Cartoon to explain new Indian law
INDIA’S ruling party launched a short video with animated Muslim characters on social media yesterday in a publicity blitz to try to bust “myths” around a new citizenship law that has sparked deadly protests.
The law has stoked concerns that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants to marginalize India’s Muslim minority.
The video shows two bearded men in traditional Muslim clothing discussing the legislation before concluding that the country can only progress if there is “peace and brotherhood.”
Twenty-five people have died in protests so far, but demonstrations took place yesterday in Chennai, Bangalore and
Delhi with no violence reported. In Kolkata, there was a march in favor of the law.
The video was released by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party on its Twitter handle. On Sunday, Modi said Muslims “don’t need to worry” about the law.
The government also carried an advertisement across all national dailies with a “myths vs facts” explainer saying the law was not against India’s 200 million Muslims.
The advert also stated that there were no immediate plans to roll out a nationwide register of citizens, which had stoked fears of Muslims and others unable to prove they are Indian becoming stateless. Even if the register would be rolled out, “the guidelines would be framed such that no Indian citizen would face any harassment whatsoever,” the advertisement read.
The wave of protests marks the biggest challenge to Modi’s government since 2014.
Further bad news for Modi came yesterday with indications that the BJP was set to be kicked out of office in the eastern state of Jharkhand. Last month it also lost power in Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, in a major setback.
The citizenship law allows people of six religions from
Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan an easier path to citizenship. Muslims are excluded, however.
Islamic groups, the opposition and others at home and abroad fear this forms part of Modi’s aim to remould the country as a Hindu nation. The government denies this.
Protests have been largely peaceful but protesters have also hurled rocks and torched vehicles, while heavy-handed police tactics including the storming of a Delhi university a week ago have fueled anger.
(Reuters)