Tag: Citizenship Act protests

Anurag Kashyap, Caste Politics and Imperfect Allies

The liberal left is dying a slow death in electoral politics and can ill-afford to turn away potential allies by intellectualising the streets too.

The latest political developments in India have led to a precarious state of affairs. There is a fear that enumeration processes unleashed by the BJP-led government via the National Population Register and National Register of Citizens may eventually disenfranchise a seventh of the country’s population on religious grounds. Communities feel marginalised, cornered, and scared. The streets are boiling with demonstrations and the police are only too happy to act as contracted goons of the government.

In this moment of despair, India looks up to its popular cultural icons to make their disapproval of the government’s actions public. Some indeed have. But the superstar cricketers and prominent Bollywood alpha-males have predictably maintained a careful and tactical silence.

For Anurag Kashyap, though, things have gone too far and remaining silent is no longer an option. The filmmaker announced his return to Twitter a day after the release of horrifying visuals of students from Jamia Millia Islamia facing state-sanctioned brutalities at the hands of the Delhi police. Breaking from a self-imposed exile, Kashyap minced no words in calling the government fascist.

Ever since, Kashyap has been relentlessly criticising police excess, amplifying voices of protest, and has himself participated in one of the largest public demonstrations against the CAA, in Mumbai. More heartening however, has been Kashyap’s clarity of thought in calling out the Narendra Modi government without adding any safety caveats.

A number of Bollywood celebrities have, even while expressing their solidarity, chosen to remain fairly vague and careful to not end up upsetting the government. Some have even resorted to false equivalence,  putting an equal onus on the protestors to maintain public order.

Also read: The CAA Will Un-Make India By Poisoning Relationships of Trust, Affinity Across Religions

But Kashyap is having none of it.

His straightforward and unsparing attack on the two most powerful men in the country is truly remarkable for someone belonging to an industry that rewards fence-sitting. But in an attempt to clarify that his fight for justice is party agnostic, Kashyap highlighted his previous associations with political protests during the much frenzied Anna Hazare movement of 2011 and the widespread agitation against the Mandal Commission recommendations in 1990. Kashyap’s reference to his participation in the anti-Mandal protests has obviously not played too well with Ambedkarites and anti-caste activists whose politics have been shaped around fighting the Brahminical social order.

In 1989, prime minister V.P. Singh’s government decided to implement the recommendations laid out in a report prepared by a commission led by B.P. Mandal, which proposed extending reservations to communities identified as Other Backward Classes (OBC).

This led to large-scale student protests. Those opposed to the government’s move were principally upper castes who felt the space for their privilege was shrinking.

Demonstrator display placards and shout slogans during a protest against a new citizenship law, in New Delhi, December 19, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Anushree Fadnavis

For Kashyap to invoke his participation in these protests as a badge of honour was odd, considering how much the discourse around caste has evolved since. But that does not necessarily make him a casteist.

More importantly, to question his place as an ally, in the larger fight against institutional alienation of minorities, is both unfair and counterproductive.

In his defence, Kashyap has already acknowledged the criticism and clarified that he only meant to establish that his politics is party neutral. He also says his views on caste-based reservations today are the opposite of what they were then.

Whether one finds this explanation believable is a matter of opinion. But assuming Kashyap does not have the most sophisticated understanding of caste politics even today, it does not in any way undermine or invalidate his extremely important voice in the fight against an issue that poses a civilisational threat to India.

Also read: You Cannot Hate Whom You Know: The Importance of Meeting Anti-CAA Protesters

The fundamental idea that separates politics from academic activism is recognising the urgency of issues and prioritising the fights one picks. Politics also entails forging imperfect alliances and making minor ideological compromises in service of the bigger picture. Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav, two of the tallest Mandalite leaders, have consistently built useful alliances with forces they do not have everything in common with.

Mayawati, the icon of Dalit politics was once part of a coalition led by BJP, of all parties. The recent alliance of ideological foes in Maharashtra is another example of being able to separate the big from the small.

