Citizenship Amendment Act Research Articles

The revolution will wear burqas: feminist body politics and online activism in India

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the linkages between the online activism and offline protests against the anti-Muslim, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed in India in 2019. Muslim women initiated a 101-day sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, India to challenge both the anti-Muslim rationality of CAA and the ruling party in India. I analyze how the experiences of Muslim women in physical sites of protests are tied with the presence of digital feminist networks which foster translocal connections and sustain the movement through online activism. I study both the corporeal street protests where the female body is physically deployed as an instrument of dissent and the virtual presence of cyberfeminists who use digital platforms to create and circulate discursive and everyday experiences challenging the surveillance of the precarious female body. In unpacking the connections between body-offline-online, I bring to the surface discussions on the pervasiveness of violence against Muslims, especially women, in India and how they are subjected to instances of discrimination manifest in the form of corporeal punishment as well as discursive vitriol and ridicule. I argue that a protest led by Muslim women in India challenges the majoritarian masculinist assumptions about public spaces, politics, and processes of meaning-making.

Women’s struggles over religion and citizenship in contemporary India

ABSTRACT In 2019, India passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), providing Indian citizenship to immigrants, with the exception of Muslims, from the neighboring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. In this viewpoint essay, I examine the CAA and the protests that it has generated, with particular attention to intersecting dynamics of gender, religion and citizenship. Muslim women have protested the CAA with assertions of their identity as Indians and Muslims; they have deployed the tropes and symbols of a secular, non-majoritarian and democratic India, and the values that are enshrined in the Constitution. Other constituencies, united in their resistance to exclusionary laws and rhetoric, have also supported the CAA protest movement. My conversations from the field show the particular vulnerabilities of women to a state bureaucracy that expects citizens to produce official identity documents without regard to complex histories of displacement and gender inequality.

Sentimental study of CAA by location-based tweets.

As people progressively resort to twitter to express their opinions or to disambiguate their sentiment, it's feasible to analyze the mass opinion to conclude the polarity of the subject at hand using sentiment analysis. Sentiment Analysis (SA) has revolutionized the way information is perceived today. Inspired by this, the work in this paper investigates the much-debated act- the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by analyzing opinionated geo-tagged tweets, manually annotated and cross verified by six annotators. This is the first paper to the best of our knowledge to analyse CAA using SA and to provide a clear statistics of the mass opinion across the states of the nation. In this paper, machine learning approach is used for sentiment analysis of tweets. Support vector machine classifier is used to classify the tweets into three classes viz. positive, negative and neutral.

Resisting citizenship amendment act: Universities as spaces of dissent

Resisting citizenship amendment act: Universities as spaces of dissent

“NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster

This article considers the demands for azadi (freedom) from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that were central to the protests that swept through India over 2019-2020. It does so by considering the processes through which such a gargantuan bureaucratic exercise would be executed as well as through a consideration of its attachment to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This leads to a conceptualization of the NRC as a “paper monster” possessed of the power to divide and devour India. The article argues that the bureaucratic processes demanded by the NRC would greatly exacerbate the violence of paperwork that lies at the heart of the Indian state. The NRC will strengthen the longstanding dubiousness associated with all documents and can only culminate in the creation of an alternate paper-based reality of who really is an Indian.

The Indian Northeast: India’s Shift from Colonised to Coloniser

ABSTRACT The introduction of The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sparked a collective resistance that has not been witnessed since the fight for Indian Independence. Although Modi is living up to the promises he made in his manifesto(s), and some BJP supporters believe the act ‘fulfils the aspiration of Mahatma Gandhi’, this article considers how his government are using the CAA and NRC as weapons to rid India of its Muslim ‘foreigners’ and this has caused significant communal tensions and rising levels of violence, particularly in the capital (New Delhi). In today’s society issues of racism, discrimination, Islamophobia and even dehumanisation should be horrors of the past, yet they are beginning to take centre stage in a future dominated by Hindu nationalism. This article seeks to explore some of the consequences of this decision, and what the future holds for the Indian Northeast.

