As the ‘mainstream media’ is busy in spreading the news about the protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in various colleges and universities, the rallies held in support of the act has not found space, neither in fine print nor in visuals.
Students in Banaras Hindu University held a rally in support of CAA and NRC on Tuesday, but, none of the mainstream media agencies except newswire agency UNI, covered the story. Students in National Institute of Technology, Surat also condemned the unethical acts and fake news against the act in various universities.
Nearly 1,000 students in various premier National Law Universities, issued statement in support of CAA, and condemned the violent protest across the country.
“We hereby express our support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 passed by the Parliament of India. We having been shocked, agonized and exasperated at the intimidating, violent and divisive protests being carried out by elements with vested interests and also express our condemnation to these events,” reads the joint statement.
The students from Law universities understand the passed act better than, those of other streams, therefore, the support of the law students in crucial.
“The Parliament has all the legislative competence as citizenship falls under the union list of matters. The Act is neither in violation of Articles 14 and 21 nor is it beyond the legislative competence of the Parliament. Hence, the Act cannot be labelled as being unconstitutional. It doesn’t invite new people from these three countries rather recognise only those as citizens who have entered the country till December 31, 2014. Such recognition of citizenship has happened during previous regimes too,” said Shubham Tiwari from Hyderabad’s National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR).
The students from IITs, NITs, and IIMs also supported the act and presented arguments in favour of the same. They have thorough knowledge of the subject and have read whether the law violates any constitutional provisions or accords. “The application of the Inner Line Permit clearly indicates the intention of the government to preserve the culture and identity of northeastern states. Vested interests are fueling the unrest in North-eastern states to suit their own agenda and misinformation about the act is being spread,” argued Rahul Gadkari from IIT Delhi.
The ABVP unit of the JNU also plans to support the act and has called for a march in the university’s T point, in support of the act.
In MS University, Vadodara, the students held a rally in support of the act. Even in Aligarh Muslim University, a section of students held a march in support of the act.
The marches and rallies across the country in support of the act have not found space in the mainstream media so far. The media is trying to paint the protest by a section of minority community students, as the protest by the whole university and college. This is nothing but gross generalization by the media, to create a negative atmosphere against the act.
The newly brought legislation seeks to correct the historical injustice to those born on the wrong side of history, by providing citizenship to members of minority communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, all self-declared Islamic states, that have fled religious persecution. But, the institutions started to protest against the law, because, according to them, it will end the “secular” nature of Indian state.
While the institutions, dominated by liberal arts, like- JNU, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI), Jadavpur University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and many other institutions started to protest vehemently against CAA, the Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM), law, and management universities largely supported it.
The elite institutions, including IITs and IIMs, which are ranked in top global universities while none of the liberal arts institutions of India could do the same, supported the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
If the humanities and social sciences departments could not prove their value, there will be an existential crisis haunting them in the next few years. With the current state of affairs, where the students in these universities are always in loggerheads with the government, that too for illogical reasons, the future does not look bright.