That’s a ‘Sign’!: How Placards Communicated Disapproval of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India

ABSTRACT

India witnessed massive rallies and protest marches in response to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a controversial 2019–2020 legislation that grants citizenship to all migrants except Muslims coming illegally from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. As people turned to creative means of voicing their opinions, placards became important tools of questioning the government and the bill. Based on framing and the vernacular rhetoric of social movements, this study examined how placards used in anti-CAA movement in India expressed their disapproval of the discriminatory law. In an era of digital activism, this study attempts to emphasize the relevance of traditional media, especially the media of the protest emanating from the anti-CAA movement.

KEYWORDS:

• Social movements
• placards
• rhetoric
• vernacular
• framing
• India

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. To learn more about the nuances of partition, Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition (2016) written by Nisid Hajari is a useful reference. Additionally, acclaimed Indian films like Garam Hava (1973) and Tamas (1988) also represent struggles of the 1947 partition.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Keya Saxena

Keya Saxena is a PhD candidate in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. Her research interests lie at the intersection of global communication, social justice and media activism especially in the Global South.