Eight die in protests against citizenship law across India
Police have banned public gatherings in parts of New Delhi and other cities for a third day and cut internet services to try to stop growing protests that have so far left eight people dead and more than 1,200 others detained.
The protests have targeted a new citizenship law that opponents say threatens the secular nature of Indian democracy in favour of a Hindu state.
Demonstrations are planned around India as opposition to a new law that provides a path to citizenship has quickly expanded from predominantly Muslim universities and communities to a much wider section of the Indian public.
While some see the law as a slight against Muslims, others, including Hindu conservatives in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), fear it will encourage immigration to India, where public services for its 1.3 billion people are already highly strained.
“In effect, some of the BJP’s own rank and file, the very people the party has sought to help, have come out against the law,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the US-based Wilson Centre.
Mr Kugelman said that the government’s failure to respond to the protests, except to accuse political opponents of orchestrating them, is “likely to galvanise the protesters even more”.
A law banning the assembly of more than four people was imposed for a third day on Friday in parts of the Indian capital as well as in several cities in north-eastern Assam state and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where a motorised rickshaw driver was killed during a protest in the capital Lucknow.
A total of eight deaths have been reported so far, including five in Assam and two in southern Karnataka state.
Authorities erected roadblocks and turned areas around mosques in New Delhi, Lucknow and other Muslim-dominated areas into security fortresses to prevent widespread demonstrations after Friday prayers.
Police temporarily held 1,200 protesters in New Delhi alone on Thursday and hundreds of others were detained in other cities after they defied bans on assembly. Most protesters were released later in the day.
The legislation has sparked anger at what many see as the government’s push to bring India closer to a Hindu state.
Critics say it is the latest effort by Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government to marginalise India’s 200 million Muslims, and a violation of the country’s secular constitution.
Mr Modi has defended it as a humanitarian gesture.