As of Sept. 1, almost two million people in the state of Assam have been rendered stateless. The updated list of citizens, known as the National Register of Citizenship, was created with a view to target “illegal immigration” from the neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to carry out the exercise across India and “remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs.” It is a clear threat against every Dalit, Muslim, Christian and Jewish citizen of the country — the absolute opposite of the Gates Foundation’s mission of considering all lives equal.
And as I write, Mr. Modi’s recent assault on Kashmir is foremost on my mind. Seven million people are currently under virtual incarceration in Indian-occupied Kashmir. That is my home, and those are my people. On Aug. 5, Mr. Modi’s government unilaterally abrogated the semiautonomous status of Kashmir after placing the valley of Kashmir under a military siege and cutting off phone, internet and television connections.