Bollywood stars wooed amid protest

THE INDIAN government invited numerous Bollywood stars and film industry personalities to a private gathering yesterday in an effort to garner support for a new citizenship law that has triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests nationwide.

At least 25 people have been killed so far in clashes with the police during five weeks of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path for non-Muslims in the neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to gain Indian citizenship.

If combined with a proposed national register of citizens, critics of the CAA fear it will discriminate against India’s Muslim minority and chip away at its secular constitution.

The event hosted by the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was aimed at “facilitating a discussion on the myths and realities pertaining to the CAA”.

Wooing Bollywood stars, who have a huge social media following among Indians of all faiths, could help the BJP alter some of the negative narrative around the new law.

The law, and the outrage it has prompted, poses a dilemma for a film industry that has some big-name Muslim personalities, but caters predominantly to India’s majority Hindu population.

A handful of Bollywood figures have condemned the CAA.

On Saturday, more than 100 000 people took part in a peaceful protest against the CAA in the southern city of Hyderabad.