India | Gov’t bans public protests to quell rising anger against citizenship law

Indian authorities have imposed curfew-like restrictions across vast swathes of the country and shut down internet services in parts of the capital New Delhi as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government tries to quell nationwide protests against his controversial religion-based citizenship law.

The entire state of Uttar Pradesh – with a population of 200 million it’s about the size of Brazil – has been placed under a law banning gatherings of more than four people as has the tech-hub of Bengaluru as well as parts of the capital New Delhi. Protests have begun again this afternoon in 13 major cities around the country – the eighth day of unrest that’s posing the biggest challenge to Modi’s government since he was elected in 2014.

At least two major service providers confirmed on Twitter the internet block was implemented “as per instructions from the government.” India recorded the world’s highest number of internet shutdowns, with services cut 134 times overall and 93 times so far this year, according to the Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Center. The longest shutdown has been recorded in Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority territory, where the block has been in place since August when the government scrapped the state’s decades-old autonomy.

Police in the neighboring state of Haryana tweeted an advisory to avoid “non-essential” travel to New Delhi, saying the capital’s borders have been sealed, while 18 metro stations were also shut. The police chief in Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, recorded a video telling parents to stop their kids from joining protests.

Marches are expected to take place across a dozen Indian cities and towns against the Citizenship Amendment Act that bars undocumented Muslims from neighboring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan from seeking citizenship while allowing in migrants from other religions.

About 100 police personnel in bullet-proof jackets, holding sticks, stood at the Red Fort and another main square in central Delhi to stop people from marching toward the Parliament. At least two buses were loaded with protesters who were dropped off on the city’s outskirts to prevent the marches. Many roads were closed to stop the demonstrations, leading to traffic chaos.

“I saw many protesters being taken away in buses,” said Sanaul Zaidi, 54-year-old chartered accountant who’d traveled more than 20 kilometers to join the demonstrations. “But it’s heartening to see so many turn up to raise their voices. We can’t let people with ulterior motives to carry away our country in the wrong direction.”

At Jantar Mantar, not far from the Parliament, a crowd of about 800 students and citizens sang songs and chanted slogans against Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah. Srishti Parihar, a 19-year-old student at Delhi’s Miranda House college, said she was angry. “I will convert to Islam if that’s what it takes to protect fellow Muslim citizens,” she said. “We will stand with each other and sink with each other.”

Since the law was passed on Dec. 11, protests have spread across the nation, raising fears it would damage India’s traditional secular ethos enshrined in its Constitution that treats all religions on par.

The new law is seen as a precursor to the government’s plan to implement a nationwide citizens register to weed out illegal migrants. Demonstrations first began in the eastern state of Assam where there are fears the new law will allow an influx of migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Some 1.9 million people in Assam – many of them Muslims – risk losing their Indian citizenship after the state enforced the citizens register in August. Archana Chaudhary, Bloomberg