Effigies of Indian PM Modi burned as protests against citizenship bill continue

Shocking scenes prevailed in the northeast Indian state of Assam where agitators cut their arms using blades and use the blood to write posters while protesting the controversial citizenship bill.The incident took place on December 11.People came out in numbers to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 which allegedly singles out people from the Islamic faith, living in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and makes it difficult for them to obtain Indian citizenship.However, the same bill will enable people from the three aforementioned countries and six other communities- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian- to seek citizenship in India.It has also proposed to relax provisions for "Citizenship by naturalisation" from the existing 11 years to just five years.Visuals also showed people drag effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who is said to have spearheaded the bill, that was passed by the Lok Sabha or the lower house of the national Parliament on December 2.To keep the situation in check, a large number of Army personnel have been deployed in the state. At one point, they even broke down a barricade put up by law enforcement agencies to prevent the demonstrators from marching ahead.Apart from vehicles, protesters set fire to tires and let out slogans, threatening the Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of consequences if they legalise the act..To keep the situation in check, a large number of Army personnel have been deployed in the state.