Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Chennai
Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) continue unabated, with university students serving as the face of the movement. Students have been in the vanguard of demonstrations from Assam to Kerala, using creative chants to sting the government over the revised Citizenship Act.
Protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act have generated two storylines.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, for starters, is discriminatory and breaches the constitutional structure. In Parliament, the political parties opposed to the bill took the same stance. However, there are significant grounds that the Citizenship Amendment Act may satisfy the constitutional test in a court of law.
Second, Muslims are taking to the streets to demand that fellow Muslims from other countries be included in the Citizenship Amendment Act. This story is based on the idea that such a demand prioritizes Muslim identity over Indian identity.
The students' protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act is aimed squarely at the BJP and the Narendra Modi administration. If it is successful in creating a new narrative, popular outrage will be directed at the Modi administration and the BJP. The opposition parties appear to be waiting to enjoy the benefits of student demonstrations against the CAA and the BJP without actually hitting the ground running.
The opposition has contended that the Act violates the fundamental values of the Constitution because it "discriminates" on the basis of religion and will alienate Muslims, the country's largest minority population. The opposition also protested to the exclusion of nations such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar off the list.
It was claimed that the law violated the requirements of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, and 26 of the Constitution.
The Centre has refuted claims that the measure is anti-Muslim. Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the proposal had the support of 130 crore inhabitants of the country because it was part of the BJP program in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Act does not discriminate against anyone and does not take away anyone's rights, according to Shah. According to the home minister, under the Act, refugees from the three countries who have faced religious persecution would be awarded citizenship even if they do not have any documentation, including ration cards.
This law isn't even.001 percent anti-Muslim. The home ministry has reaffirmed that it is against infiltrators.
Bibliography
Kiran Vinod Bhatia, R. G. (2020). Examining Anti-CAA Protests at Shaheen Bagh: Muslim Women and Politics of the Hindu India.aughan-Lee, C. (2021). Student Voice: Photography, COVID-19, and our collective memory. 26-35.