Protests persist in India months after the government passed a new citizenship law. The law has been challenged in the streets as discriminating against Muslims by allowing immigrants of every major South Asian religion but Islam to seek asylum in the country. In defense of secularism, millions have waved copies of the Indian Constitution, raised posters of Mahatma Gandhi, and held up other symbols of country’s successful struggle against colonial oppression.
After weeks of state repression, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opted to counter criticism differently last month. “We only implemented what the great freedom fighters had wished to do. We have done Gandhiji’s bidding,” he said, using the Hindi suffix for respect.
In October 2019, India celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of the “father of the nation.”
