GUWAHATI: A controversial citizenship law that has been criticized for discriminating against Muslims has sparked sporadic protests in India. The law was enacted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government just days before a general election was scheduled.
Following the announcement of the implementation, protests erupted late on Monday night in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the eastern state of Assam, according to authorities.
Nonetheless, no allegations of damage or conflicts with security personnel were made.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was implemented by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which simplified the process of obtaining Indian citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants from three South Asian countries with a majority of Muslims.
The amended law denies Indian citizenship to Muslims.
The law’s passage in 2019 sparked widespread demonstrations and sectarian violence that resulted in numerous fatalities, compelling the government to postpone putting it into effect.
In the Tamil Nadu capital of Chennai, demonstrators marched by candlelight while yelling anti-legislation slogans.
Protesters in Assam chanted slogans and set burning copies of the bill on Monday night. Local opposition groups have called for a Tuesday state-wide strike.
Many in Assam are against the CAA because they believe it will boost migration from Muslim Bangladesh, a long-standing source of conflict that has divided the state for many years.
Kerala, which is ruled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), issued a call for protests on Tuesday throughout the whole state.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, one of numerous opposition chief ministers who have criticized the execution of CAA, stated in a post on X that “Kerala will stand united in opposing this communal and divisive law.”
Authorities in New Delhi, the nation’s capital and the epicenter of the 2019 protests, forbade unauthorized meetings and stepped up police presence in high-risk locations in preparation for any violent outburst.
Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who moved to Hindu-majority India before December 31, 2014, because of religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, are granted Indian nationality by the Citizenship by Association Act.
Rights advocates and Muslim organizations claim that the law may discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims in conjunction with a planned national registry of people. In several border states, there is concern that the government may deprive Muslims without proper documentation of their citizenship.
