India: Opposition holds anti-citizenship law protests

NEW DELHI

India's main opposition party on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of suppressing the voice of the people, referring to recent police attacks on people protesting a controversial citizenship law.

Speaking at a sit-in protest in the capital New Delhi, the Indian National Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi said, "When you get students shot by bullets and when you get them lathi-charged or when you threaten journalists, you try to suppress the voice of the country,” according to ANI news agency.

The protest at the country's founding father Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat was held against the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by the parliament on Dec. 11, granting citizenship to six minorities, except Muslims, from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- all Muslim-majority nations in South Asia.

The new law has triggered massive protests across the country as people accuse Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of being discriminatory against Muslims.

At least 26 people died ever since the new law was passed. Protests had started in northeastern province of Assam and have spread across the country.

Gandhi also went on to say that Modi was "hiding behind hate" because his government "could not provide jobs to youths, but destroyed the economy."

"The country will not let you attack the Constitution, suppress the voice of 'Bharat Mata' [India]," he noted.

"The enemies of the country made full efforts to destroy the economy of the country but what our enemies could not do, is now being done by PM Narendra Modi today,” Rahul was cited by ANI news as saying.

Modi, however, accused opposition of spreading rumors and inciting people over the citizenship act and has refused to step back from the controversial act.

While addressing a public meeting in Delhi on Sunday, Modi said the citizenship law and National Register of Citizens have nothing to do with Indian Muslims.

“The act is not for any citizen of India, be it Hindu or Muslim. This law doesn't apply to any of 130 crore [1.3 billion] Indians.

"Unity in diversity is India's speciality," said Modi.

He also claimed that “no Indian Muslims is going to be sent to any detention centre, nor do we have any detention centre in India."

In West Bengal province, the BJP held a roadshow in support of the new citizenship law however, local government led by Mamata Banerjee has come in strong protest against the law.

Indian capital New Delhi and other parts of the country protests against the citizenship law continues on Monday as the death toll has reached 26 on Sunday, with the maximum number of people killed in Uttar Pradesh.

Another massive protest rally was held in southern Tamil Nadu province against the act granting citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Christian minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but blocks naturalization for Muslims.

It is the first time since Modi came to power in India that his party is witnessing mass protests against his government.

Muslim leaders believe the new law will be linked to a nationwide exercise where every citizen would be asked to prove Indian citizenship.