Women are
leading the resistance against the unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Act
ByEnda
VerdeandChandan Kumar
On the 4th
of December 2019 the Hindu nationalist Bharatya Janata Party (BJP)-led
government of India
The
protests have been fuelled by the controversial tenets of the act which
effectively deny citizenship to Muslims, as well as the knowledge that this is
part of a much longer agenda of the BJP to deepen state surveillance and turn India
Firstly,
the Act directly contradicts the fundamental rights of the Constitution,
specifically Article 14 and Article 21. Article 14 guarantees “Equality before
the law”, and Article 21 the “Right to Life”.
Secondly,
whilst it claims to grant citizenship to all minorities being persecuted in Pakistan , Afghanistan
and Bangladesh , it outright
excludes Muslims from these countries and does not provide citizenship to
minority groups from countries such as Sri Lanka ,
Tibet , Myanmar and Nepal
Thirdly,
the entire exercise will be combined with the National Register of Citizens
(NRC), the process will force existing citizens of a country of over 1.3
billion people to prove their citizenship through appropriate certification
(birth, marriage, naturalisation), claiming that if you are truly ‘Indian,’
there is no need to worry.
In their
disregard for the Constitution, the ethno-nationalism that lies at the root of
the CAA and NRC is revealed. The arbitrary classification of citizens and
implementation processes they propose will be the beginning of a slow,
structural violence targeting the poor, marginalised and Muslim sections of
society – a majority of whom are informal workers, the backbone of India
‘Citizens
against CAA, citizens against fascism’
The citizen
uprising against the CAA, that began in the north-eastern state of Assam (a
state already familiar with the violence of the NRC), has spread across the
country resulting in the government taking extreme measures to quell the
dissent. Internet shutdowns happened in Assam ,
Uttar Pradesh and the capital of New
Delhi
The police
have used batons, tear gas and firing arms against protestors. Universities,
where many of the protests began, have been violently raided by police and
youth groups who appear to be associated with the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) – a right-wing, Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation that
supports, and is supported by, the BJP. BJP-dominated states observed the worst
violence with 23 people killed, mostly daily wage young muslim workers, and
over 1000 arrested in Uttar Pradesh, whilst states such as Maharashtra
remained calm with police supporting the non-violent protests. As protests
retain momentum, however, arrests across the country are continuing.
These forms
of state oppression are nothing new in India
Solidarity
against state violence
Across the
country, women have been at the forefront of the protests, putting their bodies
on the line in the face of state violence and oppression. The anger and fear in
their voices and on their faces have echoed in the streets, flashed across TV
screens and circulated the internet.
As protests
moved into the capital of New Delhi India
The state
violence happening at different sites across India India
Careful
dissent
In Chennai,
the capital of Tamil Nadu in southern India
In the
capital city of New Delhi
At Shaheen
Bagh, Muslim women from across class and caste backgrounds have come together
in protest by holding a continuous sit in, defying patriarchal structures and
norms that restrict their bodies, movement and time. Continuing now for over a
month, these women have redefined the very idea of a protest in the country.
Shaheen Bagh is completely leaderless, free of any NGO-isation, and it is based
entirely on a collective, shared solidarity. It has become a space of care,
redefining how care is perceived, turning ‘care’ into a form of resistance.
Babies and small children join women at the protest, where they have created a
designated area for children. There is a community kitchen, art corners, and
readings of the Indian Constitution preamble in several languages.
This
phenomenon remains unparalleled in the country and in the last week, the idea
of a peaceful sit in by mostly Muslim women, has gone viral. Now there is a
‘Shaheen Bagh’ in Allahabad , Kolkata and Hyderabad India
These acts
of resistance to the unconstitutional CAA and NRC only catch a glimpse of the
fight for democracy happening across India India
(Courtesy:
Open Democracy)