What the secular, liberal forces are fighting today is the first step towards lending legitimacy to a theocratic state. Everyone joining the fight is an ally right now. The urgency of the cause far trumps someone’s lack of the most nuanced understanding of caste. Kashyap claims to have evolved in his politics but there may be others who are not the most well versed in Ambedkarite discourse. There may even be those identifying as ‘apolitical’ owing to their privileged social background.

What is happening today has shaken the conscience of even those who have largely chosen to remain oblivious to everyday politics. They may not have the sharpest opinion on Brahminical patriarchy and may not even know who Periyar was. But they can clearly see the need for resistance and that alone has brought them on the streets. Their voices do not deserve to be treated with academic smugness.

The liberal left is dying a slow death in electoral politics. It can therefore ill-afford to turn away potential allies by intellectualising the streets too. Asim Ali, a Delhi based political researcher argued in a well articulated piece that borrowing the idea of a perfect ally from US campus politics is never going to be a sustainable exercise in India where conservatives are in an overwhelming majority even within the social left. The focus, therefore, must remain on maximising the footprint of a protest of this scale rather than filtering people out for their imperfections.

Also read: Why the CAA Is More Lethal Than a Projected NRC

This is a long and tiring fight. The state, with its infinite resources, can play the waiting game and counts on the protests to eventually fizzle out.

And fizzle out they will. But while they are still gathering more steam, it is important for us to not actively sabotage them by creating absolutely avoidable factions.

Parth Pandya is an Ahmedabad-based freelance sports writer.

Outrage, Silence, Apologies For Liking Tweets: How Celebrities Reacted to Jamia Violence

While some have sought to offer a ‘balanced view’ on the incident, others have plainly condemned the police brutality meted out against the students.

New Delhi: On December 15, the Delhi Police forcefully entered Jamia Millia Islamia University and unleashed violence on students who were protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Soon after, videos of teargassing from inside the college’s central library and elsewhere surfaced on social media.

Enraged, hundreds of students, activists and common people gathered at Delhi Police’s headquarter in ITO to condemn violence against the Jamia students. They also demanded the immediate release of the more than 50 students who were detained. The students were released a day later.

Also read: Not Speaking Out Now Is a Sign of Being Complicit

As night gave into day, protests broke out across campuses in India, stirring most on social media to voice solidarity with the students. Several film actors, directors, and authors took to Twitter to comment on the series of incidents. While some outrightly condemned attacks on students, others kept themselves at a safe distance by trying to give a balanced view on the matter.

Actors and directors

One of the biggest names to condemn the violence was American actor John Cusack, who on Sunday, took to Twitter to call the university a “war zone” as the reports came in.

Cusack is politically active and had earlier met whistleblower Edward Snowden with one of the current dispensation’s vocal critics, Arundhati Roy.

Similarly, Bollywood film director Anubhav Sinha, who made the film Article 15 which deals with caste issues in the heartland, also spoke against the violence meted out against the students. Sinha has been sharing details on campus protests elsewhere and appealing to others from the film fraternity to speak up.

Director Anurag Kashyap, who had quit Twitter earlier this year, broke his silence to call out police brutality.

Actors like Richa Chaddha, Sayani Gupta and Zeeshan Ayyub were among the first to talk about the protest and the violence.

Sayani Gupta was daring enough to challenge other actors to speak out, tagging the A-listers who appeared in a famous selfie with Modi before the election.

Ayyub has not only been vocal on Twitter about the issue but also went to Jamia to extend his support to the students.

By nightfall, the dam was open and support poured out from A-list actors and directors – among them Taapsee Pannu, Soni Razdan, Pooja Bhatt, Alankrita Shrivastav, Manoj Vajpayee, Ali Fazal, Kubbra Sait, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkumar Rao, Dia Mirza, Vikrant Massey and Huma Qureshi.

While there are iconic actors like Amitabh Bacchan, Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan (an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia) who haven’t spoken up on the issue, there are some who were careful to balance their support with a statement against the destruction of public property.

Akshay Kumar, who takes a pro-BJP government stance on a host of issues these days, ended up apologising for liking a tweet, much to the ridicule of his critics on social media.

