On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke publicly for the first time after nationwide protests broke out about ten days ago against the newly amended Citizenship Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.
Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party campaign rally, Modi claimed that Opposition parties were spreading misinformation about the Act and said that the Muslim community did not have to worry about it. “The CAB and the NRC will not apply to the Muslims of the country,” Modi said. “It’s a white lie.”
Protests against the new law have led to 24 deaths across the country. In some places, policemen have been injured in clashes with protestors and property has been damaged.
But Modi’s reassurances on Sunday have done little to assuage the anxieties of protestors. On Monday, demonstrations continued in several places across India, including the National Capital.
“It was all lies,” said homemaker 26-year-old Shahista, a resident of South Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh who participated in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens on Monday afternoon. “Does Modi think that we will believe him? Everyone here understands his politics.”
The controversial legislation offers a fast track to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim undocumented migrants from three countries. By introducing a religious test for citizenship, many legal experts say it violates India’s secular Constitution. Many fear that the new law, combined with plans for a National Register of Citizens that BJP leaders have frequently spoken about, could be used to harass Muslims.
Shahista was one of the hundreds of protestors who have been gathering at the long stretch that connects the South Delhi neighbourhood to Noida in Uttar Pradesh since December 15.
This protest, which has blocked the stretch entirely, has been organised by residents of the area who said they will not move till the Citizenship Amendment Act and proposed NRC were withdrawn.
‘No faith in government’
On the road on Monday afternoon, a man’s voice emerging from a loudspeaker urged residents of the area to join the protest. “This is a moment where the public is coming out to fight,” said the man.
All the shops on the side of the road had been shut since the protest started, residents said. Posters demanding that the Citizenship Act and NRC be withdrawn were pasted on the shutters.
On Monday, the crowd, mostly composed of women, sat and listened as their neighbours came up on a stage to speak about the Act. Protestors told Scroll.in said that Modi’s speech had done little to remove their anxieties about the law.
Modi started his speech on Sunday with a slogan “Vividhita mein ekta, Bharat ki visheshta!” Unity in diversity is India’s specialty.
One protestor at Shaheen Bagh was sceptical about his commitment to the ideal. “If the diversity was there then Muslims would be added to the CAA,” said 30-year-old Sanobar, a homemaker. “Is he capable of implementing the slogan?”
As Modi spoke at the rally, he also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government had not announced a nationwide NRC. The protestors at Shaheen Bagh were having none of that.
“If they did not announce it then how do people know about it? Tomorrow he could say the they did not implement demonetisation,” she said referring to the Modi government’s decision in 2016 to declare high-value currency notes invalid overnight. “He was just lying throughout the speech.”
Other protestors expressed similar sentiments. “This means that he denies [Home Minister] Amit Shah’s statements [on implementing NRC after CAA],” said 44-year-old
Shaheen Kausar. “The whole country has seen what is on record so how can he deny that? There is no faith in the government.”
Forty-two-year-old homemaker Shabnam also said she did not believe Modi. Shabnam was one of the several women who has been spending the entire day at the protest. On some nights, she has been sleeping in a tent, along with some neighbours.
“He [Modi] is scared now that is why he said they did not announce NRC,” she said. “And we will not leave from here till the Act is withdrawn.”
Sixty-year-old Jameel Akhtar, on the other hand, said he amused by Modi’s speech on Sunday. “He is a very good speaker and he did not specify that NRC will not happen,” said Akhtar, a resident of Shaheen Bagh, who works as a school teacher.
“He kept saying that Muslims will not be affected but he has been saying that for years and that is his politics,” said Akhtar. “There is no trust in him. But his speeches are good to listen to. And I laugh a lot when I hear them.”
In his speech, Modi also added that a hazy group of subversive he referred to as “urban naxals” were spreading rumours that Muslims would be sent to detention camps. Again, the Shaheen Bagh protestors were dismissive. “Are the lawyers, students and public joining us all urban naxals? asked Shahista. “Does this mean that this whole nation is filled with urban naxals?”
‘Modi dances to Shah’s tunes’
While most protestors dismissed Modi’s claims, some also said that the politician they paid close attention to was Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Modi dances to Shah’s tunes,” said Shahista. “He is the leader.”
To buttress her argument, she pointed to the first press briefing that Modi addressed after he was re-elected prime minister in May. The briefing took place just a week before election results were declared. But Modi did not answer any of the questions directed at him. Instead, Shah addressed all the queries posed by journalists.
Other protestors said that despite Modi’s remarks the rally, Shah had clearly declared that a nationwide NRC would be held. And, Shah has on several occasions over the year has linked the Citizenship Amendment Act to the NRC.
“It is in their agenda,” said Akhtar. He [Shah] is the decision maker. He is the one in charge of implementing the laws. Modi has never faced the media or been counter questioned.”
‘Protest will continue’
The protestors at Shaheen Bagh said they would continue to demonstrate against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC till it was withdrawn.
“It is the government’s misfortune that the circumstances have made us all aware,” said Kausar. “Our protest will continue.”
But Kausar said that government should take stronger actions to reassure India’s citizens. “Modi should take responsibility and let them give it to us in writing that NRC will not happen,” she said.
Other protestors said that they would not afraid of the possibility that the police could action to disperse them. “We would rather die here while protesting with dignity rather than in a detention camp,” said Sanobar.
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