In Narendra Modi’s India, to be Indian is to be Hindu. By connecting the national identity to the dominant faith in the country, the Prime Minister has led a campaign to disenfranchise millions of people who don’t share his beliefs, particularly the minority Muslim population, which represents 14 percent of the country. By blurring the line between politician and spiritual leader, Modi has secured an unprecedented mandate to carry his policies, which tend to affect adversely those who don’t share his faith.
GroundTruth Fellow Soumya Shankar was one of the first reporters on the ground in Kashmir during the recent military takeover by Modi’s government, reporting on the tactics used to secure control of the territory and the protests by its residents. Shankar also traveled to the border with Bangladesh, where thousands of people, mainly Muslims, are being denied their right to vote and even their very citizenship, as Modi tries to redefine Indian identity along religious lines.
Read Shankar’s dispatches from the ground
- GroundTruth: Modi strengthens his grip on power
- Caravan Magazine: How the world’s largest democracy treats the world’s most persecuted minority
- Foreign Policy: Kashmiris won’t stay silent forever
- WBEZ Radio: 1.9 million potentially stateless in northeastern Indian state of Assam (interview)
- The Intercept: Mourning and resistance in Kashmir after India revoked the state’s special status
- Foreign Policy: Not everyone has a vote in the world’s largest democracy
Follow the entire series
- Overview
- Episode 1: Weaponize Fear – Brazil
- Dispatch: Meet the intellectual founder of Brazil’s far right
- Episode 2: Target Outsiders – Italy
- Dispatch: Europe’s ‘identitarians’ insist they aren’t part of the far right
- Episode 3: Undermine Institutions – Colombia
- Dispatch: The Slow Death of Colombia’s Peace Movement
- Episode 4: Rewrite History – Hungary
- Dispatch: Europe’s failure to protect liberty in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary
- Episode 5: Exploit Religion – India
- Dispatch: Not everyone has a vote in the world’s largest democracy
- Episode 6: Divide and Conquer – Poland
- Dispatch: Poland’s Law and Justice Party mixes victimhood and strength in its messaging
- Episode 7: Erode Truth – United States
- Dispatch: How Trump sells his war on truth