Film industry (south)

From the southern film fraternity, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Siddharth were the usual suspects who tweeted in support of students in Jamia and campus protests elsewhere in the country. Both the actors, otherwise too, are quite vocal about political and gender-based injustices.

Actors like Rima Kallingal, Kunchacko Boban, Prithviraj, Indrajith, Dulquer Salman and Tovino Thomas from the Malayalam film industry have also lent support to the those protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the News Minute reported.

Authors

Best-selling authors like Chetan Bhagat and Ravindra Singh have also spoken in the favour of the students. Bhagat’s stance is particularly notable, considering that he is usually an ardent supporter of the ruling party and its stance.

Assam: BJP’s Ally AGP Buckles Under Public Pressure, to Challenge CAA

The party will file a petition in the Supreme Court as “the indigenous people of Assam are apprehensive that their identity will come under threat”.

New Delhi: Buckling under increased public pressure in Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a BJP ally in the state, has announced that it would challenge the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the Supreme Court. This development comes after the party ignored the public sentiment in the state against the amendment and asked its lone Rajya Sabha MP Biren Baishya to vote in its favour.

AGP was born in the state in 1985 as a political alternative to the Congress after the six-year-long anti-foreigner agitation. The signatories of Assam Accord, the memorandum of settlement as per which the agitators had entered into a formal agreement with the government of India to end the agitation and keep out all undocumented migrants after March 24, 1971, were the founders of the party.

It is this accord that the CAA violates. The citizenship cut-off date for undocumented non-Muslim Bangladeshis has been extended from March 1971 to December 31, 2014, which has infuriated the majority Assamese population of the state, pushing them to hit the streets in huge numbers, shouting slogans against the BJP-led government in Dispur and against New Delhi.

A day before the Bill was to be tabled at the Lok Sabha for passage, Atul Bora, the AGP president and a minister in the BJP-led government, told local media that the state had already taken a lot of “illegal immigrants” and “what is the harm in taking a few more lakhs”. Though its founder presidents Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Brindaban Goswami opposed the Bill and asked the party to do so too, they were side-lined by the new leadership. Bora said the Centre “wants to bring the Bill,” and he “can’t do anything about it.”

Also Read: Citizenship Amendment: As Protests Continue in Assam, Akhil Gogoi Booked Under UAPA

However, the AGP faced the ire of protesters, even the prospect of a revolt within the party. A large number of its cadre demanded the resignation of Bora for supporting such a Bill at the diktats of the BJP and some even sought a split. After these developments, Bora and two other AGP ministers in the Sarbananda Sonowal government – Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhushan Choudhury – and their coterie seemed to have changed tack. On Monday, addressing a press meet in Guwahati, Bora said the Brahmaputra Valley should be excluded from the purview of the Act.

“We will take the legal route to seek revocation of the amended Act as the indigenous people of Assam are apprehensive that their identity, language might come under threat,” party leader Kumar Deepak Das told news agency PTI. A former Rajya Sabha member, Das was to fly to Delhi to file a petition.

Caught on the back foot, minister Keshab Mahanta termed Bora’s earlier statement a personal comment and not the party’s stand. “Being a regional party, we cannot go against the interests of the indigenous people,” he added.

Soon after the Bill was passed in parliament, motorcades of the AGP’s ministers were chased by public, forcing them to stay indoors.

In the earlier session of parliament, massive public protests in Assam against the Bill had pushed these three AGP ministers to resign from the party. In January 2019, the AGP pulled out of the alliance. Their resignation was never accepted by the BJP, thus triggering speculation in political circles of the state that the pull-out was due to a tacit understanding with the ruling BJP as a method to quell protests.

Fact Check: BJP Shared Doctored Video to Paint AMU Students as Anti-Hindu

An edited version of a video of students chanting slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar and casteism was pushed by right-wing accounts in which the anti-Hindutva slogan is made to sound as if it is against “Hindus”.

