Public Story
Aazadi
On December 19, 2019, the Parliament of India passed the Citizen Amendment Act. The CAA grants a speedy path to citizenship for all Afghani, Pakistani Bangladeshi illegal immigrants currently residing in India who are Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian. The amendment blatantly leaves out Muslims even though Islam is the most sizable religious demographic in all three countries mentioned in the bill. Rohingya from Myanmar and Sri Lankan Tamils in India were also left out of the CAA.
In the eyes of many Muslims in India, this was just another step to oppress the Indian Muslim minority by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cronies in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Almost immediately after the amending of the CAA, Muslims took to the streets all around the country to vocalize their displeasure with the bill.Protests were swiftly and violently crushed by Indian Police in the capital territory of Delhi and other cities. An attack by the Delhi police on the December 15th protests at Jamia Millia Islamia, a premier university in New Delhi, was especially violent. Dozens of students were injured by baton charges and gunfire from the police.
Peaceful protests and street sit-ins continued in Delhi at Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jantar Mantar until emotions spilled over into sectarian violence between Hindu Nationalists and Anti-CAA protesters in northeast Delhi from February 23-29. 53 people would be killed with hundreds more injured. Hundreds of muslims lost their homes and businesses to Hindu Nationalist arson in and around the city.
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