Locating Gramsci in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh: Perspectives on the iconic women’s protest in India

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, in India was widely contested by both political parties and various civil society formations. Shaheen Bagh, a sit-in protest demonstration which continued for over a hundred days in the nation’s capital from mid-December 2019 to late March 2020, occupied the central position within the corpus of these protest demonstrations. The protests at Shaheen Bagh were led by poor, Muslim working-class women, who had come out on the streets protesting and asserting their rights amidst the dominant ruling-class communal politics. The Shaheen Bagh protests were a potent force of the working-class and oppressed minorities of the country. The paper brings in Marxist and Gramscian perspectives to explain how Shaheen Bagh has contributed to Indian left-wing politics. The paper argues that the women in Shaheen Bagh have been successful in bridging the gap between the civil society and political society in the country and has to an extent, altered the very nature of Indian politics. Moreover, the assertive nature of the Muslim women regarding their religion and the support which they garnered from the Indian left, widely accused by many of being Islamophobic in nature, has wide repercussions as far as political and social alliances between the left and Muslim politics in India is concerned. The present paper locates the protest within the notion of subaltern unity and tries to analyse the possible impacts of the support for the protests, within and beyond the anti-CAA protest movement, from the Indian left.

Citizens, Infiltrators, and Others

This article will address the political objective behind the Modi government passing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), planning to prepare a National Population Register (NPR) and a National Register of Citizens (NRC). It will examine the psychological impact of these moves on the minority community and why these moves were seen as precursors to their possible political disenfranchisement. It will examine the manner in which anti-CAA/NPR/NRC protest sites came up spontaneously across the country, how these protests were organized, and their lack of a clear leadership. It will also examine the decision of mainstream Opposition parties to keep away from these protests and the consequences of this decision. It will argue that this decision cost the political parties and the nation dearly. It shifted the political discourse within the majoritarian spectrum and led to these parties losing credibility with the protestors and the minority community. Finally, it will also examine the failure of the mainstream political parties in preventing violence by the state against the protestors (such as in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi) and in moderating the protests so that they do not fall prey to violent provocation.

Counting Citizens in Assam

The current protests over the government of India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) constitute the most resolute civic resistance to efforts at transforming the country’s political landscape. The government’s need to tamper with the existing laws and procedures for granting citizenship had a contested beginning in Assam. Here, the country’s Supreme Court mandated the enumeration of citizens under the National Register of Citizens (NRC)—a process that was partially attempted in 1951—in order to address long-standing political demands for autonomy and self-determination. Following the contested process that left close to two million people outside the register, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to introduce CAA, ostensibly to ensure that non-Muslims were not affected by exclusion in the NRC. This article focuses on the reasons why this has not resolved the issue of citizenship in Assam, adding instead more layers to the already contentious claims over resources and territory in India’s northeast.

Resisting the configurations for a Hindu nation

The protests against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and a nationwide NRC (National Register of Citizens) have emerged as an important challenge against right-wing majoritarianism in India. These protests frame themselves as part of a struggle to save the Indian constitution and its secular character. How can we understand the role of such protests in resisting the right-wing efforts for a Hindu Rashtra, or a Hindu nation where minorities, especially Muslims, will be marked as undesirable Others? The article attempts to answer this question by looking at Hindu Rashtra as a performative project. The manner in which the processes of anti-CAA-NRC protests attempt to challenge the claims of Hindutva narratives are analyzed. The article explores the possibility of undoing the Hindutva ecosystem of hate through cultural and media materials as well as bodies from the sites of protests which assert the constitutionally guaranteed principle of equality

Abrogation and assertion

In this article I look at the responses of Indians to political events in 2019 regarding the abrogation of Article 370 concerning Kashmir in the Constitution of India and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The critiques of abrogation as well as of the CAA as put forth by the people of India were based on constitutional grounds, decrying them as inconsistent and in conflict with the basic principles and ambit of the Constitution. I juxtapose these responses with a critique of the Constitution and the sovereignty it offers to India through an engagement with Kashmiri Muslims in Delhi. The anti-CAA protests offered Kashmiris an opportunity to extend their solidarity with Indian Muslims as well as comment on the ambivalent nature of Indian secularism as it is pitched against minorities. However, Kashmiris also offered a structural critique and a rejection of the sovereignty of the Indian Constitution: for while it sanctioned equality and freedom for Indian citizens, it is the basis of oppression and occupation of their homeland.

Geopolitics of the NRC-CAA in Assam: Impact on Bangladesh–India Relations

ABSTRACT The present study examines the contemporary Bangladesh–India relationship analyzing the dynamics of geopolitics centring the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)-2019 in Assam, India. On the basis of secondary data, this paper explores the historical and geopolitical roots of volatile present and uncertain future of the non-registered people, often termed as ‘illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ living in Assam, portrayed by the Indian ethnocratic state sidelining India’s longstanding pluralist traditions and exercises. The central argument of the study is that peddling the issue of ‘illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ by Indian political elites is destined to transcend the boundary infusing hostility in future into Bangladesh–India relationship.

