The New York Times :
Rowdy protests against a contentious new citizenship law swept India on Thursday, and authorities responded by shutting down the internet, barricading roads and arresting intellectuals, revealing an Indian government increasingly on edge.
In Bangalore, Ramachandra Guha, a preeminent biographer of Mohandas K Gandhi and a critic of the citizenship law, was midsentence in speaking to a reporter when
helmeted police officers carrying sticks grabbed his arms and dragged him away. It was all captured on video.
“Our protest is totally nonviolent,” Guha said, seconds before he was detained. “See what is happening. You see we are totally peaceful. Did you see any violence?”
Guha was then put into a bus full of other detainees. He was released later in the day. In New Delhi, the capital, demonstrators flocked to the historic Red Fort, chanting, “We want freedom!” and “The person who will walk the path of Hitler will die the death of Hitler!”
Anger, energy and opposition to the government are growing by the day. More and more Indians are pouring onto the streets of major cities, from Kolkata in the east to Kochi in the south, to express outrage at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for pushing through a law that favors granting citizenship to South Asians of faiths other than Islam.
The government has responded to this week’s protests with riot officers and internet shutdowns. India tops the world – by far – in the number of digital lockdowns it has imposed, outpacing authoritarian governments such as Syria and Turkey.
Police officials in Delhi said that they had detained hundreds of people and converted a sports stadium into a temporary jail.
Rowdy protests against a contentious new citizenship law swept India on Thursday, and authorities responded by shutting down the internet, barricading roads and arresting intellectuals, revealing an Indian government increasingly on edge.
In Bangalore, Ramachandra Guha, a preeminent biographer of Mohandas K Gandhi and a critic of the citizenship law, was midsentence in speaking to a reporter when
helmeted police officers carrying sticks grabbed his arms and dragged him away. It was all captured on video.
“Our protest is totally nonviolent,” Guha said, seconds before he was detained. “See what is happening. You see we are totally peaceful. Did you see any violence?”
Guha was then put into a bus full of other detainees. He was released later in the day. In New Delhi, the capital, demonstrators flocked to the historic Red Fort, chanting, “We want freedom!” and “The person who will walk the path of Hitler will die the death of Hitler!”
Anger, energy and opposition to the government are growing by the day. More and more Indians are pouring onto the streets of major cities, from Kolkata in the east to Kochi in the south, to express outrage at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for pushing through a law that favors granting citizenship to South Asians of faiths other than Islam.
The government has responded to this week’s protests with riot officers and internet shutdowns. India tops the world – by far – in the number of digital lockdowns it has imposed, outpacing authoritarian governments such as Syria and Turkey.
Police officials in Delhi said that they had detained hundreds of people and converted a sports stadium into a temporary jail.
