Jamia violence, amended Citizenship Act and speculation over nationwide NRC
India TodayThe protests against the amended Citizenship Act have led to violent clashes at many places including the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh. Jamia campus of Delhi, however, remained the centre of students’ protest against the Citizenship Act that was amended last week with Parliament passing the Citizenship Amendment Bill. As the question of how to address the 19 lakh non-citizens was still being discussed, the Modi government brought the Citizenship Amendment Bill which says illegal immigrants who are Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan may acquire Indian citizenship if they left their parent country to escape religious persecution. The amended Citizenship Act has opened a window for illegal immigrants, including those declared non-citizens under the Assam NRC, belonging to these six communities to become Indian citizens.