Protests in India cast shadow on New Year celebration

NEW DELHI－Thousands of Indians ushered in the New Year by demonstrating against a citizenship law despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to dampen protests that have run for nearly three weeks.

The protests have rocked India since Dec 12, when the government passed legislation easing the way for non-Muslim minorities from the neighboring Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to gain Indian citizenship.

Combined with opposition to a proposed national register of citizens, many Indians fear the law will discriminate against minority Muslims and chip away at India's secular constitution.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, and the National Citizens' Register, or NRC, were part of the election manifesto of Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party.

Meanwhile, Modi on Wednesday morning took to social media to extend New Year greetings to Indians.

"Have a wonderful 2020! May this year be filled with joy and prosperity. May everyone be healthy and may everyone's aspirations be fulfilled," Modi wrote on twitter. "Have a wonderful 2020!"

However, thousands of people gathered overnight into Wednesday in New Delhi in the biting cold to protest against the new law that makes religion the basis of citizenship.

Protesters had planned at least three demonstrations in the capital, including the area of Shaheen Bagh, where hundreds of residents have blocked a major highway for 18 days.

Irshad Alam, a 25-year-old resident of Shaheen Bagh, stood with his one-year-old in his arms and his wife by his side. He said he'd been participating in the protest every day.

"It's freezing here," he said, "But we are still here because we care about this movement."

More than 200 people gathered in and around a makeshift stage in the Muslim neighborhood chanting slogans and reciting poetry.

Police said they had deployed additional forces in New Delhi on New Year's Eve, with traffic curbs imposed in some parts of the capital.

Streetside poetry recitals, stand-up comedy, and music performances are also planned in the financial capital of Mumbai and the eastern city of Kolkata.

In the southern city of Hyderabad, at least two small groups of demonstrators have been organizing flash protests, to skirt police restrictions on larger gatherings.

Initially caught off guard by the scale of the protests, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, has scrambled to douse public anger, with Modi declaring that there had been no discussions on the NRC, contradicting party colleagues.

The BJP is running a campaign to say that the CAA is not discriminatory and is needed to help non-Muslim minorities persecuted in the three neighboring countries.

Agencies - Xinhua