2019–2020 protests in India
The Citizenship Amendment Act (Bill) protests, also known as the CAA Protest, CAB Protest or CAA and NRC protests, occurred after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted by the Government of India on 12 December 2019. The move sparked a widespread national and overseas ongoing protests against the act and its associated proposals of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The protests first began in Assam and spread swiftly in other states such as Delhi, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura on 4 December 2019. Protests broke out rapidly across the country, although the concerns of the protesters vary.
The CAA amends the Indian citizenship act to provide accelerated pathway for citizenship for illegal migrants who are Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and who entered India before 2014, following the religious persecutions. The bill reduced the time taken for naturalization for this category from twelve years to six years. The bill does not mention Muslims and other communities who fled from the same or other neighbouring countries. Refugees from Sri Lankan Tamils in India, Rohingyas from Myanmar, and Tibetan refugees are also not mentioned in the bill. The proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be an official record of all legal citizens of India. Individuals would need to provide a prescribed set of documents before a specified cutoff date to be included in it.
The amendment has been widely criticised as discriminating on the basis of religion, particularity for excluding Muslims. Protestors against the amendment demand that it be scrapped and that the nationwide NRC not be implemented. The bill has raised concerns among the Indian Muslim community. They are also concerned that all citizens will be affected by the bureaucratic exercise of the NRC where they will have to prove their citizenship for inclusion in the registry. The protesters have raised voices against authoritarianism and the police crackdown in universities to suppress protests.
Protesters in Assam and other northeastern states do not want Indian citizenship to be granted to any refugee or immigrant, regardless of their religion, as they fear it would alter the region's demographic balance, resulting in a loss of their political rights, culture, and land. They are also concerned that it will motivate further migration from Bangladesh that could violate the Assam Accord which was a prior agreement reached with the central government on migrants and refugees.
The protests started in Assam on 4 December 2019, after the bill was introduced in parliament. Later on, protests erupted in Northeast India, and subsequently spread to the major cities of India. On 15 December, major protests took place near Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University. As the protests broke out, mobs burnt and destroyed public as well as private properties and several railway stations were vandalised. Police forcibly entered the campus of Jamia, used batons and tear gas on the students, and more than 200 students were injured while around 100 were detained overnight in the police station. The police action was widely criticised and resulted students across the country protesting in solidarity.
The protests resulted in thousands of arrests and 27 deaths as of 27 December 2019. Two 17-year-old minors were among those reported to have been killed due to police firing during a live ammunition on protesters in Assam. On 19 December, the police issued a complete ban on protests in several parts of India. As a result of defying the ban, thousands of protesters were detained.
Background.
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (CAB) was introduced by the Home Minister, Amit Shah on the floor of the Parliament of India on 9 December 2019 in response to the exclusion of 1.9 million people, predominantly Hindus and Muslims in the National Register of Citizens for Assam. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December. It amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant a swifter path to Indian citizenship under the assumption of religious persecution to any individual belonging to the specific minorities of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. The Act also seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for migrants covered under the Act.
However, the Act does not mention Muslims and does not offer the same eligibility benefits to Muslim immigrants or immigrants belonging to other religions from those countries. The Act also does not mention any benefits for various other refugees which form the bulk of the refugees living in India, such as Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who faced persecution during the Sri Lankan Civil War, Rohingya refugees who were victims of the Rohingya genocide, Nepali refugees who faced ethnic cleansing in Bhutan, and Tibetan Buddhist refugees who faced persecution in China. According to the Intelligence Bureau, the immediate beneficiaries of the new law will be 25,447 Hindus, 5,807 Sikhs, 55 Christians, 2 Buddhists and 2 Parsis.
Response.
The passage of the Act sparked massive protests in India. Protesters in Assam and other northeastern states oppose the grant of Indian citizenship to any refugee or immigrant, regardless of their religion, because they fear it would alter the region's demographic balance. They have campaigned since the 1970s against all refugees, and they fear that the new law will cause a loss of their political rights, culture and land. They are also concerned that it will trigger more migration from Bangladesh as well as violate the Assam Accord, which was a prior agreement reached with the central government on migrants and refugees. After the act was passed, protests in the northeastern region turned violent. Authorities have arrested over 3000 protesters as of 17 December 2019, and some news outlets have described these protests as riots. Protesters say that the Act violates Clause 5 and Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord.
Critics have stated that the amendment Act is unconstitutional. The major opposition political parties state that it violates Constitution's Article 14, one that guarantees equality to all. They allege that the new law seeks to make Muslims second-class citizens of India, while preferentially treating non-Muslims in India.
