People Power

Even as the apex court rejected a stay on CAA, civil society along with students has hit the streets to defend the Constitution and clashed repeatedly with the police. Has the centre bitten off more than it can chew?

- Neeraj Mishra

MASSIVE protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, have rocked many cities across India with thousands of citizens taking to the streets. Clashes with the police led to one person being killed in Lucknow and two in Mangalore. What started as a student agitation spread like wildfire as opposition leaders, intellectuals, activists, Bollywood personalities and ordinary citizens fought fearlessly for the restoration of India as a secular nation that abides by constitutional norms.

The reaction from the government was draconian. For the first time, mobile, internet and SMS services were suspended in many cities. In Delhi, 20 Metro stations were shut on December 19 as a precautionary measure. Among those detained temporarily were Left leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Brinda Karat, Congress’s Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit and activists like Yogendra Yadav. In Bengaluru, historian and author Ramachandra Guha was detained and this was captured on TV much to the chagrin of civil society. Congress’ Abhishek Singhvi even went to the extent of calling this an “undeclared Emergency”.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected a stay on the Act and instead decided to hear 59 petitions filed against it in January after the courts reopen. A bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant instructed Attorney General KK Venugopal to ask the government to publicise the provisions of the Act through the media to remove any confusion. CJI Bobde said: “We will have to see about the stay.” The Court also declined to set up a committee of a retired SC judge to probe the violence in different parts of the country against the CAA and told all the petitioners to approach high courts in respective states where the incidents had occurred. It also refused to probe the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia, where over 100 students were admitted to various hospitals, and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).