STATELESSNESS IN INDIA Assam, the NRC will likely adversely affect religious, ethnic, and linguistic minorities (particularly Bengalis). Among those excluded from the NRC, people from the six religion groups from the three Muslim countries will be able to reinstate their citizenship under the CAA while other groups, particularly Muslims, will face a lengthy, arduous fight to prove they belong to the country of their ancestors. III. Effects of Discrimination (G) Repression and displacement The sequence of events described above - notification for a nation-wide NPR published on 31 July 2019; the NRC for Assam published on 31 August 2019, and the CAA passed on 12 December 2019 – ratcheted up discrimination across the country.71 Examples of repression from Assam, and the routinisation of discrimination between August and December 201972 led to immediate dissent, peaceful protests and student movements across the country. The right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest took several severe blows, with persecutory targeting of protests in Muslim educational institutions and areas with predominant Muslim population. In response to anti-CAA protests, the country also saw pro-CAA rallies. At one such rally, a speech by an elected BJP leader triggered communal riots against Muslims in five BJP-held districts of North-East Delhi.73 Most recently, in the midst of COVID19 lockdown, several Muslim anti-CAA protestors were arrested, including a pregnant woman.74 71 In October 2019, the police in Bangalore arrested about 60 persons on suspicion of being Bangladeshi and put them on a train to Kolkata, to be left on the Bangladesh border. However, news reports and media coverage of this group of people is non-existent once they reached Kolkata, and their fate remains unknown. See, Bala Chauhan, The New Indian Express, Far from home, Bangladeshi immigrants in Bengaluru stare at uncertain future, November 13, 2019. 72 An entire slum settlement was demolished in Bangalore, without following due process of law. A news report stated: “A BJP lawmaker’s tweets, however, confirmed the Bangladeshi angle. The “concerned authorities were instructed to take action”, local MLA Aravind Limbavali tweeted soon after the sheds were razed, adding that some of the residents were suspected to be “illegal immigrants of Bangladesh.” See, K.M. Rakesh, Telegraph, Bangla angle in Bangalore demolition drive, January 22, 2020. 73 Samira Sadeque, Al Jazeera, Hundreds rally in US cities against anti-Muslim violence in Delhi, March 1 2020. 74 Research scholars at Jamia Milia Islamia, a university in New Delhi, were arrested by the Delhi Police in April 2020. See, the Wire, 'Unending Witch-Hunt of Muslims': Eminent Citizens Condemn Targeted Arrests of Anti-CAA Protesters, April 18. See also, 300 activists released a statement amid the crackdown on antiCAA protestors during the COVID19 lockdown. This also brings to light the data collection and surveillance regime that is being activated across India. The Wire More Than 300 Activists, Scholars Condemn Arrests, Harassment of Anti-CAA Protesters, May 1, 2020. 10