A video of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act is being circulated on social media with a claim that they raised slogans against Hindus. BJP Yuva Morcha vice president Santosh Ranjan Rai posted the video with the message, “हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर.यह भारत में सुनने को मिल रहा है भाई  (The grave of Hindus will be dug on the chest of AMU. We are getting to listen this in India -translated)”

Fact-check

With the help of a keyword search on Twitter, Alt News found the same video with better audio and video quality. Listening to the video posted below, it becomes clear that the claim about the students raising anti-Hindu slogans is false. They were actually raising slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar, BJP, Brahminism and casteism.

Here, the students can be heard saying, “हिंदुत्व की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, सावरकर की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये बीजेपी की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ब्राह्मणवाद की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये जातीवाद की कब्र. (grave of Hindutva will be dug on the chest of AMU, grave of Savarkar will be dug on the chest of AMU, this BJP’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Brahminism’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Casteism’s grave will be dug -translated)”. It may be noted that this video was uploaded on December 12, 2019.

Moreover, we matched the above video with the viral version and found that the video has been zoomed-in in the version that is presently viral as compared to the clearer version above. The audio quality of the video has significantly deteriorated in the viral version uploaded and downloaded multiple times on social media in a cyclic pattern.

As can be seen on the image in the right, the entire gate is visible in the background, while it is not in the video which is presently viral, a screenshot of which can be seen on the left.

 

Photo: Screenshots via AltNews

Right-wing users amplify misinformation

BJP UP spokesperson Shalab Mani Tripathi posted the video falsely claiming that the students were chanting slogans against Hindus while adding, “Treatment is necessary for people with such attitude and voice (-translated)”. The tweet has garnered close to 900 retweets so far. BJP member Richa Pandey Mishra tweeted the video with a similar claim.

Former Shiv Sena member Ramesh Solanki also tweeted the same video with the false claim, “हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर..Yeh aasteen ke ?hamare hi tax pe palte hai aur hamari hi कब्र khodege”. It was retweeted more than 900 times at the time of writing this article.

BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Bagga posted the same clip (left) along with another video that is viral on social media. He asserted that the students raised “a clarion call for ethnic cleansing of Hindus.”


BJP social media head Amit Malviya tweeted the same clip (left) as Bagga’s with the message, “AMU students are chanting ‘हिंदुओ की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की धरती पर”.


Many other social media users have shared the video on Twitter and Facebook with the identical false claim.

It is evident from the video that the students were raising slogans against Hindutva, not Hindus. BJP office bearers were among many social media users who falsely claimed that the chants were anti-Hindu.

This article was first published on Alt News.

Editors Guild Seeks Withdrawal of I&B Ministry’s Advisory to TV Channels

The advisory was issued after some TV channels beamed footage of violent protests in the northeast against the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India on Saturday sought the withdrawal of a recent advisory issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asking all private television channels to desist from showing content that could incite violence or promote “anti-national attitudes”.

The Guild said it believes that the media’s overall commitment to responsible coverage of developments in the country should not be questioned through such an advisory.

In the advisory issued this week, the ministry had asked all private satellite TV channels to be particularly cautious about airing content that is likely to incite violence, promote “anti-national attitudes” and contains anything affecting the integrity of the nation.

The advisory was issued after some TV channels beamed footage of violent protests in the northeast against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that was passed by parliament on Wednesday.

Also read: ‘When Media Turns Against the Citizen, Citizens Must Play the Role of the Media’

“It is the media’s responsibility to report freely and truthfully and fairly. The Guild decries such a regressive advisory that interferes in the functioning of a free media, and urges the government to withdraw it,” the Guild said in a statement.

The Guild also deplored the “indefensible acts of violence” perpetrated on employees of Guwahati-based Prag News, a 24×7 Assamese news channel, by police and demanded an inquiry into the incident.

“The Guild demands that an inquiry should be instituted to identify those who indulged in such violence against journalists, and punish the guilty,” it said.

The Guild’s attention was drawn to a social media video that showed uniformed policemen running amok outside the Prag News offices, targeting cameramen belonging to the television channel with their batons, the statement said.

In Bengal, Will the CAB-NRC Project Boost the BJP’s Ambitions?

Before the passage of the Citizenship Bill, it appeared Amit Shah’s declarations on ejecting ‘infiltrators’ was backfiring. But the party now has a shield.

