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In Bangalore, 140 people were arrested on Monday while demonstrating against the citizenship law. MANJUNATH KIRAN / AFP

Protests against a controversial new citizenship law in India continue on Tuesday, December 24. The dispute is the strongest for 10 days, notably in Delhi and in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Several rallies are planned for Tuesday in these two states. Several pro-government demonstrations were also organized across the country to stem this wave of protests. It has already resulted in the deaths of around 20 demonstrators since December 11. The vast majority of the protesters were shot dead, according to Indian media.

Many demonstrators converged on central New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, despite the ban on the rally announced by the police. Several of them are students of Jamia Millia Islamia University. It was the scene of one of the most violently repressed protests last week.

In the state of Uttar Pradesh, the internet was suspended for the fifth consecutive day in the city of Lucknow, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to travel on Wednesday, December 25. In this same region, clashes, sometimes deadly, broke out in several localities.

140 people arrested in Delhi

Opposition figureheads, Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi, were prevented by law enforcement from reaching the city of Meerut. They came to visit the families of protesters who died in the clashes.

New protests have also been staged in other parts of the country, including Calcutta, where the head of state government, a staunch opponent of BJP, the ruling party in India, is leading the protest.

On Monday, 140 people were arrested during protests in Delhi. On the same day, in the south, in Bangalore, at least 100,000 people marched peacefully to oppose this new citizenship law .

A defeat for the BJP

Narendra Modi chose not to falter. During a large political meeting in New Delhi, this Sunday, December 22, he tackled the violence perpetrated by the demonstrators, and defended the police. He said opposition parties were spreading lies about the new citizenship law.

Addressing a huge rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Watch. https://t.co/Rqi1xduU5T

Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 22, 2019

The BJP has also launched an awareness campaign. It aims to explain to the Indians the benefits of this new citizenship law, to counter contestation across the country. The BJP also lost elections to the regional assembly in Jharkhand state in eastern India on Monday.

While not directly linked to the national debate on the citizenship law, this defeat marks a setback for the politics of the ruling party. It also occurs after two other defeats in other regions in recent months.

Indians fear adoption of national citizen registry

The consequences of applying these new citizenship laws are difficult to determine at this time. The Citizen Amendment Act, passed on December 11, allows non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to obtain Indian citizenship. This measure is considered discriminatory against the Muslim community by opponents of this law, and contrary to the secular spirit of the Indian Constitution.

Many Indians fear that the adoption across India of a national registry of citizens, an official list of residents considered to be Indians, could endanger millions of people who are unable to prove their nationality.

The Prime Minister of India tried to back down on Sunday. In particular, he announced that no national plan had been put in place. These words, however, contradict those of his own Minister of the Interior. Amit Shah has repeatedly promised to set up this register in order to combat illegal immigration.

Read: India: the country under tension while the demonstrations do not weaken