[A very brave and powerful editorial from Deccan Herald.] 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Sunday in which he spoke on a number of topics like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Register of Citizens and detention centres for illegal migrants was marked by much misinformation, ambiguity and even falsehood.
Submitted by narendramodifacts on Mon, 12/23/2019 - 00:00
Two recent stories involving children and the anti-CAA protests may have caught your attention: an 8 year old was amongst those killed taking part in the protests; and a video of two young boys went viral - wearing BJP hats, they chant a slogan about shooting "traitors", namely protestors. (We have not linked to this video, since these children are victims too). This prompted us to look back at recent articles we tagged "children". What did we find? The nature of articles we archive means that naturally it was grim. The links are to specific examples, but there are many more.
'“They are falsely saying that I will take away people’s rights,” Modi said at Ramlila Maidan. “In fact, I am just giving more people rights... Muslims who are from India have nothing to do with the CAA or NRC,” Modi continued. “They will not be put in detention centres. There are no detention centres in India.” Several reports have exposed how detention centres are being constructed in different parts of the country – from Karnataka to Assam...'
'In a combative speech in Delhi on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that all the people protesting his government’s promise to conduct a pan-India National Register of Citizens were misguided and had fallen prey to untruths spread by the Opposition. He then sought to mislead people himself. “Has anything happened with the NRC yet? Lies are being spread,” Modi declared at the Bharatiya Janata Party rally in the capital.
'India’s federal government has warned television stations not to broadcast images of protests against a new religion-based citizenship law, as it intensifies attempts to quell growing anger over what demonstrators say is an attack on the country’s secular constitution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants broadcasters to “abstain” from showing content that’s “against the maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national attitudes,” according to a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting letter tweeted by the country’s biggest media group, Times of India.
'...When a state starts beating up its students, alarm bells on its democratic credentials should go to red. When a democracy attacks its own students - the future -- it has lost the argument. Code red flashed in India as the Narendra Modi government has intensified a crackdown on largely peaceful mass protests against the flawed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and its bigoted twin the National Register of Citizens (NRC). This is the first time that religion has been made a criteria of citizenship of a secular republic and Indian democracy appears increasingly wobbly under Narendra Modi.
'Last week, when Union home minister Amit Shah defended the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (now Act) in parliament, he dismissed concerns that it was targeting India’s Muslims and asked the community not to have any fears.
The past few days have seen the most widespread and energised mass protests since the fascists came to power in 2014. And it hasn't been a great few years. People died in bank queues and trillions were wiped off the economy by the great masterstroke of demonetisation, but there were no large scale protests. There was anger and sympathy when Kashmiris were suddenly demoted to fourth class citizens, but that too didn't translate into large demonstrations across the country. The Citizenship Amendment Act, however, seemed to break a spell.
Students have been particularly courageous in protesting this Act, facing violence and demonisation, and demolishing the notion that India's youth have all been numbed to idiocy by years of relentless and repetitive propaganda. The scale of the protests have clearly taken the government by surprise. In Orwellian style, hate-monger-in-chief appealed to people not to let "vested interests" divide society. "Vested interests" presumably refers to young people some of whom wear vests. (Some also took off their vests.) And "society" presumably refers to the NDA, some of whose junior members are starting to feel a little awkward.
'Two days after prime minister Narendra Modi said those who were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act could be “identified by their clothes,” the BJP’s West Bengal president and Medinipur MP Dilip Ghosh said lungi-clad terrorists had made their way to Bengal from Bangladesh. Ghosh was responding to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who on day two of her three-day anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act and anti-National Register of Citizens rally, took the mic to condemn Modi’s ‘clothes’ remark...'
'While students protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University had to bear the brunt of police violence on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided it was the right time to ignite communal sentiments and suggest only Muslims were protesting the new law. Speaking at a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Dumka, Jharkhand ahead of the upcoming polls, Modi said that those who were protesting violenlty against the new Act could be recognised by their clothes. The Congress and its allies, he added, were adding fuel to this fire...'
