Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday called a meeting with his council of ministers to discuss security, following protests against a controversial citizenship law, government sources said.
At least 20 people have been killed in violent clashes between police and protesters since the Indian parliament last week passed the law, which critics have said discriminates against Muslims and undermines the country’s secular constitution.
On Friday, an eight-year-old boy and four protesters were killed in clashes between police and demonstrators, officials said yesterday, as unrest over a controversial citizenship law rages into a second week.
Photo: AP
The boy had died after 2,500 people, including children, joined a rally in the holy city of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Police Chief Prabhakar Chaudhary said.
“When the police tried to quell the protests, these persons ran for cover and a stampede-like situation emerged, in which this boy died,” Chaudhary said, adding that police “exercised complete restraint against the crowds that engaged in attacking them with stones.”
The Times of India reported that the boy was playing in a lane with a friend when they were trampled by a crowd being chased by police.
“The PM [prime minister] has called a meeting of the full union council of ministers to assess the prevailing situation due to violent protests in many parts of the country against the Citizenship ‘Amendment’ Act,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
The backlash against the law pushed through parliament by Modi’s Hindu nationalist government marks the strongest show of dissent since he was first elected in 2014.
Protests against the new law continued yesterday, despite the government’s use of curfews and a draconian regulation to shut down protests.
Human rights advocates in the state of Uttar Pradesh said that local police officers were conducting raids on their houses and offices to prevent them from planning fresh demonstrations.
Dozens have been injured in violent clashes between police and protesters, many in sensitive parts of Uttar Pradesh, which has long seen clashes between majority Hindus and minority Muslims.
More protests are planned in several parts of the country, including in the northeastern state of Assam.
There, locals are angry with the law as it makes it easier for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who settled in India prior to 2015 to obtain Indian citizenship.
Resentment against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh has simmered for years in Assam, with residents blaming outsiders, Hindus or Muslims, for stealing their jobs and land.
“Women from all walks of life will be leading a protest across Assam state on Saturday,” a student union leader from the state said.
In other parts of India, anger with the law stems from it being seen as discriminating against Muslims, and as it makes religion a criteria for citizenship in a country that has taken pride in its secular constitution.
“This piece of legislation strikes at the heart of the constitution, seeking to make India another country altogether,” historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in India’s The Telegraph. “It is thus that so many people from so many different walks of life have raised their voices against it.”
Guha was released from police custody after being detained for protesting against the law in the southern city of Bengaluru.
Additional reporting by AFP
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