Md. Golam Rabby

The Populism and Protest in India: NRC, CAA and CAB of India in Bangladeshi Newspapers

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Communal violence is a consistent issue in India; and some of them are created by the ruling elite for their political gain and some of them are originated in social hate. Since the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in power under the Indian leadership of Narendra Modi, Indian minority religious groups, especially, Muslims are seriously subjected to discrimination in terms of religious, political and social rights. Therefore, how the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)-2019 that discriminately allowed citizenship in India to the non-Muslim refugees, has been highly reflected in Bangladeshi mass media. This study, thus, aims to examine the coverage of NRC, CAA and CAB — a series of citizenship bills in India in Bangladeshi mainstream newspapers. It will examine two high circulated newspapers — the Daily Star and the Prothom Alo — published in English and Bangla respectively. The study aims to understand how these newspapers perceived the citizenship bills that side-lined Muslims. Through a qualitative discussion study argues that these newspapers a supportive role towards the protest against Indian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Therefore, they criticized Modi and their policy, but they did not challenge it by questioning them in depth. They, however, did not visit the historical evidences that divided India on the basis of so-called two nation theory. It also argues that these newspapers were supportive to the protests against the bill but favored some iconized Indian leaders that includes J. Nehru and M. Gandhi but construct a villain image of M. Jinnah despite all of them were involved in partitioning British India. The power of the text can be understood when the language, image and overall coverage appear to support the protesters of the bill but hide the historical documents that safe the iconic Indian political leaders. However, this study also argues that the Indian government passed this bill to promote Hindutva ideology that sideline Muslim community in India.