The CAA came into effect on 10th January 2020 and has faced national protests since. The CAA is the Citizenship Amendment Act that protects people from minority religions from neighboring countries who face violence, bias, and discrimination. The amended act allows these minority religions to legally enter India as refugees but does not include Muslims. The BJP justifies this by claiming that because our neighboring countries are Muslim majority countries, they cannot claim protection under this act. It also does not give citizenship to any Muslim who entered India after 2014. This means that the Muslims who have moved to India after 2014 as refugees will be moved to refugee camps and will be deported. Most protesters are college students who see this as inhuman and discriminatory.

Azra Fathima is a young student in Chennai who actively participates in discussions about current issues and politics. She believes that the perspective she views the CAA is from that of an Indian student and not a Muslim. Azra believes that acts like the CAA are required to protect India’s borders from overpopulation, terrorists, and other threats. She believes that the effects of CAA are not only felt by Muslims but also by neighboring countries that are not included in the amendment. This includes refugees like the Rohingyas from Myanmar who have faced massacres and inhuman treatment and Sri Lankan Tamils who were slaughtered during the Civil War. She believes that protestors view this as an issue of Hindus against Muslims because of the large number of problems based on caste, religion, and community. Azra claims that it may violate some articles of the constitution but that it needs to be amended repeatedly over time like any law. She also does not blame the BJP for the CAA because the Citizenship Act was originally created in the early 1950s and not by the Hindu majority party. Azra believes that if the act included all oppressed communities such as the Rohingya and Tamil Sri-Lankans, the act will not be viewed as discriminatory.

Azra believes that the protests should not be viewed as bad for the country because they reinforce the authority of the people in a democratic country. However, she disagrees with the violence that harms everyone involved. She believes that protests are one of the few effective methods to make changes to laws in a country like India. Azra agrees that the CAA impacts the fundamental belief that India is a secular country, but she believes this has to do more with perception than actuality. Azra says it boils down to the fact that the Act needs to be amended in order to make it just and fair for people of all religions.