Protesters march through downtown Toronto against changes to India's citizenship laws
Protesters begin the march from Queen's Park to the Consulate General of India. (Aidan Jonah/The Canada Files)
Thousands of people came out to protest changes to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the decision to strip Kashmir of its autonomous statehood made by the Indian government, at a rally hosted by Indo-Canadians 4 Humanity on Sunday.
The protest occurred on the 71st anniversary of Republic Day, when the Indian constitution came into effect.
Khalid Jafri, a media spokesperson for Indo-Canadians 4 Humanity, said the “Rally to Save Indian Constitution and Democracy” was organized to protest the “unconstitutional amendments to the CAA and improve the general public’s awareness of the ongoing constitutional crisis in India.”
Protesters assembled in front of Queen’s Park at 11 a.m. They sang songs and held up signs attacking Indian Prime Minister Modi, while urging him to return autonomous statehood to Kashmir and drop recent amendments to the CAA.
‘The amendments to the CAA are meant to divide India, a secular nation, among religious lines.’
Nassar Ahmed said anxiety over new provisions which would ensure the nationwide implementation of the National Register of Citizens, prompted him to attend the rally. Ahmed believes it “could render up to 250 million people stateless.”
He said there is a growing international movement against “the draconian actions of the Modi government.”
Protesters are briefed on the organizers’ plans for the march to the Consulate General of India. (Aidan Jonah/The Canada Files)
At noon, the protesters marched through downtown Toronto, from Queen’s Park to the Consulate General of India, taking up entire intersections at once.
Upon arriving at the Indian consulate, Mohammed Shafi led protesters in the reading of the 1949 declaration of India’s first constitution and sang the Indian national anthem “in the spirit of unity.” He said, “the amendments to the CAA are meant to divide India, a secular nation, among religious lines.”
Divyani Motla, a University of Toronto student, said she attended the protest to “show solidarity with her former classmates at a Delhi university which was recently attacked by Indian police,” Motla believes “the recent legislative changes have been along very fascistic lines and will take away citizenship from many minorities in India.”
The context
In Aug. 2019, the Indian government stripped Kashmir’s ability to operate as an autonomous state and split it into two territories.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) implemented direct control, sent troops to enforce curfews. They also banned internet and mobile services.
In early December, Modi’s BJP party proposed amendments to the Citizenship Amendment Act. If passed, the bill would quicken the process of obtaining Indian citizenship for migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. However, these amendments exclude Muslims from having citizenship applications sped up.
The bill would also result in the National Register of Citizens, which identified illegal immigrants from Assam on the orders of India’s Supreme Court, being implemented nationwide.
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