Protests against CAA/NRC and lessons from Modi’s India
When India gained independence from her British oppressors in 1947, she vowed to remain secular, in contrast to neighbouring Pakistan, who chose to be a theocratic state. On December 12, 2019, India’s long-standing and cherished ideal of being a secular state suffered a massive blow when the Narendra Modi-led government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The CAA provides that any Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian from three neighbouring countries viz., Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 shall not be treated as illegal migrants. The CAA explicitly excludes a single religion from its protection – Muslims.
As such, the CAA infused a religious element to so-called secular India’s citizenship laws. The CAA was justified as a means to protect the aforementioned religious communities in neighbouring Islamic countries, where these communities were minorities. Further, it was argued that Muslims do not require protection since these neighbouring countries were established on the basis of Islam. The CAA creates classes of citizenship based on religion, similar to a 1982 Citizenship Law passed by Myanmar, which privileged “indigenous races,” over the Rohingya and paved the path for the eventual genocide against them.
While the CAA in itself appears to be discriminatory and in clear violation of the right to equality under the Indian constitution, the issue runs deeper. In a now deleted tweet, the current Home Minister of India, Mr. Amit Shah, proclaimed that he would implement a National Register of Citizens (NRC) throughout India and remove every “infiltrator” from the country except Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists. The NRC is a list of recognized citizens and was implemented through a Supreme Court mandate in the northeastern state of Assam to address the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants. In Assam, the results of the NRC were disastrous – millions of people were excluded from the register, who were now compelled to “prove” their Indian citizenship, despite having lived in India for generations.
When read together, a Muslim who entered India prior to December 31, 2014, and who does not appear on the NRC will necessarily be deemed an illegal migrant and will find themselves in detention centers being established across the country until they can produce acceptable documentation. A Hindu in the same position, will have the advantage of the CAA, which does not dub them to be an illegal migrant. Together, the NRC and the CAA could potentially alter the demographics of large parts of India by recognizing non-Muslims as citizens.
The move has been seen as a means to increase the Hindu vote-bank which is the backbone of Modi’s political party. The CAA and NRC would also disproportionately impact Indigenous and poor communities, who do not have paperwork due to reasons such as natural disasters or displacement, or who do not believe in maintaining records like birth certificates or passports.
The CAA and the thought of a nationwide NRC sparked immediate outrage. India was rocked by unparalleled student-led protests across the country. The protests were reminiscent of the protests during India’s struggle for independence. Regardless of age, gender identity, or religion, Indians have been taking to the streets across the country to engage in peaceful forms of protests. The protests often involve singing of the national anthem, chanting slogans from India’s independence movement, and most importantly, reading the Indian constitution’s preamble, which affirms India’s secular identity.
In Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood, hundreds of women occupied the streets for over twenty days in protest. In Mumbai, over 20,000 people came out to peacefully protest against the CAA and NRC. The protests have brought about a mobilization of masses India has not witnessed since the country’s independence movement. Constant reports of police brutality in response to protests have continued to enthuse new life into the protests.
However, the government’s response has also mirrored the oppression undertaken during the British subjugation of India. The hijab-clad woman protecting her classmate from police beatings has now become the face of the protests – highlighting the brutality with which the police has been meeting peaceful protestors. Governments are using colonial-era laws to ensure that the masses do not mobilise. In places like New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Uttar Pradesh (interestingly all controlled by Modi’s party), orders were passed prohibiting the gathering of more than four individuals. However, citizens stood individually at a distance from each other, circumventing the prohibition and protesting with signs against the CAA and NRC.
In other parts of the country, the reprisal was much more violent. Foreign students who participated in protests were deported, and sedition charges have been filed against protestors. In Uttar Pradesh, news sources report that over twenty people have been killed during anti-CAA protests, including minors. In New Delhi, Karnataka, and Assam, phone and internet services were ordered to be shut off. At a university in New Delhi, the Delhi Police, allegedly acting in response to violence perpetrated by protestors, entered the reading hall and fired tear gas at students studying there. Students from another university claimed that they were beaten with leather belts, rifle butts, and subjected to Islamophobic insults. Social media was replete with photographs, whether genuine or not, of students with life-altering injuries.
Modi’s government has shown no intention of backing down, and his and his allies’ governments are pouring in resources to thwart protests across the country. However, as one protestor put it, if the government won’t move an inch, the protestors won’t move a millimetre. Modi’s decision has sparked a civil unrest in the country that was formerly only found in history textbooks. His relentless response will be seen as a turning point in India’s history – only in the days of the British Raj did a government so blatantly ignore the political desire of its masses.
The masses are a revolutionary force, and if history is anything to go by, they will remain unstoppable in the face of oppression. By refusing to reconsider the CAA and NRC, the Modi government risks facing the same fate as the British Raj.