CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh was a protest that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament on 11 December 2019. and the police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing law which gives priority to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians resident in India before 2014, but excludes Muslims, including minority sects. The student activists were also demanding complete roll back of CAA.
The protest were supported by world wide Indian community generally against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's citizenship act. The protesters were also supported by Major trade unions opposing the government's anti-labour policies and have protested against recent happenings such as the 2020 JNU Attack. The Shaheen Bagh protests has inspired similar Shaheen Bagh-style protests across the country, such as in Gaya, Park Circus, Prayagraj, Mumbai and Bengaluru. However, The UP Police claimed that firing by protesters, not cops were behind many deaths in the CAA protests in the state. A fact-finding team comprising students from several prominent universities such as JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia and Banaras Hindu University on Wednesday accused the Uttar Pradesh police of "brutality" in dealing with anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests and targeting Muslims.
Background
Causes
On 12 December 2019, the Parliament of India passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), which amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant a swifter path to Indian citizenship under the assumption of religious persecution to any individual belonging to the specific religious minorities of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, for those who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. However, the Act does not mention Muslims from those countries and does not offer eligibility benefits to Muslim immigrants or immigrants belonging to other religions or from other countries, such as Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, Rohingya Muslim and Hindu refugees from Myanmar, and Buddhist refugees from Tibet. It is also alleged that the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which the government plans to implement for the country in 2021, could be used to deprive Muslims of Indian citizenship.
The CAA–NRC issue also ignited protest of the economic crisis and economic disparities that the country is facing. Women's safety, rising cost of commodities, increasing unemployment and poverty have acted as catalysts for the protest. The Indian economy has been witnessing a decreasing growth rate, increasing household debt, inflation, unemployment and economic inequality. The State Bank of India estimated a growth rate of 4.6% for the financial year (FY) 2020, which would be the lowest since the 2008 Global Recession where the growth rate had been 3.9%. The unemployment rate of India was reported to have reached a 45-year high of 6.1% in FY 2017–18. The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy stated the unemployment rate to be 8.45% with a rate of 37.48% for the 20–24 age group and 12.81% for the 25–29 age group in October 2019. According to the 2019 report of the Pew Research Center, 393.7 million jobs are in a vulnerable state. Oxfam India data states that control of the country's wealth by the richest 1% of the population increased from 58% to 73% between 2018 and 2019, while the wealth of the poorest 50% increased by 1%. The WPS-index (Women, Peace and Security index) ranked India at 133 amongst 167 countries in 2019–20.
The protest
Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in Uttar Pradesh were held in Aligarh, Kanpur, Bareilly, Varanasi and Lucknow. Banaras Hindu University students also protested the police action targeted at the AMU and Jamia students. However, they also held a rally in support of the CAA and NRC. On 19 December, the administration banned public assembly all over the state to prevent further protests in the state. Access to the internet was restricted in Azamgarh district for 2 days, after protest continued for 2 days in the area. In Lucknow, several buses, cars, media vans and motorbikes were torched. A protester named Mohammad Vakil died due to gunshot injuries in the stomach. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that the authorities would seize the properties of those who indulge in violence in the state.