NEW YORK, United States 27 Jan (ANA) - Thousands of Indian Americans, joined by several civil rights organisations, have staged protests across dozens of US cities against policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that critics say undermine the country's secular constitution.

 

On Sunday, which marked India's Republic Day, Mohammad Mustaqeem and his eight-year-old son, along with thousands of others, gathered outside the Indian embassy in New York to protest against the recently passed citizenship law that makes faith a basis for attaining Indian citizenship.

 

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) coupled with a plan to implement a nationwide counting of citizenship (National Register of Citizens or NRC) by India's Hindu nationalist government has triggered widespread protests in the South Asian nation.

 

In the northeast Indian state of Assam, nearly two million people were dropped from the citizenship list in 2019 and many fear a nationwide NRC will possibly render millions of Indians stateless.

 

Mustaqeem from the eastern Indian state of Bihar says his nephew Mohammad Irfan was among those injured last month when police stormed the library inside Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi.

 

Mustaqeem says his nephew's left leg and right hand were fractured in the police action, which caused a public outcry. The students were protesting against the CAA and the NRC that activists say discriminates against India's Muslims.

 

"I can't go back to India right now. But I have come here to protest against the war Modi has started against India's Muslims," Mustaqeem told Al Jazeera.

 

He accused the Modi government of waging a war against Muslims, students, Dalits and marginalised sections of society.ANA)

FA/ANA/27 January 2020--------