Discriminatory citizenship law: Massive protests as India decides to conduct census

NEW DELHI: Defying restrictions, protests broke out on Tuesday across Indian cities against and for the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and National Register of Citizens (NRC) and as the Indian Union Cabinet approved funds for a census and population survey to be conducted next year. The census will take place in 2021. Protesters said the census is a first step to stratify the entire demography in religious lines before the NRC is implemented countrywide.

Hours after the Indian cabinet approved a proposal to conduct Census 2021 and update the National Population Register (NPR), Indian Home Minister Amit Shah Monday clarified there is no link between the NCR and NPR, international media reported. "There is no need to debate this (pan-India NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now, PM Modi was right, there is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament," Shah said.

Students and protesters from various universities and organisations gathered near Jantar Mantar, a set spot for protests, in Delhi under the banner of "We the People of India" to protest against the CAA and NRC. Protesters raised slogans demanding the withdrawal of the NRC, CAA as well as the NPR.

Political scientist Yogendra Yadav slammed the government for claiming that the National Population Register was not linked to the National Register of Citizens.

He shared the tweet of a journalist which referred to a reply given by MoS home in 2014 stating : "the government had decided to create the NRC based on the NPR by verifying the citizenship status of all individuals in the country."

"Once again Govt caught red-handed lying brazenly," tweeted Yadav.

Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, earlier Monday, were stopped from entering Meerut by the police.

They were on their way to meet families of those killed in violence that broke out during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

"We asked the police if they have any order, they didn't show us any order but they told us to go back," the party said in a statement.

Mamata Banerjee, who led a protest march against the CAA and proposed NRC in Kolkata, said: "As long as I am alive, I will not allow them to implement CAA or NRC in Bengal and divide the country on religious lines. In Assam, where the BJP is in power, detention centres have been built. In Bengal, we will never build any such centre."

Indian authorities stepped up security and shut down the internet in various places while members of the ruling party planned marches backing a new citizenship law even though nationwide protests against it are escalating.

At least 20 rallies in support or against the new law were held in different cities with protesters from both sides canvassing on social media to get people out over Christmas and the New Year.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch said the Indian authorities should cease using unnecessary lethal force against demonstrators protesting a law that discriminates against Muslims.

Since protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act began on December 12, 2019, at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds have been arrested.

“Indian police, in many areas, have been cracking down on anti-citizenship law protests with force, including unnecessary deadly force,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “The authorities should prosecute violent protesters, but they also need to hold police officers to account for using excessive force,” he said.

“Many of us have gone into hiding because the police are tracking down anyone that organised or passed the word to join peaceful protest rallies,” one activist told Human Rights Watch. “They want to crush us into silence.”

Activists allege that Uttar Pradesh police beat up residents in Muslim neighbourhoods and some people in custody.

Several students of Aligarh Muslim University whom police detained after protests also alleged that they were beaten up in custody. A report found that the police in the Muslim-majority Naiza Sarai neighbourhood of Uttar Pradesh’s town of Nehtaur forcibly entered several homes, ransacked them, and detained at least four men.

Meanwhile, a German physics student was asked to leave India by immigration authorities due to his engagement with student protests in Chennai.

"After the Nazi era, many people claimed not to have known anything about genocides or atrocities or stated that they were only passive," said Jakob Lindenthal. "Therefore I see it as a duty to learn from these lessons and not only watch when things happen that one believes to be the stepping stones to a possibly very dangerous development."

In photos circulated by media, Lindenthal held a placard equating the Indian government's practices with those of Nazi Germany. It read: "1933 to 1945 — we have been there."

"I felt the gratefulness of many people in the protest for the solidarity from a foreigner, so I wanted to give them at least my moral support again after having attended the protest march on the campus of IIT Madras," Lindenthal said.