India bids to bust citizenship law ‘myths’ with cartoon

India’s ruling party launched a video with animated Muslim characters on social media on Monday as part of a publicity blitz to try to bust “myths” around a new citizenship law that has sparked deadly protests.

 The law has stoked concerns that Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants to marginalise India’s Muslim minority.

 The short video clip shows two bearded men in traditional Muslim clothing discussing the legislation before concluding that the country can only progress if there is “peace and brotherhood”.

 The video, which was released by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party on its Twitter handle, has garnered thousands of “likes”, but also some ridicule.

 The ruling right-wing government also carried an advertisement across all national dailies, with a “myths vs facts” explainer to show the law was not against India’s 200 million Muslims.

 The advert also stated that there were no immediate plans to roll out a nationwide register of citizens, which has stoked fears of Muslims and others unable to prove they are Indian becoming stateless.

 Even if the register would be rolled out, “the guidelines would be framed such that no Indian citizen would face any harassment whatsoever”, the advertisement read.

The wave of protests across the country marks the biggest challenge to Modi’s government since sweeping to power in the world’s largest democracy in 2014.

 At least 25 people have died in the demonstrations over a span of two weeks.

 The citizenship law, passed by parliament earlier this month, allows people of six religions from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan an easier path to citizenship.

Groups, the opposition and others at home and abroad fear this forms part of Modi’s aim to remould the country as a Hindu nation, something his government denies.

 Demonstrations have been largely peaceful but protesters have also hurled rocks and torched vehicles, while heavy-handed police tactics including the storming of a Delhi university a week ago have fuelled anger.

 Indian authorities have cut mobile internet access in places and imposed emergency laws banning assemblies.

 In a speech on Sunday, Modi sought to reassure the Muslim community saying they “don’t need to worry at all” and laying emphasis on India’s diversity.

 In the coming few days, his party says it will contact more than 30 million families, organise countrywide rallies and hold over 250 press conferences to dispel doubts over the new law.

 The protests that first started in the northeastern state of Assam have since spread to the rest of the country, with Uttar Pradesh — a tinderbox state with a population of over 200 million — seeing the maximum deaths.

 Seventeen people have died, mostly from firearm injuries, in the state including a schoolboy who was crushed during a stampede that broke out as police tried to disperse the protesters.

 Fresh protests were planned on Monday in New Delhi as well as in Kochi in the south.

India’s main opposition party staged a silent protest in the capital on Monday against a contentious new citizenship law, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the legislation and accused the opposition of pushing the country into a “fear psychosis.”

About 2,000 people joined the protest at the Raj Ghat, a memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, where the Congress party demanded “protection for the constitution and the rights of people enshrined in it.”

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to India’s streets to call for the revocation of the law, which critics say is the latest effort by Modi’s government to marginalize the country’s 200 million Muslims.

The law allows Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally to become citizens if they can show they were persecuted because of their religion in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.

Agencies