This is alarming because it illustrates that the country’s government is clamping down on citizens’ efforts to voice their opinions on numerous issues plaguing India right now, and restricting their ability to coordinate protests. The news follows the onset of protests in several cities and towns against the National Register of Citizens Bill (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). At the same time, Section 144 of India’s Criminal Procedure Code is being imposed in cities like Bangalore, and in parts of New Delhi. This effectively prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area, and those participating in ‘unlawful assembly’ can be booked for engaging in rioting.
— Pankaj (@pankazz) December 19, 2019 It’s also worth noting that this happened right when the Delhi government was slated to launch free Wi-Fi services across the city of New Delhi.
— scroll.in (@scroll_in) December 19, 2019 The NRC is a bill to create a database of citizens who can prove their citizenship by way of official paperwork documenting their ancestry in India. It has currently only been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam, which is home to several tribal communities. The CAA is a law that allows the government to fast-track citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh – but not Muslims, and not people from other neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and Tibet. Together, these two pieces of legislation could see many Muslims displaced from India, where it’s incredibly difficult to gather documentation of one’s ancestry. In addition, protests are being carried out in solidarity with demonstrators from two prominent universities, where police are alleged to have resorted to violence.
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2019 India has implemented more than 350 internet shutdowns across the country since 2014 — the most notable of which is the ongoing blackout in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, which has already lasted 135 days (it is now active only in the Kashmir valley). The aforementioned shutdown was implemented after the Central government announced its intention to revoke Jammu & Kashmir’s special constitutional status, forcing it to abide by national legislation. The Bhartiya Janata Party, which is currently in power in India, is going further than it ever has in recent history in clamping down on citizens’ freedom of expression. Today’s shutdown in the capital is likely only an indication of what will befall the rest of the country in short order.
