Protests Over Citizenship Law in India Escalate By Phillip Howard
New protests are rocking India amid the passage of a new citizenship law, stripping many of their previous citizenship status. The law, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act, passed earlier this month, creates a legal loophole that allows for persecuted religious minorities to gain citizenship. The law allows for individuals who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian religious communities to apply, but not Muslims.
The protests have sprouted throughout India, from the capital, the southern city of Chennai, and beyond. Currently, the protests have left more than 20 people dead and led the government to take control of areas of the country. In particular the government occupation of the Kashmir region..
Narendra Modi (Photo by Altaf Hussain / Reuters)
The ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been doing everything they can to defend the law. “There is no better country than India for Muslims,” said BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain. Amit Shah, India’s home minister, said he plans to “throw out all of the infiltrators” by 2024, coded language aimed at Muslim minorities.
Prime Minister Modi has been doing everything he can to reverse Mr. Shah’s words and to douse protests. Modi said during a recent rally that “since my government has come to power, since 2014 to now, I want to tell (1.3 billion) citizens, there has been no discussion on even the word NRC [National Register of Citizens],” adding that “I must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them.” Currently, the BJP has been running videos and ads to counter the protests.
The backlash and protests against the citizenship law have been significant for Modi. Aside from the death tolls, Modi and the BJP lost a fifth state election in the state of Jharkhand. India’s opposition party, the Congress party, called the results a direct rebuke to Modi’s party, which saw Congress win 47 out of Jharkhand’s 81 state legislature seats.
Rahul Gandhi (Photo by Indian Express)
In speaking on the actions of the BJP during a recent rally, Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi stated that “what our enemies could not do, [Modi’s] government is trying its best to do=stall the progress of the country.”
The law is highly controversial. As Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a spokesman for the Samajwadi party stated in a recent editorial, the citizenship law is India’s “Nuremberg moment…goes against the spirit and letter of the Indian constitution, which grants all persons equality before the law.”
Phillip Howard is a graduate student at Utica College
