Hundreds of Indian Muslim Women Hold Protest Citizenship Act

New Delhi, MINA – Hundreds of Indian Muslim women took to the streets in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Tuesday to protest citizenship laws that harm Muslims.

Activists demanded that key ministers from 29 Indian states not link the census with the National Population Register (NPR).

“That will make many women stateless, regardless of caste and community, because the majority of them leave their homes after marriage, without documents,” protesters shouted, thus quoted from Arab News om Thursday, March 19.

Humera Sayed (26), one of the participants in the peace rally, said she was not afraid of coronavirus outbreak despite government warnings to avoid public meetings.

“For me, the coronavirus is no more dangerous than the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register for Citizens (NRC) which threaten the existence of the Muslim community in India,” said Sayed, who has always been in action at Shaheen Bagh, Delhi since mid-December.

“If the government really cares about the safety of Muslims, then why have they failed to protect their lives in the recent wave of violence in Delhi that claimed so many lives?” she added.

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed the CAA in December 2019, protests against the law have taken place throughout the country.

The CAA makes it easy for religious minorities from three neighboring countries, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to obtain citizenship if they enter India before 2015, but do not include Muslims.

The new citizenship law also has provisions for preparing an NPR, where every Indian must provide details of his ancestors in addition to providing personal information.

Activists said the NPR was a prelude to identifying native Indians.

Muslims in India worry that the NPR and NRC will make them stateless if they fail to provide citizenship documents, but Hindus, for example, will be protected under the CAA.

On Monday, the government issued a warning asking people not to form meetings for more than 50 people because of the spread of coronavirus.

“Corona does not challenge our existence, you can be healed of corona, but the law that the government has brought threatens the existence of Muslim community in India,” said Zikra Mojibi, a graduate student at a protest in Delhi. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)