The passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on December 11, 2019 saw thousands of protesters take to the streets across India to emphatically reject the CAA, calling it “divisive”, “fascist” and even “unconstitutional”.
While supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party came out, as expected, in favor of the amendment, there was near unanimity in its condemnation by others, including independent domestic and foreign experts.
Some pointed to the effect it would have with the proposed National Citizen Registry (proclaimed openly by the Minister of the Interior over and over again), others pointed out that the law was unconstitutional even without the NRC.
Multiple aspects of dissent against the CAA reached the constitutional courts, either in the form of a record number of petitions questioning its validity, or in requests for the protection of protesters against arbitrary arrests and police brutality or even, from some sectors , for their dispersal and punishment.
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