TISS students protest against Citizenship Bill

Hours before the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, students who are part of the Northeast Students’ Forum at Tata Institute of

Hours before the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, students who are part of the Northeast Students’ Forum at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Deonar, staged a protest, calling the bill discriminatory and against the interests of indigenous people of the country.

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“This bill seeks to fundamentally alter the idea of India and Indian citizenship through inclusion and exclusion based on one’s religious identity. This explicitly communal legislative measure with a specifically anti-Muslim positioning is a step towards the Hindu nationalist vision of the ruling party,” said a statement released by the forum on Monday morning.

The citizenship bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

It has sharply divided political and intellectual opinion, with many opposition parties protesting the use of religion as the criterion for citizenship, and the pointed exclusion of Muslims.

“Not only is the bill religiously selective, but it also fails to take cognizance of humanitarian crises faced by different people in the subcontinent. Currently, various sections of indigenous communities in the north-eastern states are standing united against the passing of this bill,” said a student from the forum.

Protest marches were held on the TISS campus and the campus of the International Institute of Population Sciences, Deonar, on Monday.