3 killed in police firing as protests against citizenship law sweep country

Reports of violence also came from BJP-ruled Karnataka and Gujarat, and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal

Three persons died in police firing in massive protests, a few of which turned violent, across the country on Thursday against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Students, activists, and political parties that took part in these protests criticised the “discriminatory CAA and NRC”, and also accused the Narendra Modi government of bringing in the contentious law to divert attention from price rise, economic slowdown, and unemployment. Violence was reported in Sambhal and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; Mangaluru in Karnataka, which led to curfew to be imposed there; and Ahmedabad. Protesters in Lucknow torched vehicles parked outside a police station.

Reports of violence also came from BJP-ruled Karnataka and Gujarat, and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal. One person in Lucknow and two in Mangaluru died in police firing, reports said. At Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, protesters offered roses to security personnel, saying the police could baton charge them as much as they wanted, but their message was “love in return for hatred”….Click Here

Ongoing unrest over Citizenship Act won’t derail our economic agenda: FM

‘There’s no undermining of India’s unity and its economy is important’, said the finance minister

The ongoing turmoil over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act would not impact the government’s response to economic challenges, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, adding that the government was committed to reforms and was taking steps to revive growth. She also cautioned against “jihadist, Maoist, and separatist” elements getting into student activism.

“There’s no undermining of India’s unity and its economy is important…We can assure every step is being taken to ensure that India and the economy go forward and benefit all,” Sitharaman said at Times Network’s India Economic Conclave. “I shall be, together with the prime minister, working towards engaging with every sector and making sure their requirements are fulfilled and challenges are met,” she added. She, however, declined to say when she expected a turnaround in the economy. “I am not going to spend time saying when it (slowdown) is going to reverse. As long as anybody wants the government to intervene, we shall intervene,” she said.

India’s economy grew at 4.5 per cent in the September quarter, the slowest in six years. The government, she said, was working on reviving consumption by pushing forward rural programmes and ensuring money reaches consumers. Public investment in infrastructure was being taken seriously and the pending dues of small and medium enterprises were being cleared, she added. She acknowledged that goods and service tax collection in the first eight months of the financial year was lower than expected, and added there was no discussion in her department to revise the GST rates…

Read More: Citizenship Act Bill

Three killed in police firing as CAB protests flare across the Northeast

Two Bangladeshi ministers cancel visit to India; uncertainty over Guwahati hosting Shinzo Abe in India-Japan summit on December 15

Several parts of the Northeast continued to burn for a second day on Thursday, as people defied curfew in Assam to protest the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, leaving at least three dead in police firing in Guwahati.

The police opened fire to disperse protesters at Lalungaonn area in Guwahati. There were reports of people getting injured. Police also fired in the air in several other areas of the city, including the Guwahati-Shillong Road that turned into a war zone as protesters vandalised shops and buildings, burnt tyres, and clashed with security forces, PTI reported.

The All Assam Students Union (AASU) and peasants’ organisation KMSS called for a mega gathering at Latashil playground in the city, which was attended by hundreds of people. Several prominent personalities from the film and music industry, including icon Zubeen Garg, joined the gathering along with college students. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Sarbananda Sonowal have betrayed the people of Assam by ensuring passage of the Bill,” AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said.

Airlines cancelled their flights, with hundreds of passengers stranded at the Guwahati airport, and the railways suspended plying of trains beyond Guwahati. Schools will remain shut in Assam until December 22. Internet services remained suspended in the state, and were stopped in Meghalaya for 48 hours….Click Here

India abandoning its founding principles with Citizenship Amendment Bill

The purpose is to create, through law, a permanent threat to hang over every single Muslim head in India, writes Mihir S Sharma.

For 70 years, India has struggled to remain a secular state. In spite of its people being overwhelmingly Hindu, it chose not to distinguish between its citizens–or putative citizens–on the basis of their religion. That principle was what its founding fathers fought for, and what for decades led it to proudly distinguish itself from Pakistan, born at the same time as India but explicitly as a homeland for Muslims.

The Hindu nationalist party of which India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party played no part in the popular struggle for independence. It has no reason to quarrel with the “two-nation theory” that holds that the Muslims and Hindus of the subcontinent are always and forever two nations–the theory that Pakistan’s founders proposed and India’s founders rejected. Indeed, as far as the BJP is concerned, India is knit together by its Hindu heritage; India’s Muslim citizens are at best to be uneasily tolerated, and at worst to be seen as interlopers who belong in Pakistan.

This week, India’s parliament enshrined this worldview in law. It passed an amendment to India’s citizenship act that allowed a swift path to citizenship for refugees and migrants from certain neighboring countries–as long as they are Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Christian, Zoroastrian or Buddhist…

Read More: Citizenship Amendment Bill

Citizenship Bill cleared by Rajya Sabha with 125 ayes after a 9-hour debate

In Assam, capital Guwahati was the epicentre of anti-CAB protests and was placed under indefinite curfew.

Parliament on Wednesday passed the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) amid widespread protests and incidents of violence against the proposed law in the Northeastern states, particularly Assam and Tripura. In Assam, capital Guwahati was the epicentre of anti-CAB protests and was placed under indefinite curfew. The Army was also deployed in the city. Assam Rifles personnel were deployed in Tripura. Internet services have been suspended in 10 districts of Assam.

In a related development, Maharashtra cadre Indian Police Service officer Abdur Rahman quit the service over the “blatantly communal and unconstitutional” Bill. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill at 8:45 p.m., after a nearly nine-hour-long debate with 125 members voting in support of the Bill and 99 against. The current strength of the House is 240, with five vacancies.

Sources said 16 members absented from voting, including all three of the Shiv Sena and two out of the four of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The Sena had voted in favour of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, which had passed it on Monday.It said it staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha as the government did not give satisfactory replies to its queries on the Bill. The next battle for the Bill, once it gets presidential assent, is set to be fought in the Supreme Court with several Opposition parties and legal experts claiming that it violates the Constitution, particularly Article 14….

Citizenship Bill on Cabinet agenda, Amit Shah meets Northeast CMs

A large section of people and organisations in the northeast have opposed the Citizenship Bill

On the eve of a meeting of the Union Cabinet, which is likely to approve the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), Home Minister Amit Shah met politicians and organisations from the northeastern states on Tuesday to understand their concerns over the proposed law.

Apart from the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, the Cabinet is likely to clear the Personal Data Protection Bill and further amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and the Companies Act. The Narendra Modi government hopes to ensure the passage of these Bills during the ongoing winter session of Parliament which concludes on December 13.

Shah held discussions with the representatives of students’ bodies and civil society groups of Assam on the CAB. Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal, too, attended the meetings. It was the third such session held by Shah since Friday. Mizoram CM Zoramthanga also called on Shah.

The groups, including the All Assam Students Union, told Shah that they are apprehensive that the proposed law, if enacted, could affect the indigenous people of the northeast. There have been widespread protests in the northeastern states against the Bill. Government sources said the northeastern states could be kept out of the purview of the Bill…