In December 2019, the city of Delhi witnessed a novel protest led by Muslim women against the newly enacted legislation that revised the pr...
In December 2019, the city of Delhi witnessed a novel protest led by Muslim women against the newly enacted legislation that revised the provisions under which Indian citizenship is granted. Indian Muslims were afraid that the new law would have adverse implications for their status in the Indian union. One of the most visible manifestations of the movement was a loud assertion of the Muslim claim to Indianness, their nationalism and their being rooted in Indian soil.
The major sites of the agitation were awash with images and signboards asserting this claim. Muslim children painted their cheeks with images of the Indian flag and every leader who spoke from the stage affirmed their unflinching patriotism.
However, it did not seem to make any difference to the ruling establishment and a section of the national media who continued to project the protestors as “illegitimate” Indians, often using popular stereotypes, to make them appear synonymous with Pakistan and Pakistanis.
A year later
A year later, Sikh farmers of Punjab have arrived on the border of the national capital in large numbers, protesting against another set of newly enacted legislations by the Central government, this time related to agriculture and its trade and commerce.
Though they were soon joined by...