In the days and months ahead, Bengal is set to walk a tight-rope between the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Welded together, one can no longer be dissociated from the other. Both complement and strengthen the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) ideology of transforming India into a Hindu rashtra.

In the BJP’s political and ideological agenda, Bengal occupies a special place. It is the state where the party hopes to come to power in 2021, when assembly elections are scheduled. Partitioned twice in the past, Bengal has experienced the impact of communal politics from close quarters. Time and again, from 1947 to 1971, the state has also absorbed successive waves of refugees.

Now, after over five decades, people in Bengal are once again staring an impending human catastrophe, massive displacement, and dislocation in the face. Several questions arise at this moment: How will the people of this historically sensitive state respond to the crises generated by the NRC and Citizenship Act, threatening to deal yet another body blow to the state’s population? Will the Hindus bite the Citizenship Act bait and support the NRC? Will the Citizenship Act diminish their apprehensions about the NRC which, if implemented in Bengal, could strip tens of thousands of not just Muslims, but Hindus as well, of their citizenship?

Till recently, such apprehensions lurked in the minds of ordinary Hindus. The final NRC published in August, rendering 19 lakh people stateless – among them, at least five lakh displaced Bengali Hindus – triggered panic among inhabitants of the state. Union home minister Amit Shah’s aggressive posturing, his repeated declaration of intent to implement the NRC in Bengal and the rest of the country, only deepened these anxieties.

Also Read: Will Not Allow Anyone to Lose Citizenship Due to NRC, CAB: Mamata Banerjee

“Mamata Di is saying she will not allow NRC in Bengal. I’m telling you that we will not allow even a single intruder inside India. We will expel all of them,” Shah said at a rally in Kolkata on October 1, going on to add: “We are working towards changing Bengal.”

“Both Muslims and Hindus were becoming increasingly anxious about the NRC. They were afraid of being left out of the citizenship register,” says Abdul Halim (name changed), a Muslim scholar in Malda. The fear psychosis helped Mamata Banerjee gain rapidly shrinking political ground in last month’s three by-polls, with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) riding to victory in all three constituencies.

The BJP’s resounding defeat, especially the loss of Kharagpur Sadar constituency, represented by the party’s Bengal president Dilip Ghosh prior to his becoming member of the Lok Sabha, rang the alarm bells for the party. This was the first electoral contest between the TMC and the BJP after the saffron party chalked up its tally from two to 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Aspiring to come to power in the assembly elections two years from now, Bengal’s BJP leaders were worried that Shah’s declarations about a nation-wide NRC were hurting the BJP’s poll prospects in the state.

The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill on December 12, however, could provide the BJP with a political shield. “Before the CAB was passed in parliament, it seemed we were ready to give the BJP a fight,” observes Halim. “We were hoping Hindus, too, would resist the NRC. But with Rajya Sabha passing the Bill, Muslims may now be left alone to their lonely fight,” he says. The Act promises citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from the Muslim majority countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Aiming to pacify fears sparked by the large-scale exclusion of Hindus from the NRC in Assam, the Bill is a precursor to a nationwide push for the NRC.

Amit Shah speaking in the Rajya Sabha. Photo: PTI

Will the ploy work in Bengal?

Large sections of people from lower castes, who migrated from former East Pakistan to West Bengal, could find merit in CAB. The Matua community, the largest bloc among the Namasudras of Bengal, could welcome the CAB. Namasudra migration to Bengal has been going on since 1971. Their population, which stood at about 11% of Bengal’s total in 1971, went up to 17% in the 2001 Census.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003, passed by the first NDA government, refused citizenship to those who migrated to West Bengal after March 25, 1971. “In one stroke a sizeable section of Matua community became stateless,” historian Sekhar Bandopadhyay said in an interview to The Wire earlier this year. “Their one major demand now is repealing the 2003 Citizenship Amendment Act. Mamata Banerjee is powerless to grant that demand,” he further pointed out.

