巴拉特

分类： bharat

  • ‘Lies & rumors’ being spread over citizenship bill, Modi tells huge crowd at Delhi rally

    Recent unrest over a new citizenship law has been fueled by misinformation spread by opposition parties, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed while speaking to supporters who gathered in Delhi.

    Tens of thousands of people attended the Sunday rally for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

    Speaking to the crowd, the Indian PM said that protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) have been “incited” by political parties “spreading rumors” about the legislation, ANI reported.

    He accused his rivals of stoking fears that Muslims would be rounded up and sent to detention centers and called on people to read the Act in detail.

    “Respect your education, read what is the Citizenship Amendment Act… You are educated,” he said.

    The government claims that the law aims to protect persecuted religious minorities by fast-tracking citizenship for refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Critics say the bill is discriminatory because it does not include Muslims.

    Opening his remarks by saying “unity in diversity is India’s specialty,” Modi stressed that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians have all benefited from India’s secular constitution.

    One thousand police officers, as well as anti-drone teams, were deployed to provide security for the event, local media reported.

    Demonstrators against the CAA haven’t stopped protesting in cities and towns across India since the Act was ratified by parliament on December 11, with some rallies turning extremely violent and claiming at least 21 lives.

     

  • Aisa Desh Hai Mera: Pride And Prejudice Bring India To A Grinding Halt Over New Citizenship Law

    In an unprecedented showdown against PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, thousands of university students flooded the streets of India’s capital, while a southern state government led a march and demonstrators held a silent protest in the northeast on Monday.

    The protests are aimed at opposing a new law that gives citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India illegally to flee religious persecution in several neighbouring countries.

    But vociferous demonstrations that have been rocking the world’s largest democracy ever since Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the contentious bill in the Parliament reached their crescendo, on Sunday, as police entered the premises of a leading university and thrashed its students after numerous cases of violence surfaced in the national capital.

    The protests in New Delhi followed a night of violent clashes between police and demonstrators at Jamia Millia Islamia University. People who student organizers claim were not students set at least three buses on fire and police stormed the university library, firing tear gas at students crouched under desks.

    At Jamia Millia Islamia University on Monday, thousands stood outside the locked-down campus. Inside, hundreds of students took part in a peaceful sit-in, holding placards denouncing the injuries of dozens of students the night before.

    The government maintains that the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which was approved by Parliament last week, will make India a safe haven for Hindus and other religious minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But critics say the legislation, which for the first time conditions Indian citizenship on religion, violates the secular constitution of the world’s largest democracy.

    The law’s passage has triggered protests across India, but Assam, the centre of a decades-old movement against illegal immigrants, has seen the highest toll.

  • India protests: Modi government cracks down on phone, internet as death toll rises

    • Law passed on December 11 gives people from persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries easier path to citizenship – unless they are Muslim
    • Internet shutdowns are a favoured tactic for Modi’s government. Authorities have interrupted internet services at least 102 times so far this year

    Activists of the Youth Forum for Kashmir burn an Indian flag with pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFPActivists of the Youth Forum for Kashmir burn an Indian flag with pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFP
    Activists of the Youth Forum for Kashmir burn an Indian flag with pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFP
    Indian authorities have stepped up phone and mobile internet shutdowns in some parts of the country in an effort to thwart a groundswell of protests over a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims.
    Thousands of people joined rallies on Saturday, with 23 killed so far in the unrest, police said. The death toll jumped after demonstrations turned violent on Friday in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, leaving at least 11 dead including an eight-year-old boy, who was trampled.
    On Saturday more protests began in cities including Chennai, capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, and Patna in eastern Bihar state. Crowds were also expected again in the national capital New Delhi.
    Disquiet has been growing about the law, which was passed by parliament on December 11 and gives people from persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries an easier path to citizenship – but not if they are Muslim. Critics say the law discriminates against Muslims and is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda, a claim his political party has denied.
    “This piece of legislation strikes at the heart of the Constitution, seeking to make India another country altogether,” prominent historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in an Indian newspaper, The Telegraph, after being detained and then released for protesting in the southern city of Bangalore. “It is thus that so many people from so many different walks of life have raised their voices against it.”
    Student-led protests that have galvanised a large section of the Indian public have been met with communications blocks in areas of New Delhi, in the eastern state of West Bengal, the northern city of Aligarh and the entire state of Assam in the days since the contentious law was passed in parliament.
    In Aligarh, where police beat students and fired tear gas shells inside a university last week, internet services on Saturday were suspended for the sixth straight day. The services were also barred in the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh, where nine people have been killed statewide in protests since Friday.
    Internet shutdowns are a favoured tactic for Modi’s government. Authorities have interrupted internet services at least 102 times so far this year, according to a public online tracker maintained by the New Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Centre.
    In 2018, the #KeepItOn coalition, which works with the support of 191 organisations globally, and the non-profit group Access Now reported that of the 196 internet shutdowns reported from 25 countries, India was responsible for the majority, with 134 incidents – almost 67 per cent of the world’s documented shutdowns.
    Since Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government first came into power in 2014, the internet has been suspended more than 360 times.