindu nationalist agenda to marginalise India's 200 million Muslims.

Modi denies this and says that Muslims from the three countries are not covered by the legislation because they have no need of India's protection.

The US State Department on Thursday urged India to “protect the rights of its religious minorities”, according to Bloomberg.

The United Nations human rights office voiced concern that the law is “fundamentally discriminatory in nature” by excluding Muslims and called for it to be reviewed.

It added that the law “would appear to undermine the commitment to equality before the law enshrined in India's constitution”.

But many in the northeast object for different reasons, fearing that immigrants from Bangladesh — many of them Hindus — will become citizens, taking jobs and diluting the area's cultural identity.

The passage of the law sparked angry scenes in both houses of parliament this week, with one lawmaker likening it to anti-Jewish legislation by the Nazis in 1930s Germany.

The chief ministers of several Indian states — West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — have said they will not implement the law.

West Bengal's firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee, who has called for major protests in state capital Kolkata on Monday, said Modi wanted to “divide the nation”.

“It is completely unconstitutional and goes against the idea of India,” Aditya Mukherjee, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told the NDTV channel.

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.