Anti-CAA protests: A reiteration of people power over political muscle

The current stir over citizenship laws isn't the first in which the political establishment has taken a backseat; protests as far back as 1974 have been spearheaded by common citizens

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed by the Parliament in December 2019, became controversial for introducing a religious test for granting Indian citizenship to migrants from neighbouring countries.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by its President, Amit Shah, had repeatedly argued during the campaign for the 2019 General Election, that changes would be made to citizenship laws and this will be followed by a nationwide exercise to separate citizens from non-citizens by way of a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC or NRC).

The fears over denial of citizenship by a combination of CAA and NRC (as repeatedly underlined by the