Hundreds of activists gathered outside the New Delhi police headquarters Sunday night
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Dec 16, 2019 6:29 AM ET
Anger fuelled in harsh police crackdown on university campus protests
Protests over a new citizenship law based on religion spread to student campuses across India on Monday as critics said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was pushing a partisan agenda in conflict with India's founding as a secular republic.
Anger with Modi's Hindu nationalist government was further fuelled by allegations of police brutality at Jamia Millia Islamia university on Sunday, when officers entered the campus in the capital New Delhi and fired tear gas to break up a protest. At least 100 people were injured in the clashes there.
Under the law passed by parliament last week, religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians from neighbouring Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have settled in India prior to 2015 will have a path to Indian citizenship on grounds they faced persecution in those countries.
Critics say the law, which does not make the same provision for Muslims, weakens India's secular foundations.
There were similar scenes at the Aligarh Muslim University in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where police also clashed with protesters on the campus.
Hundreds of activists gathered outside the New Delhi police headquarters on Sunday night to protest against alleged police brutality and the detention of students.
A man walks on a street as a bus is on fire following a demonstration against the Indian government's Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in New Delhi on Sunday. (AFP/Getty Images)
The most violent protests during the past few day took place in the northeastern state of Assam, where mobs torched buildings and train stations, angry the law would help thousands of immigrants from Bangladesh become lawful citizens. At least two people were killed in the violent clashes with police.
Protests were held in Mumbai's Indian Institute of Technology and Tata Institute of Social Sciences overnight and on Monday and more were planned at Bombay University and in the southern city of Bengaluru later in the day.
'The country is burning'
Students said they also stood in solidarity with fellow student in Delhi who clashed with police in Delhi on Sunday.
"The country is burning, the government has made a mockery of the constitution," said D. Raja, a general secretary of the Communist Party of India.
Some Bollywood celebrities, like actress Konkona Sen Sharma and directors Mahesh Bhatt and Anubhav Sinha, also criticized the police action on Twitter, and called on others to speak up.
"We are with the students! Shame on you @DelhiPolice," Sen Sharma tweeted.
A woman is helped after she was injured during a protest against a new citizenship law in New Delhi on Sunday. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)
The most violent protests during the past few day took place in the northeastern state of Assam, where mobs torched buildings and train stations, angry the law would help thousands of immigrants from Bangladesh become lawful citizens. At least two people were killed in the violent clashes with police.
Protests were held in Mumbai's Indian Institute of Technology and Tata Institute of Social Sciences overnight and on Monday and more were planned at Bombay University and in the southern city of Bengaluru later in the day.
'The country is burning'
Students said they also stood in solidarity with fellow student in Delhi who clashed with police in Delhi on Sunday.
"The country is burning, the government has made a mockery of the constitution," said D. Raja, a general secretary of the Communist Party of India.
Some Bollywood celebrities, like actress Konkona Sen Sharma and directors Mahesh Bhatt and Anubhav Sinha, also criticized the police action on Twitter, and called on others to speak up.
"We are with the students! Shame on you @DelhiPolice," Sen Sharma tweeted.
A woman is helped after she was injured during a protest against a new citizenship law in New Delhi on Sunday. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)
Anger with Modi's Hindu nationalist government over the citizenship act has erupted for two reasons. In Assam, and other northeastern states bordering Bangladesh, people are upset over the impact that a large influx of migrants is having on society, and the pressure it places on their land.
In the capital New Delhi and other urban centres, opposition political activists and student leaders are angry over a law that they say erodes India's secular foundations and discriminates against Muslims.
Indian students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University shout slogans during a protest in New Delhi on Monday. Thousands of university students flooded the streets of India's capital to protest a new law giving citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India illegally to flee religious persecution in several neighbouring countries. (Manish Swarup/The Associated Press)
Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party denies any religious bias but says it is opposed to the appeasement of one community. It says the new law is meant to help minority groups facing persecution in the three nearby Muslim countries.
Modi has said the law has been passed by parliament and there is no going back on it. He told a rally on Sunday the decision was "1000 per cent correct."
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Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party denies any religious bias but says it is opposed to the appeasement of one community. It says the new law is meant to help minority groups facing persecution in the three nearby Muslim countries.
Modi has said the law has been passed by parliament and there is no going back on it. He told a rally on Sunday the decision was "1000 per cent correct."
SEE
ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS ----- INDIAN EXPRESS --- STUDENT PROTEST NEWS
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