India citizenship protests spread as students and police clash over ‘anti-Muslim’ law
The new law passed in India has been getting scrutinized by the protestors. On this, the latest updates state that Police have fired shots in the air and have used tear gas in New Delhi as the protests against India’s citizenship law spread across the country.
A peaceful march against the Islamophobic immigration policy shaped into chaos and violence over the weekend. On the actions the Police took, they have been accused of abusing the power as they dragged unarmed protestors across the floor and beat them with the wooden sticks during the protest at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, on Sunday.
While this happened, the protests have continued with more demonstrations in other states including Kerala, Karnataka, and West Bengal on Tuesday.
The Protest
This protest outbursted in the initiation of the new law called the ‘Citizenship Amendment Act’. This law entitles all the non-Muslims who are living in the country illegally to get their citizenship if they can prove that they face religious persecution in Muslim Majority Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. This law is applicable to Hindus, Christians and all other religious minorities except Muslims.
On this the protestors say that it is anti-Muslim, may cause mass migration, and is an attempt of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to make the country a Hindu Stronghold.
The police took action, for which they have been accused only when the march at the New Delhi university escalated leading the protestors burning 3 buses. This was all caught in the video, in which the officers were shown running behind the protestors & initiated the Lathi charge. As a result, Dozens of the students were seriously injured and were taken to the hospital for care.
On this, the police have declined the accusations of abusing their power over the protestors.
Hanjala Mojibi, an English student, studying at the predominantly Muslim school, said that they stood with their hands in the air when they saw the police coming towards them.
A tearful Mr. Mojibi said: “The police made all 15 of us kneel and started beating us. They used lots of abusive words. One of them removed my prescription glasses, threw (them) on the ground, broke them and told me to look down.”
Elsewhere at Aligarh Muslim University located in Uttar Pradesh, police fired tear gas injuring 5 people taking who were participating in the protest said, Rahat Abrar.
This is not all, Shahid Hussain, a 25-year old student of history said that the police threw a tear gas canister inside his dormitory through window breaking the glass. He said he barely escaped the building when the police pushed him against the tree and hit him with the sticks.
On this, Police spokesman Suni Bainsla said the allegations were all lies.
India presently is 80% Hindu & 14% Muslim country, making it one of the largest Muslim communities of any country in the world.
PM Narendra Modi said that the new law is a humanitarian gesture, on which he later tweeted “This Act illustrates India’s centuries-old culture of acceptance, harmony, compassion, and brotherhood”.
