Two weeks ago, the government amended the citizenship law to speed up applications for refugees from surrounding countries who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist – but not Muslim. If they happen to be Muslim, the citizenship law means the consequences they face will be different. While the context is the citizenship law, the message has been that India’s essence hangs in the balance. Indeed, India’s protests may well mark the first moment when the new arsenal of the state is deployed on such a large scale. •Madhav Khosla teaches law and politics at Columbia Law School and Ashoka University and is the author of India’s Founding Moment

Source: The Guardian December 28, 2019 18:22 UTC