Hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets in different parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on Friday. They were sloganeering against the Narendra Modi government for passing the contentious CAB and over the proposed National Register of Citizens.
In several cities in Uttar Pradesh, the Muslim protesters shouted against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that they won't stop and won't surrender. Around 32,000 Aligarh Muslim University students took to the streets in Aligarh city alone.
My AMU has history of taking stand on issues of national importance.
— Md Obaidullah (@mdbaid) December 13, 2019
Proud of AMU.pic.twitter.com/vq56FN4PSP
While thousands of the protestors surrounded the Hussainabad Clock Towers in the State’s capital city of Lucknow.
Thousands of people gather to protest against CAB pic.twitter.com/PC1vSCBzpT
— 𝕽𝖎𝖆𝖟 𝕬𝖍𝖒𝖊𝖉 (@karmariaz) December 13, 2019
Despite heavy downpour, hundreds of Muslim protestors took out a march against CAB in the State’s Muzaffarnagar district.
Despite heavy downpour, hundreds took out protest march against CAB in UP's Muzaffarnagar district. Similar protests was seen in other west UP districts as well. pic.twitter.com/j1F6rQdZaG
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 13, 2019
In another Indian state of Bihar, over 100,000 Muslims hit the streets in Gaya district and slammed the central government’s decision to make CAB into legislation.
Huge protest in Gaya (Bihar) against CAB. Around 1 Lakh people participated in the protest despite of the bad weather. pic.twitter.com/w7ogFw1R7n
— Dil-E-Khush-Fahm (@tamashbeen_) December 13, 2019
On 11 December, the upper house of the Indian Parliament passed the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act. It completed the legislative process for giving Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, with Home Minister Shah asserting that Indian Muslims have nothing to fear as they will not be affected by the law.
The Opposition termed the law, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, as "unconstitutional", "divisive" and "an assault on the democratic and secular fabric of the nation".
Several opposition parties are criticising the CAB, saying it discriminates against Muslims, while allowing persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians only from India’s neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
On the other side, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens. Maintained by the Government of India, it contains the names and certain relevant information for identification of the citizens. The NRC was initially, specifically made for Assam.
Though the NRC is an offshoot of the Citizenship Act, 1955, both are fundamentally different. Despite both are linked to the subject of citizenship, the CAB is meant to grant citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims illegal migrants from India’s three neighbouring states. However, the other one the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is an exercise to differentiate illegal migrants from genuine citizens of India.