Understanding Intergroup Conflict Complexity: An Application of the Socioecological Framework and the Integrative Identity Negotiation Theory

AbstractThis research article used a controversial in‐progress conflict case story, namely the Citizenship Amendment Act in India, to illustrate the benefit of using a combined socioecological framework and integrative identity negotiation theory in explaining intergroup conflict complexity. The essay is structured in four sections. First, we present a highly controversial conflict case story of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was recently passed in India. The real‐life case story is embedded in the nexus of multifaceted identity conflict and multileveled socioecological interpretations. Second, we introduce the socioecological (SE) framework and its essential principles and illustrative examples of the various levels of analysis. Third, we review selective assumptions of the integrative identity negotiation theory (IINT) and, together with the SE framework, analyze the CAA India case story with explanatory depth and multilevel insights. Fourth, we conclude with a summary and seven strategy recommendations that can be applied to managing polarized intergroup conflict complexity constructively.

Voices from India’s borderlands : indigeneity and the de-centering of dissent against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)

Voices from India’s borderlands : indigeneity and the de-centering of dissent against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)

Secularism and the Citizenship Amendment Act

This paper examines the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) against the backdrop of the citizenship provisions of the Indian Constitution. It argues that contrary to popular belief, the discrimination against Muslim immigrants which seems to form a part of the CAA is not a phenomenon of relatively recent vintage. However, this paper also argues that the CAA is unconstitutional by today’s standards because the conditions which existed during the days of India’s dominionship, between August 1947 and January 1950, no longer exist today. It posits that the CAA is discriminatory for several reasons though not for the insidious, mala fide reasons that are usually attributed to the government in popular discourse. However, this paper also argues that India’s citizenship laws amplify the problems with the CAA, by casting the evidentiary burden of proof on Indians to prove their citizenship, by abandoning the principle of citizenship by birth, by failing to give judges of foreigners tribunals security of tenure, and by omitting a safe harbor for Muslim “dreamers” who illegally came to India as minors with their parents, by no fault of their own, and who have only known India to be their homeland since childhood.

Many Dimensions of Shaheen Bagh Movement in India

The protest in Shaheen bagh began on since December 16, 2019 against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), National Population Register (NPR) and against police brutalities. Now, more than seventy days later, it emerged as a non-violent, creative and an inspiring movement led by women – a movement against fascism, a movement of reckoning based on the ideology of humanity to protect constitution and its values. Its purpose is to counter the hate and polarization spread by the autocratic majoritarian regime. It is a movement which is writing `herstory’ of collective rebellion by women and children, students and artists, professionals and people who came together to resist against the authoritarian state and its anti-people policies. It is about survival with dignity while protecting one’s identity and existence. It is about protecting the human rights. The movement is a step towards reclaiming the soul of India where young and old generations from diverse communities came together to assert that politics of hate and communalism is unacceptable. One of the significant aspects of this movement is that the women across the country came together to protect the idea of India and to hold the state accountable. Against the mighty, arrogant, insensitive, devious state, women well aware of dangers of being arrested, of facing lathis, tear gas shells, pellets or guns, of being hit by goons, of being labelled as anti-national, terrorists and jihadis are bravely protesting continuously facing chilly winters and rains of Delhi and are dealing with the violent tactics and threats of forceful eviction deployed by police and state to remove protestors as they claimed to have block the roads. Based on the Gandhian philosophy, embedded in Constitutional values, grounded in the thinking of BR Ambedkar, Savitri Bai Phule, Fatima Nafees, Bhagat Singh, and many other freedom fighters, it began as a leaderless protest without any nexus with any group or political party who could claim its interest. This movement gained much momentum and within a short span, the ruling party at the Center made Shaheen Bagh an election agenda in the Delhi Assembly elections held in February 2020 where the leaders of BJP made every effort to infantilize, delegitimize and malign the movement using derogatory language and violent actions. In fact, the entire state apparatus and the corporate media is being used to attack peaceful protestors, their cause, action and ideology. Yet, the ideology on which this movement is based emerged victorious and today, Shaheen Bagh has spread to more than 115 places all over India where people are coming out to reclaim their rights, to retrieve democratic ideals and to reject fascism. Shaheen bagh is a live example to show that democracy implies `rule of the people, by the people and for the people’ where citizens are actively yet peacefully expressing their dissent. Currently, the matter is sub-judiced before the Supreme Court and the mediators are negotiating with protestors. The President of USA on his visit to India has commented that he will discuss about the CAA with the PM of India. Even earlier, several human rights organizations including United Nations have expressed their concerns about the CAA. Hence, Shaheen Bagh has acquired an international dimension too. This piece briefly points out several dimensions of Shaheen Bagh movement and the manner in which it is transforming India.