In 2009, the Matua Mahasangha successfully mounted a legal defence for “illegal” migrants, arrested under the Act, and won the case. The new Act meets the citizenship demand made by this community. One also has to keep in mind the historical narrative of tension between lower castes and Muslims in Bengal.

Also Read: Citizenship Act: Violent Protests Rock West Bengal, Mamata Appeals for Calm

Prior to the Assam NRC, large sections of Hindus in Bengal, cutting across class and caste lines, found nothing wrong or unethical in the BJP’s ploy to push Bangladeshi Muslims out of the state. Abetted by the party’s strident anti-Bangladesh campaign, sentiment against Bangladeshi Muslims ran high. At a broader level, anti-Muslim sentiment more generally gained ground in Bengal. The BJP’s agenda of welcoming Hindus as refugees while projecting Muslims/Bangladeshis as ‘infiltrators’ paid dividends in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Assam NRC punched holed in the security shield for Hindus. It drove Hindus and Muslims alike to scramble for citizenship documents. Halim talks about the tragic situation unfolding in his village in Malda: “Many among the poor and unlettered people in my village do not know their date of birth. I know a family, where all three sisters put the same year as their individual years of birth.” Or take the example of one Abdul Rahim whose name is registered differently in separate documents. “None of these will stand the NRC scrutiny,” he says. The Muslim community worries that CAB will further push them into a corner.

Civil society groups and non-political party collectives critical of the NRC are stepping up their campaign. Muslims in Bengal are anxious to know whether the state government will have the powers and the jurisdiction to stall the NRC. Can the Centre overrule the state government in this sphere? Then there’s the prospect of the BJP petitioning the Supreme Court.

From the outset, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has made it clear that her dispensation will not implement the NRC in Bengal. The passage of the CAB now lends urgency to that resolve. Besides planning a series of high-profile rallies against the CAB-NRC project, TMC leaders have started to campaign at the grassroots.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Image: Press Trust Of India

The TMC, as well as civil society organisations, are aware that the CAB could shift the ground beneath their feet, blunting opposition to NRC by giving Hindus a sense of security. They believe that the success of their campaign will hinge on how far they are able to convince Hindus that the law (CAB) will not help them achieve citizenship. They believe they have to inform the people about the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s depositions on the Bill. The home ministry’s Intelligence Bureau, in its deposition, clearly said that anyone applying for citizenship under the amended law will have to “prove that they came to India due to religious persecution.” The Bureau maintained that such a claim “would have had to be made at the time the person entered India”.

Also Read: BJP’s Statements After NRC Publication Reflect an ‘Anti-Muslim Bias’: US Commission

By giving virtually all non-Muslim communities a path to citizenship, the Citizenship Act ingeniously drives a wedge between people who otherwise should be allied because they are all equally vulnerable. This, in turn, makes any attempt to create a broad coalition against this terrifying law immensely difficult. In Bengal as elsewhere, it remains to be seen whether the opposition is up for the challenge.

Citizenship Act: Protests Across Country; Delhi Police Lathicharge, Detain Jamia Students

Internet services were suspended in Aligarh to thwart a protest.

New Delhi: As protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act continued on Friday, internet services were suspended in Aligarh to prevent a march, while Delhi police lathicharged students of Jamia Millia Islamia University who were protesting.

As many as 63 of them have been admitted to the Holy Family Hospital after police interrupted a protest march and then proceeded to release tear gas and lathicharge the protesters, according to reports. Section 144 has reportedly been clamped around the university campus.

The protesters had called for a march to the Parliament House from the university campus to express their opposition to the legislation. The students have accused the police of using force against them, with the alumni association severely condemning the violence.

A student’s head being bandaged after police unleashed violence on Jamia Millia Islamia University protesters. Photo: By special arrangement

Photos and videos widely circulating on social media show students severely bleeding or injured.

According to reports, around 2,000 students participated in the protest. Police detained several protestors, taking some to the Badarpur police station and others elsewhere.

PTI has reported that 50 students have been detained.

Protests across capital

The Jamia campus was not the only one which saw protests on Friday. A large number of protesters, including Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind leaders, protested at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Friday against the amended citizenship law, which they described as “anti-constitutional” and “divisive”, and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

A third protest was organised by the Delhi Congress in Seelampur area of East Delhi.

