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TikTok, the missing link between Hong Kong and Indian protesters?
- Indians protesting the government’s new Citizen Amendment Act and national registry have moved from messaging apps to the video-sharing platform TikTok to capture a wider audience
- With TikTok censoring extremist material, some Indian video makers have found creative ways to challenge majority political views
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Laxman Shukla returned home bruised after a long day of protesting. His father and uncle looked at him, annoyed. “What is with you carrying this flag all day long at protests?” his father asked as Laxman went to the bathroom to nurse his wounds. “Why don’t you look for a job instead?”
The scene is from the short film “Mudda NRC”, or “The Issue NRC”, referring to the National Registry of Citizens that India is expected to be implemented in tandem with its Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has prompted nationwide unrest and left dozens of people protesting the law dead or injured.
The film barely attracted 500 views within a week after it was uploaded on YouTube in January, but on the micro video-sharing TikTok platform, one of its scenes – where Laxman explains the nuances of the act – has been viewed over 600,000 times.
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The CAA, which was passed in December by the Indian Parliament, offers fast-track citizenship to Hindus and other religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but excludes Muslim immigrants. The CAA, together with the NRC, could potentially threaten the citizenship of millions of people – mostly Muslims.
According to protesters, it is a deliberate and dangerous attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to further marginalise and punish Muslims as well as the so-called paperless poor, who cannot document their citizenship.
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