Posted on 12/23/2019 12:08:23 AM PST by Cronos
Scores of people have been killed as a result of violent protests against a citizenship amendment law, which critics say discriminates against Muslims. Indian PM Narendra Modi says the opposition is distorting the facts.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday categorically rejected accusations that his government's new citizenship law was anti-Muslim.
The total number of people killed has reached at least 23 since violence broke out over the Citizenship Amendment Act that was passed in parliament last week, and it shows no sign of abating.
The law makes it easier for religious minorities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan to get citizenship in India, but it excludes Muslim immigrants.
Protesters reacted angrily, concerned that it threatens India's secular constitution and Indian-Muslim citizenship.
"The law does not impact 1.3 billion Indians, and I must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them," said Modi at a rally in the capital, New Delhi, adding that his government introduces reforms without any religious bias.
"We have never asked anyone if they go to a temple or a mosque when it comes to implementing welfare schemes," he said.
Modi said the opposition parties were distorting the facts about the citizenship act to weaken his government. The premier singled out the Congress party for conspiring "to push not only New Delhi but other parts of the country into a fear psychosis.''
"They are trying every tactic to push me out of power," he said, urging protesters not to resort to violence.
Fresh demonstrations were planned for Sunday in New Delhi and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where most of the deaths have occurred.
India is set to hold state elections in Delhi early next year, which could be a test for Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it swept to power in May.
Government's hard-line stance
Modi's government has so far taken a hard-line approach to quell the deadly protests. To stop the protests, it evoked a British colonial-era law banning four or more people from gathering. Internet access has been periodically blocked in some states, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asked for "strict compliance" from new channels to not broadcast any content that was "likely to instigate violence."
The communication shutdown has mostly affected New Delhi, the eastern state of West Bengal, the northern city of Aligarh and the entire northeastern state of Assam.
The measures have not succeeded in deterring protesters, with demonstrations continuing throughout the country.
But after Modi held a meeting with his ministers on Saturday, it appears that the government wants to use a PR campaign to put across its viewpoint on the citizenship issue. Modi's nationalist party reportedly plans to hold more than 200 news conferences to allay concerns that the government is imposing a Hindu supremacist ideology.
Indian liberals accuse the BJP government of deliberately creating rifts between Hindus and Muslims and emboldening right-wing extremists. Since Modi came to power in 2014, cases of "cow vigilantism" and Muslim killings by radical Hindus have increased manifold in the country.
They have Pakistan and Bangladesh (as Nehru insisted).
It’s not against muslimes, it’s FOR INDIA!
cases of “cow vigilantism” and Muslim killings by radical Hindus have increased manifold in the country.
Cow tipping?
Cows with masks?
Like any pol, Modi is not perfect. But he has been great for India.
What he has done converting the population to indoor plumbing on its own has been transformative. Then there is the economy. The culture. And their global alliances.
As loony as Silicon Valley and Wall Street can be, they still want to keep their money.
Sorry! I posted to the wrong thread! (Not enough coffee.)
Modi is smart enough to know that some religions cause far more problems than others, Islsm and Greta-idolitry being at the top of the list.
The law being protested is directed at refugees and illegal immigrants who suffer from religious persecution in some neighboring countries which they left when they went to India.
The law specifies who it applies to by naming the religious minorities in the neighboring countries that suffer religious persecution.
All the neighboring countries whose refugees and immigrants the law is concerned with are Muslim majority countries.
Therefor, logic alone clarifies that a Muslim in or from such countries was not among the religious minorities who suffer religious persecution there.
The law which is offering special immigration status to persecuted religious minorities in neighboring Muslim majority countries therefor dose not include Muslims in the special immigration status the law provides.
The law changes nothing with regard to Muslim citizens of India.
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