The protesters at Jantar Mantar, led by JUH general secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani, carried placards with slogans like “Save-Constitution, Withdraw CAB”, “Division on basis of religion unacceptable”and “CAB nahin rozgar chahiye“.

Internet suspended in Aligarh

Internet services in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district were blocked since midnight till 5 pm on Friday in view of the protests planned against the amended Citizenship Act.

The administration has denied permission to BSP leader and mayor Furqaan Ali, who wanted to hold a protest against the passage of the Bill in parliament. Elaborate security arrangements have been made in view of the call given by the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) teachers’ association and students for taking out a protest march and handing over a memorandum to the district authorities.

Also Read: Why the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill Is Unconstitutional

The AMUTA and students had announced that they would take out a march from the library to the university circle just outside the campus, where they would hand over memorandum.

In an emergency meeting held on Wednesday, the AMUTA had described the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament as one of the darkest days in the annals of the history of independent India.

Protests in other parts of the country

Protests were also reported in many other parts of the country, including Bengal’s Howrah district, Hyderabad, Gaya in Bihar.

In Howrah, thousands of people protested the Act and the proposed nation-wide NRC and blocked the National Highway 6 at Uluberia. The protestors, with national flags in hands, gathered at the spot around 2:30 pm and blocked the highway, one of the major roads that connects Kolkata to rest of the country.

No policemen were seen at the spot as the protestors sat on the road, set tyres on fire and brought traffic to a standstill.

“We do not want India to be divided, we want to protect the Constitution. We are for a secular West Bengal and against the amended Citizenship Act and the NRC,” said Maulana Ghulam Mustafa of the local Boro Masjid who was leading the agitation.

Traffic jam at NH-6 during a protest against CAB and NRC in Howrah district of West Bengal on December 13, 2019. Photo: PTI

“The amended Citizenship Act and the NRC are actually a plan of the central government to divide the people on the basis of religion. Will not allow that,” he told news agency PTI.

Mustafa said the district magistrate or the sub-divisional officer will have to meet the protestors and listen to their demands or warned that the blockade will continue.

In Hyderabad, reports said protests were held after a call was given by various Muslims organisations to hold peaceful protests across the city. Organisations such as the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami, Tehreek Muslimeen Shabban and Wahadat-e-Islami had called for a protest.

According to Telangana Today, after the Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid, a group of persons held a silent protest. They denounced the Act and demanded it to be withdrawn. Protests were also held at Saidabad, Mehdipatnam and many other places of the city in which thousands participated.

CPI national secretary K. Naryanana, who took part in a protest at Hyderabad with former party MP Azeez Pasha, alleged that the BJP had brought in the anti constitutional bill as part of its ‘Hindu agenda’, a party press release said.

Protestors during a demonstration against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, December 13, 2019. Photo: PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary

Train station set on fire

According to PTI, the Beldanga railway station complex in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district was set on fire and RPF personnel deputed there were allegedly thrashed by people, protesting against the amended Citizenship Act on Friday, officials said.

Also Read: With CAB, India Has Taken a Decisive Step Towards the Sangh Parivar’s Idea of a Nation

Several organisations in the district had called for mass protests.

“The protestors all of a sudden entered the railway station complex and set the platform, two-three buildings and railway offices on fire. When RPF personnel tried to stop them, they were brutally beaten up,” a senior RPF official told PTI.

Citizenship Bill: Uproar in Tripura Tribal Areas Over Police Firing on Protesters

On January 8, the Tripura State Rifles personnel reportedly opened fire at protestors, leaving at least 15 persons injured.

New Delhi: Aside from the massive protest in Assam against the Centre’s decision to amend the Citizenship Act the tribal dominated areas of Tripura too have registered widespread demonstrations against it, leading to police firing on protesters and a ban on internet services for the last five days.

The amendment moves to grant Indian nationality to Hindu Bangladeshis who entered the country till December 31, 2014.

