GUWAHATI: Angry protesters in northeast India vowed Sunday to keepdemonstrating against a contentious citizenship law as the death toll frombloody clashes opposing the bill rose to six.
Tension remained high at the epicentre of the unrest in Assam state’sbiggest city, Guwahati, with troops patrolling the streets amid tightsecurity.
In Assam, four people died after being shot by police, while another waskilled when a shop he was sleeping in was set on fire and a sixth after hewas beaten up during a protest, officials said.
Some 5,000 people took part in a fresh demonstration in the city on Sunday,with hundreds of police watching as they sang, chanted and carried bannerswith the words “long live Assam”.
The legislation, passed by the national parliament on Wednesday, allows NewDelhi to grant citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants who enteredIndia from three neighbouring countries on or before December 31, 2014 —but not if they are Muslim.
Besides stoking concern among Muslims, the proposed changes have also ledto demonstrations by residents unhappy about an influx of Hindus fromneighbouring Bangladesh who stand to gain citizenship.
“Assam will continue to protest. India is a democracy and the governmenthas to listen to us,” said Karan Mili, a colleague of one of the victims,25-year-old Iswor Nayak, who died Sunday.
“We don’t want violence but protests will continue… Assamese will notstop until government revokes the law,” another demonstrator, PratimaSharma, told AFP.
Officials said oil and gas production in the state were hit by the curfew,although the restrictions were eased during the day on Sunday with someshops opening.
In West Bengal state, where protests stretched into a third day, ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee — who has spoken out against the nationalgovernment’s push for the law — suspended internet services in severaldistricts.
Demonstrators set fire to tyres, staged sit-ins on highways and railwaytracks, and torched trains and buses, with riot police brought in todisperse protesters and train services suspended in some parts of the east.
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In India’s capital New Delhi, video shared on social media showed a bus onfire and police appearing to fire tear gas at protesters.Calls for calm
Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed the opposition Congress party for theviolence.
“To give respect to those who fled to India and were forced to live asrefugees, both houses of parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill,”he said Sunday at a rally in eastern Jharkhand state.
“Congress and its allies are stoking fire over the Citizenship Act butpeople of northeast have rejected violence… They (Congress supporters)are resorting to arson because they did not get their way.”
Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday called again for calm, saying localcultures in northeastern states were not under threat.
“Culture, language, social identity and political rights of our brothersand sisters from northeast will remain intact,” Shah added in Jharkhand,News18 television network reported him as saying.
For Islamic groups, the opposition, rights activists and others in India,the new law is seen as part of Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda tomarginalise India’s 200 million Muslims. He denies the allegation.
Rights groups and a Muslim political party are challenging the law in theSupreme Court, arguing that it is against the constitution and India’ssecular traditions.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally in Assam, Asom Gana Parishad,which had supported the bill in parliament, told local media Sunday it nowintended to challenge the law in the Supreme Court. -APP/AFP
