An anatomy of anti-CAA protests

The countrywide agitations show that Indians are now mobilising against the BJP’s Hindutva project

- Zoya Hasan

The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposal to create a National Register of Citizens (NRC) have galvanised thousands of people in an unparalleled display of anti-government opposition. The spark lit by the protests in Jamia Millia Islamia ( JMI) has taken the country by storm. Police brutality inside the university’s campus and library gave further momentum to the wave of demonstrations.

Public protests are not uncommon events in India. But, the scale of discontent this time against the redefinition of ‘citizenship’ is quite remarkable. The government has made concerted attempts to suppress these displays of dissent through draconian methods involving widespread Internet shutdowns, arbitrary arrests and ban on assemblies. This scale of repression and extreme use of state power has not been seen since the Emergency. However, the government’s efforts have not deterred protesters; they have flooded the streets in defiance across the length and breadth of the country. That people have not been frightened by these authoritarian methods and by the general tendency of this regime to paint all criticism as antinational is even more remarkable.

Biggest since 2014

After the unconscionable police action in JMI, political parties such as the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised marches and some State governments are now pushing back against the Centre. Still, the acts of dissent do not readily fit the contours of party politics. As of now, these agitations are spontaneous — the largest and most widespread in decades and certainly the biggest since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. Although they are not organised or coordinated, they represent an extraordinary instance of anti-government forces rallying around the issue of an exclusionary citizenship Bill.