NEW DELHI: India’s ruling party launched a video with animated Muslim characters on social media Monday in a publicity blitz to try to bust “myths” around a new citizenship law that has sparked deadly protests.
The law has stoked concerns that Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants to marginalize India’s Muslim minority.
The short video clip shows two men in traditional Muslim clothing discussing the legislation before concluding that the country can only progress if there is “peace and brotherhood.”
The video was released by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party on its Twitter handle. On Sunday, Modi said Muslims “don’t need to worry” about the new law.
The ruling right-wing government also carried an advertisement across all national dailies with a “myths vs. facts” explainer saying the law was not against India’s 200 million Muslims.
The advert also stated that there were no immediate plans to roll out a nationwide register of citizens, which has stoked fears of Muslims and others unable to prove they are Indian becoming stateless.
Even if the register would be rolled out, “the guidelines would be framed such that no Indian citizen would face any harassment whatsoever,” the advertisement read.
The wave of protests across the country marks the biggest challenge to Modi’s government since sweeping to power in the world’s largest democracy in 2014.
Further bad news for Modi came on Monday with indications that the BJP was set to be kicked out of office in the eastern state of Jharkhand following elections.
Last month it also lost power in Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, in a major setback.
The citizenship law, passed by Parliament earlier this month, allows people of six religions from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan an easier path to citizenship. Muslims are excluded, however.
Islamic groups, the opposition and others at home and abroad fear this forms part of Modi’s aim to remold the country as a Hindu nation, something his government denies.
