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India-Pakistan

Indian Muslims wave national flag to show protest is not anti-India

2019-12-24

[Jpost] Indian Moslems protesting against a citizenship law which they say is discriminatory are carrying national flags and copies of the constitution, aiming to prevent supporters of the Hindu nationalist government from painting them as anti-India.
"Taqqiya!"
The protesters wear Moslem caps and many of the women wear the hijab headscarves, but they also sing national songs, read out sections of the constitution and carry pictures of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar, who led the drafting of the constitution.

"This tricolor is our symbol against fascism

...a political system developed in Italy, symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. Its distinguishing philosophical feature is the Corporate State. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about...
," Asaduddin Owaisi, an MP who heads a Moslem party, said of India's saffron, white and green flag during a rally in the southern city of Hyderabad at the weekend.

He also asked the crowd to recite the preamble of the constitution in both English and in the Urdu language spoken by many Moslems, and urged them to fly the Indian flag at their homes.

In a column on Saturday, prominent editor and political commentator Shekhar Gupta said the protests had led to what he called the "rise of a new Indian Moslem... Not afraid to look Moslem, and not shy of flaunting her nationalism."

At least 21 people have died in the protests against the new citizenship law and a planned national register of citizens, which protesters say contravene the secular constitution and discriminate against Moslems.

The law gives non-Moslem minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistain who fled to India before 2015 a pathway to citizenship. It does not apply to Moslems.

India's Moslems, who form about 14% of the Hindu-majority country's 1.3 billion people, say they are often called anti-national and Pak. Moslem Pakistain was carved out of British colonial India when the countries gained independence in their bloody 1947 partition and have since fought three wars.

Protesters say displays of patriotism help dispel the notion that protests are a Moslem issue. Tens of thousands of Hindus have also joined.

"Making this a Moslem protest just gives another stick to the government to delegitimise the movement," said law student and protest organizer Hamza Tariq, 22, in the city of Bengaluru.

The demonstrations across India are the biggest challenge to Modi since he first came to power in 2014.

Modi himself appeared to make a veiled allusion to Moslems resorting to violence during the protests.

"You can tell who these arsonists are by their clothes," he said in an address last week, in comments condemned by Moslem leaders.

Moslem protesters at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi said that police who stormed the campus on Dec. 15 with tear gas and batons called them "Pak citizens" and "Islamic murderous Moslems."

Prabhat Kumar, a Hindu student at Jamia, said: "This law is differentiating between communities which is against the constitution.

"When will Moslems speak if not now? This is the right time to speak and we will stand with them till the end."

Posted by:trailing wife

#8 Video fixed, g(r)omgoru. I’m not sure what you did wrong — I just pasted your URL into a successful video post, copied the whole thing, and pasted it over yours. Probably a typo somewhere - goodness knows you have plenty of experience successfully sharing videos here.

Posted by: trailing wife 2019-12-24 20:54

#7 Dark, tinted windows finally explained.

Also the fervor of Trolls.

Posted by: Skidmark 2019-12-24 11:35

#6 Re "cryptic coloration", Just-So Stories aside I believe the tiger got his stripes in the same tall grasses where roam these predatory two-legged beasts

Posted by: Lex 2019-12-24 10:19

#5 They're not anti-India. They're anti-Hindu, anti-Christian, anti-Sikh, and anti-Buddhist.

Posted by: Rob Crawford 2019-12-24 10:15

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-12-24 09:13

#3 Dark, tinted windows finally explained.

Posted by: Besoeker 2019-12-24 08:52

#2 Raj....please re-post. I accidently spam-copped u. My apologies brother.

Posted by: Besoeker 2019-12-24 08:51

#1 Protective coloration, coloration or color pattern of an animal that affords it protection from observation either by its predators or by its prey. The most widespread form of protective coloration is called cryptic resemblance, in which various effects that supplement the similarity of color between the animal and its surroundings enable the creature to blend into the background of its habitat.

Posted by: Herb McCoy 2019-12-24 07:53

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