Protests erupt across India over CAA, police action against Jamia students

Several protests -some peaceful, some violent- erupted across India on Monday against the police crackdown in Jamia Millia Islamia here and the controversial citizenship law as students and political leaders took to the streets, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called these protests "deeply distressing" and appealed for peace.

The lines between anger at the police action against Jamia students and the protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, which will grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, blurred into a unison of protest -- from Uttar Pradesh to Kerala and Maharashtra to West Bengal.

The police clampdown against the Jamia students became yet another rallying point for a Congress-led opposition, which is already up in arms against the Modi government over the CAA since its passage last week by Parliament.

Apart from the Congress,leaders of four other political parties held a joint press conference to demand an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the Sunday evening incident in the campus.

"It is the central government which is solely responsible for the violence in the country for bringing a law which is being opposed all over the country and by all opposition political parties. Had the government not brought this law, there would not have been any violence", Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Congress leaders, led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also held a silent protest from 4pm-6pm in India Gate to press home their point. While Priyanka said, "an attack on students is an attack on the soul of India", her mother and party chief Sonia Gandhi issued a statement later accusing the BJP of creating instability in the country.

"The BJP is mother of violence and divisiveness," Sonia alleged in the statement.

Studentprotesters also demanded a probe into the use of teargas inside the Jamia university's library as well as police entering the campus without permission from university authorities. And so intense was the exasperation among the student community that even country's premier institutions -- IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay -- which are not the regular ones to join any agitation, came out against the police action.

In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took out a massive rally in Kolkata and declared that the CAA and the NRC can be enforced in the state only on her "dead body" while daring the Centre to dismiss her government. Meanwhile, the anti-citizenship law protests snowballed into a major flashpoint in the state with highways and railway lines blocked and incidents of arson and loot reported from many places.

In Kerala rivals UDF and LDF, in a rare show of camaraderie, protested jointly against the police action.

As violence and unrest spread across various states against the CAA, the prime minister said "this is the time to maintain peace, unity and brotherhood. It is my appeal to everyone to stay away from any sort of rumour-mongering and falsehoods."
Violent protests on the amended citizenship law are "unfortunate and deeply distressing", he said adding that debate, discussion and dissent are essential parts of democracy, "but never has damage to public property and disturbance of normal life been a part of our ethos."
The amended citizenship law illustrates India's centuries old culture of acceptance, harmony, compassion and brotherhood, he said, adding "We cannot allow groups with vested interest to divide us and create disturbance."
"Reports from Delhi are it was a war zone last night - Fascism is not a joke - we use the word with the understanding it's deadly."