More than 100,000 protesters participated in a peaceful rally in the southern city of Hyderabad Saturday, in protest of the new Nationality Law brought by the Narendra Modi government.
About thirty thousand people demonstrated in Bangalore (South) and more than twenty thousand in Siliguri and thousands in Chennai, and large gatherings were also organized in New Delhi, Guwahati and other cities, and the demonstrators chanted slogans against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Protests have flared in India since the ratification of this law last December 11, and the law facilitates the acquisition of Indian citizenship for refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, provided they are non-Muslims.
Critics of the law believe that it constitutes the first stage towards the development of an Indian national registry, which many Indian Muslims (about two hundred million people) consider that it may refer them to stateless persons. Many of India’s poor do not have any documentary proof of their nationality, which has created a new demographic reality.
At least 27 people have been killed in demonstrations in recent weeks, and hundreds have been wounded in clashes with the police, fueling the anger of residents.
"Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs are gathering everywhere to protest, and we will continue to protest until this law is abolished," businessman Nazir Ahmed said during the Bangalore demonstration.
The protesters in New Delhi vowed to continue "the resistance, as in Hong Kong."
On the other hand, the Minister of Interior Amit Shah Friday considered that the law is not discriminatory when launching a campaign for the ruling party to address the "media misinformation" that accused the opposition parties of practicing it.
The plan is that any Hindu who is deprived of his nationality because of his failure to provide the required documents will be given citizenship through the back door using this new article, while Muslims will be deprived of this.
The process of renewing the "nationality registry" will begin in April, to be completed in November, and during the field survey, the papers of all residents of India will be audited.
Since about 45% of the population of India are either illiterate or live in villages and remote areas and do not have any official documents, so the law will threaten tens of millions of Muslims with the loss of their nationality and the right to citizenship.