‘Dark day’: India on edge over religion-based citizenship law before polls
Al JazeeraProtests break out in parts of the country. New Delhi, India — Protests have erupted in parts of India over the Narendra Modi government’s implementation of a controversial citizenship law ahead of national elections, as security forces rushed to areas of the national capital that had previously been epicentres of large demonstrations against the legislation. “The CAA has always been about creating two tiers of citizenships in India: non-Muslims and Muslims,” said Yogendra Yadav, a political scientist and activist who was closely associated with the anti-CAA protests. “The anti-CAA protests had given Muslims the voice and space that we needed and contributed significantly in shaping many important narratives with rest to citizenship in the country.” Zargar was three months pregnant when she was arrested by the police and imprisoned in New Delhi’s overcrowded Tihar Central Jail in the middle of the pandemic. “Historians will look at independent India and they would remember anti-CAA as we today remember the first revolt of 1857 that led India’s independence movement.” Nadeem Khan, civil rights activist and co-founder of a campaign called United Against Hate, said the CAA seeks to fundamentally alter the character of the Indian republic.