"Muslims who are the sons of Indian soil and whose ancestors are the children of our mother country have nothing to worry about," Narendra Modi said on Sunday, December 22, as protests against the citizenship law broke out. were continuing in several cities.
During a meeting in New Delhi, the Prime Minister of India tried to reassure Indian Muslims about the concern caused by his new citizenship law. Deemed discriminatory against Muslims, the law led to protests, which killed at least 25 people and put pressure on his Hindu nationalist government.
"Lies, lies and lies"
Voted on December 11 by the Indian parliament, it facilitates the acquisition of Indian citizenship by refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, with the exception of Muslims.
Narendra Modi accused the Congress party, the main opposition party in India, of indulging in the violence and of "spreading rumors that all Muslims will be sent to detention camps".
"All of these stories about detention camps are lies, lies, and lies!" He exclaimed.
However, six of these camps, gathering more than 1,000 illegal migrants, can be counted in the only state of Assam (northeast). Eleven other camps are to be set up there, while two are to be established near the cities of Bombay and Bangalore.
The Deputy Minister of the Interior, for his part, admitted before parliament that 28 people had died in such detention camps in recent years.
No "register"
Narendra Modi also assured that there was no question of setting up a "citizen register" across India. A register which many Muslims in the country fear is a measure which essentially targets them.
Although it does not directly concern Indian Muslims (14% of the population, or approximately 200 million of the 1.3 billion inhabitants), the new citizenship law has crystallized the fears and anger of this community , and unleashed one of the largest protest movements in recent years in India.
Although the majority of them were peaceful, certain demonstrations degenerated, the protesters throwing stones and burning cars. The opposition denounced "brutal repression" of the police. Some 25 people have died in the past few days, notably in Uttar Pradesh (north), the most populous state in India (200 million inhabitants, 20% of whom are Muslims).
With AFP
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