Kashmir and India's Religious Citizenship Test: Resources

Two issues: Kashmir and India's religious citizenship test

Here are some interesting links to news stories and essays that break down India's move to the right under Narendra Modi and his attempt to make India a Hindu country at the expense of Muslims.

There are close to 200 million Muslims in India, more than in Pakistan.  The Muslim presence in India is a result of the Mughal invasion of northern India in the 1500s. The Mughals were one of three so-called gunpowder empires who came to power during that time. The Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire in modern-day Turkey and the Safavids conquered much of modern-day Iran.

In India, The Mughals ruled until the British took power away from them in the 18th century.  Today, the Modi government wants to erase all memory of the Mughals, even street names from the Mughal era. You can read about the origins of this move to the right in Ohio State's history magazine, Origins. 

In addition, The Modi government recently allowed Hindu citizens in northern India to destroy the Muslim holy site of Ayodhya, because it was the birthplace of the famous Hindu god, Ram. The BBC has a good story about that verdict.

The Modi government also recently introduced a citizenship test based on religion.  Both The Week and the New Yorker have stories about this test, which essentially will make Muslims second-class citizens.

Modis' government turned two Muslim states in northern India,  Kashmir and Assam, into concentration camps. Kashmir has long been a disputed state between India and Pakistan.  But in October India divided the state into two  Federal territories and immediately began to tighten control over the state.  Authorities turned off the internet and refused to allow reporters into the state. You can read about Kashmir in this excellent essay by Dexter Filkins for the New Yorker.

And in Assam,  Foreign Policy notes that Muslims have become stateless citizens.

You can find all the links below, as well a couple of video clips, one from the PBS NewsHour  and another from Al Jazeera,  reviewing the religious citizenship test

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Origins, Right-Wing Politics in India

The Week: India is laying the groundwork for a mass faith-cleansing,

Al. Jazeera, What you should know about India's 'anti-Muslim' citizenship law

New Yorker, Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi’s India

Al Jazeera: What the Zaira Wasim controversy reveals about contemporary India

New Yorker: The Violent Toll of Hindu Nationalism in India,

BBC News: Ayodhya verdict: Indian top court gives holy site to Hindus,

New York Times: India Takes Step Toward Blocking Naturalization for Muslims,

New York Times: India Adopts the Tactic of Authoritarians: Shutting Down the Internet

New Yorker: India’s Citizenship Emergency

New York Times: As Modi Pushes Hindu Agenda, a Secular India Fights Back

Foreign Policy: All Are Stateless. Some Are Hopeless: Hindus left stateless in Assam think Modi will save them. Muslims fear the worst.

NDTV: India's 1st Illegal Immigrant Detention Camp Size Of 7 Football Fields

Washington Post: India’s Muslims and activists face mass arrests, beatings amid citizenship-law unrest

New York Times: We Are Witnessing a Rediscovery of India’s Republic