Page 1 www.TheIndiaForum.in February 7, 2020 TIF - Three Streams in the Anti-CAA Movement H. SRIKANTH February 7, 2020 Reading from the Constitution and holding up the national flag have been emblematic of the protests around the country: Here a the Tricolour along a fence near Jamia Millia Islamia| Twitter The protestors in the north-east, the Muslim community and a vast number of agitating students are all united against the CAA. But there are differences among them that they must be sensitive to; they must show unity lest the ruling regime divides them. While enacting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government and those supporting the regime did not expect that there would be a strong public reaction to the law. The Government was aware of the discontent in the north-eastern states, but assumed that the exemptions and concessions incorporated in the December 2019 version of the Citizenship Amendment Bill would mollify opposition to the Act to a considerable extent. It tried to project the Act as non-communal, meant only to offer citizenship and not to deprive citizenship to anyone. Various sections – students, youth, women, intellectuals, minorities, tribals, dalits and even people belonging to upper castes and middle/upper middle classes – have come out in large numbers against the communal and divisive intent of the CAA. Still, once the link between the apparently benign humanitarian gesture of the CAA and the declared political objective of identifying “foreigners” through a nation-wide National Register of Citizens (NRC) became apparent, people refused to remain silent spectators. Contrary to the regime’s expectations, the resistance to the CAA was