Khan, like thousands of others, had planned to take part in a peaceful march through the capital to voice his opposition to India’s new citizenship law, but the authorities had other plans. “They are denying us our basic right to protest, so how can we still call India a democracy?” said Khan. But thousands of protesters – Hindu and Muslim, young and old, farmers, students and academics – were not to be stopped. The diverse makeup of participants in the protests means Modi’s attempts to dismiss them as self-loathing liberals and hopeless cosmopolitans have been met with derision. Nonetheless, he remained optimistic about the sea change occurring across India in the wake of the citizenship act.

Source: The Guardian December 20, 2019 16:07 UTC