The frontier state’s tribal population, affected by migration of refugees from East Pakistan during Partition and later during the Bangladesh Liberation War, are opposed to the amendment as it could further affect the population composition of the state.

Also read: Citizenship Bill: Legislative Chaos or Amnesia?

Various groups, including the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), a partner in the state government, have already been demanding a tribal state sliced out of Tiprasa dominated areas based on the argument that they have become a minority in their homeland. While the BJP initially supported the IPFT demand in the run up the last assembly elections, it later backed out keeping the majority Hindu Bengali sentiments in mind.

According to media reports emerging from the state this past week, on getting confirmation that the Narendra Modi government would pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in the Lok Sabha on January 9, the North East Students Union (NESO) called for a 12-hour bandh across the Northeastern states on January 8.

The bandh was observed in the tribal dominated areas of Tripura – ;ocal reports said protesters came out to the streets shouting slogans against the Bill in Khumulwng, the headquarters of Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council (TTADC), situated about 25 km from state capital Agartala. They reportedly also pelted stones at the security forces.

The police clamped Section 144 and asked the protesters to leave. On refusing to do so, the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personnel reportedly opened fire at them, leaving at least 15 persons injured, including six with bullet injuries.

Also read: Citizenship Bill: Hindu Biharis Were Once Assam’s ‘Saviours’, Now its Hindu Bangladeshis

Videos of police firing on the protesters and alleged beating of the injured persons while being taken in an ambulance to the hospital by security personnel have since been circulating on social media, leading to widespread public outrage in the tribal areas.

The state then put a ban on internet services.

Six leaders of NESO, including the advisor of All Assam Students Union (AASU), Samujjal Bhattacharjee, were thereafter stopped at Agartala and barred from travelling to Khumulwng.

In protest against the police firing, yet another bandh was called on January 12 by a number of tribal groups, including the IPFT-Tipraha, a breakaway faction of the BJP partner IPFT, Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) and Twipra Students Federation (TSF) among others. Local reports said a rally against the Bill was organised in Sadhupara area of TTADC where protesters raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister Biplab Deb and the BJP national president Amit Shah for passing it the Lok Sabha. Picketing was reported from other areas of the TTADC too while educational institutions and government offices remained closed.

Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb. Credit: PTI

These groups demanded the resignation of the chief minister over the firing on “unarmed innocent people”, a judicial probe into it headed by a sitting high court judge besides Rs 20 lakh as compensation or a government job to the families of the injured youth. INPT general secretary Jagadish Debbarma told reporters in Agartala that the BJP government opened fire on “unarmed innocent people while they were protesting against the Bill in a democratic manner.”

Former chief minister Manik Sarkar visited the TTADC areas on January 14. Speaking to reporters, he said, “A lot of shops were burnt, damaged in Madhabbari and other areas in Jirania sub-division. People, especially women, are traumatised. Except one, all those shot during the protest sustained bullet injuries on their back, indicating that they were running away. I think firing on them was perhaps not necessary.”

Sarkar also supported the demand for a probe by a sitting high court judge. However, earlier in the day, the state administration ordered a magisterial inquiry into the firing.

Also read: Modi’s Poll Speech in Assam Supporting Citizenship Bill Triggers a Maelstrom

Speaking to reporters about the bandh, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee accused the CPI-M of “conspiring against the state government”.

The Congress too has offered its support to the January 12 bandh. Party’s working president Pradyot Debbarman, who also belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Tripura, told The Wire, “Tripura and the Northeast will not be dumping ground for people from Bangladesh. If the Centre is so concerned about them, then they can make provisions for them in some other states but not in the Northeast where smaller communities reside. This is not a political fight but of our existence.”

Debbarman has filed a petition in the Supreme Court recently seeking a directive to create a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Tripura akin to Assam. His move has made him unpopular within his party too.

In a recent party meeting in Agartala, a video of which was leaked in the social media, Debbarman, in his speech, offered to resign from his post if some leaders in his party didn’t support him in his demand for an NRC. He said that the petition was not against Bengali Hindus, but against Bangladeshis. 

Meanwhile, reports said, following the January 8 firing, a large number of TSR and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been deployed in the TTADC areas.