*GUWAHATI: *Hundreds of troops were deployed in northeast India onWednesday as demonstrators went on the rampage in protest at newcitizenship legislation expected to pass the upper house of parliament,officials said.
The controversial bill will fast-track citizenship claims for immigrantsfrom three neighbouring countries — but not if they are Muslim.
For Islamic groups, the opposition, rights groups and others this is partof Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda to marginaliseIndia’s 200 million Muslims — something he denies.
Besides stoking concern among Muslims, the proposed changes have also ledto demonstrations in the northeastern states where residents are unhappyabout an influx of Hindus from neighbouring Bangladesh who stand to gaincitizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
In a third day of protests in the far-flung region, several hundred troopswere deployed in Tripura state and others were on standby in Assam, asenior army official said.
Police fired tear gas in different parts of Guwahati, Assam’s biggest city,as several thousand demonstrators attempted to barge past security barriersto converge on the adjoining state capital Dispur.
Tripura and parts of Assam suspended mobile internet services, with Assamwanting to avoid social media posts that could “inflame passions”.Gatherings of more than four people were banned for 24 hours.
“If the CAB is passed in Rajya Sabha (the upper house) today, we appeal toall the students, civilians, tea garden workers and all sections of thesociety to come out to the streets again tomorrow to protest,” localactivist Akhil Gogoi said.
The legislation—which Modi’s government tried and failed to get through theupper house in its first term—passed the lower house just after midnight onTuesday following a fiery debate.
Derek O’Brien, an opposition lawmaker in the upper house, on Wednesday saidthe legislation bore an “eerie similarity” to Nazi laws against Jews in1930s Germany.
“In 1935 there were citizenship laws to protect people with German blood …today we have a faulty bill that wants to define who true Indian citizensare,” he said.
P Chidambaram from the opposition Congress party said the government was“wrecking and demolishing” India’s secular constitution to advance Modi’s“Hindutva agenda”.
Modi’s government — re-elected in May and under pressure over a slowingeconomy — says Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan areexcluded from the legislation because they do not face discrimination inthose countries.
Also left out are other minorities fleeing political or religiouspersecution elsewhere in the region such as Tamils from Sri Lanka, Rohingyafrom Myanmar and Tibetans from China.
Many Muslims in India say they have been made to feel like second-classcitizens since Modi stormed to power in 2014.
Several cities perceived to have Islamic-sounding names have been renamed,while some school textbooks have been altered to downplay Muslims’contributions to India.
In August, Modi’s administration rescinded the partial autonomy of Jammuand Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, and split it into two.
A citizens’ register in Assam finalised this year left 1.9 million people,many of them Muslims, facing possible statelessness, detention camps andeven deportation.
Modi’s government has said it intends to replicate the register nationwidewith the aim of removing all “infiltrators” by 2024.
Amit Shah, Modi’s right-hand-man and home minister, has likened illegalimmigrants to “termites”.
“The Indian government is creating legal grounds to strip millions ofMuslims of the fundamental right of equal access to citizenship,” HumanRights Watch said on Wednesday.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom on Monday termed thebill as a “dangerous turn in the wrong direction”.
India’s foreign ministry retorted that the remarks were “neither accuratenor warranted” and “guided by their prejudices and biases”. -APP/AFP