While an Internet and communications blackout continues, the number of arrests topped 2,500. Unlike in the past, dissatisfaction with the government affects all segments of society. This has to do with a stagnant economy and changes to the workplace, Fr Gian Paolo Gualzetti reports. The PIME missionary runs a youth labour centre outside the capital Dhaka.
The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has revoked a rule in place since 1966 that prevented civil servants from being members of the RSS, a paramilitary group that promotes the Hindutva ideology. Originally, the ban also prevented membership in the Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist organisation, but the latter is not mentioned in the ban revocation. INC members speak out against the government’s decision.
With an uncontrolled spread of firearms, the country is experiencing an unprecedented escalation of violence, linked to drug trafficking. Sri Lanka is now a global hub for the transit of heroin from South Asia to Europe. The shadows of the civil war that ended in 2009 weigh heavily. The most vulnerable, poor and unemployed young people are affected.
The vice president, who is now running for the White House after Joe Biden bowed out, has never shied away from her roots in Tamil Nadu. Meeting Modi last year, she said that she got her passion for democracy from her grandfather in Chennai. The very story of her mother Shyamala Gopalan epitomises the rise of the Indian-American community in the country. And Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, is also of Indian origin, from the state of Andhra Pradesh.
The percentage of posts in the public sector reserved for descendants of combatants in the war of independence was reduced from 30% to 5%. The curfew has been partly relaxed, but students are demanding the release of leaders and the resignation of some ministers. Unlike in the past, today the discontent with the government led by PM Hasina is more generalised.
Soldiers have been deployed in the streets, while gatherings have been banned and the Internet is still down. Some sources claim that at least 105 have died with 1,500 injured in clashes. A prison was attacked and set on fire with inmates allowed to escape. What started as a protest over public employment quotas has quickly morphed in an all-out battle. Hundreds of Indian students have been repatriated, while India is not taking any position over the clashes.
