This archive report was first published on 12 January 2020.
January 12, 2020
Indian police clashed with thousands of protesters in Kolkata on Sunday, as the city's residents demonstrated against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the city.
The protests, which have been ongoing for two months, are against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a law that excludes Muslims from a list of ethnic minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who are allowed to seek Indian nationality.
According to police, nearly 2,000 protesters gathered outside a stadium in Kolkata, chanting slogans and brandishing black flags, which is considered an insulting gesture in Indian society.
"The government can't suppress our voice. We are not afraid. We are determined to fight for our rights," said Samit Nandi, one of the protesters.
West Bengal, the state where Kolkata is located, has become a political battlefield between Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and regional powerhouse Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress party leads the state.
Many among India's 200 million Muslims fear the law is a precursor to a national register of citizens that could leave them stateless in the country of 1.3 billion.
Modi has defended the law, saying it is about giving citizenship, and has accused political opponents of "misleading" and "inciting" people against his government.
