Modi riding the politics of hate to reelection

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stepped up attacks on minority groups in the lead-up to India’s general election, sparking fears Muslims will be targeted as the two-term leader seeks to divide Indians and stoke tensions for his and his ruling party’s political gain.

This coincides with this week’s rollout of controversial legislation, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which makes religion a determining factor for people to become Indian citizens.

Under the law, only Muslims are unable to fast-track their citizenship if they entered India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh prior to December 2014. Lawyers and opposition politicians have slammed the move, arguing it seeks to divide the nation on religious lines.

Prashant Bhushan, a Supreme Court lawyer, called the decision “unconstitutional and discriminatory on several grounds, including exclusion based on religion.” Parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi said the move was “divisive” and designed to “target only Muslims.”

The law was originally passed in India’s Parliament in 2019, with the government delaying its implementation after violent protests broke out across the country. The timing is convenient, leading to accusations Modi is seeking to target the country’s estimated 200 million Muslims to win votes with his majority Hindu support base.

The governmentdenies the law targets Muslims and argues it is designed to protect at-risk groups fleeing persecution. But it is telling that the most persecuted groups in the region – the Rohingyas in Myanmar, Hazaras in Afghanistan and Ahmadis in Pakistan, all Muslim minorities – have been excluded.

This is not surprising. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have a history of targeting minorities for