Critics of the Act have also stated that due to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Muslims could be made stateless, while the Citizenship Amendment Act would be able to shield people with Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian identity as a means of providing them with Indian citizenship even if they fail to prove that they were citizens of India under the stringent requirements of the NRC. Some critics allege that it is a deliberate attempt at disenfranchising and segregating Muslims in line with the ethnonationalist Hindutva ideology of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Tavleen Singh described the Act as India's first Nuremberg Law.
The Act was criticised by various NGOs, students bodies, and liberal, progressive, and socialist organisations across the country, with the Indian National Congress and other major political parties announcing their staunch opposition. Protests led by these groups are concerned that the new law discriminates against Muslims, and believe that Indian citizenship should also be granted to Muslim refugees and immigrants. The states of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh – all ruled by political parties that oppose the BJP – have announced that they will not implement either the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or the Citizenship Amendment Act. The states of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have however refused to only implement the NRC, while the state of Punjab and the union territories of Delhi and Puducherry have refused to implement the Act while only expressing disapproval of the NRC.
The states of West Bengal and Kerala have also put a hold on all activities relating to the preparation and update of the National Population Register which is necessary for the Census as well as the implementation of the National Register of Citizens. Although some of the states have opposed the Act, the Union Home Ministry clarified that states lack the legal power to stop the implementation of CAA. The Ministry stated that "The new legislation has been enacted under the Union List of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution. The states have no power to reject it." The Indian Union Muslim League and various other bodies have also petitioned the Supreme Court of India to strike down the Act as illegal and unconstitutional.
*The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was cleared by the Union Cabinet for introduction in the parliament.
*After the bill was cleared, violent protests erupted in Assam, especially in Guwahati, and other areas in the state.
*In Dispur, several thousands of protesters broke down police barricades to protest in front of the Assam Legislative Assembly building.
*Demonstrations were held in Agartala. Six people died and fifty people were injured in the protests against the Act.
*The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah.
*The bill was passed with 311 members voting in favour and 80 against.
*The bill was subsequently passed by the Rajya Sabha with 125 votes in favour and 105 votes against it. Those parties that had voted in favour include BJP allies such as the Janata Dal (United) and the AIADMK and non-aligned parties such as the Biju Janata Dal.
*After receiving assent from the President of India, the bill assumed the status of an act. The act would come into force on 10 January, chosen by the Government of India, and would be notified as such.
*Dipanjal Das and Sam Stafford were killed in police firing during a protest in Guwahati.
*Akhil Gogoi was taken in preventive custody.
* UK, US, France, Israel and Canada issued travel warnings for their citizens visiting India's north-east region, where the protests were mainly taking place, asking them to "exercise caution".
*The Chief Ministers of the Indian states of West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had stated that they would not implement the act.
*Ishwar Nayak was killed in police firing at a protest in Assam.
*Thousands of people protested against the law at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
*In Assam, Abdul Alim, a protester, died due to police firing in a protest the previous day.
*In Jamia Nagar, Delhi, three Delhi Transport Corporation buses were torched as protests took a violent turn.
*A group of artists in Guwahati staged a concert in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.
*Police forcefully entered the campus of Jamia Milia Islamia university and detained students. According to video footage, the police used batons and tear gas on the students. More than two hundred students were injured and around a hundred were detained. The police action was widely criticised, and resulted in protests across the country and abroad. There were also allegations that the police attacked students who were not part of the protests.
*Protests were held outside the campus of the Aligarh Muslim University. In the evening, police officers forcefully entered the campus and attacked students. At least 80 students were injured in the attacks.
*In West Bengal, violent protests occurred and five trains were set on fire by protesters in Lalgola and Krishnapur railway stations in Murshidabad district.
*In Lucknow, police prevented around 300 students of Nadwa University from staging a peaceful protest outside the campus; clashes ensued later. Around 15 to 20 students were injured and around 30 students were charged by the police for attempt to murder and violence.
*Priyanka Gandhi led a silent protest at the India Gate along with about three hundred Indian National Congress workers to show solidarity with the students of Jamia Milia Islamia after the previous day's incidents.
*A Satyagraha was organised by the All Assam Students' Union across Assam, which would continue till 18 December.
*In West Bengal thousands of people joined a demonstration led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her ruling Trinamool Congress party.
*Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm on Twitter and clarified that CAA was for immigrants.
*Violent clashes occurred in Delhi's Seelampur area. Police retaliated with tear gas and batons against the stone throwing protesters. Several protesters and officers were injured. A police station was set on fire and buses were vandalised in the area.
*A dawn-to-dusk hartal (shutdown) was observed in Kerala by the Welfare Party of India, Bahujan Samaj Party, Social Democratic Party of India and 30 other organisations against the Citizenship Amendment