Hello all. Recently, I have been examining past conflicts that have occurred around the world, or are currently ongoing. Today, we will be returning to the present, and analyzing a conflict in Southeast Asia. Recently, President Trump had his first official visit to India. In preparation, John Oliver did a piece on India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. John Oliver’s show offers a lot of important information about why there are religious tensions in India currently. I have linked the video here, and highly recommend watching it to get more background information on the conflict or doing some independent reading.

Source: The New York Times

Unfortunately, President Trump’s visit was marred by violent religious riots in the major city of Delhi. The clash broke out between protesters and supporters of the citizenship law. The citizenship law requires that everyone in India be registered to a registry. To be listed people must have proof that they are Indian citizens. This targets people who live in rural areas of the nation where records are not strictly kept. However, the law also allows for immigrant Hindus, Christians, and other religious minorities to become citizens if they can prove that they were persecuted for their religion in neighboring countries. Muslims are not on the list of religious minorities that can apply for citizenship, demonstrating the current government’s discriminatory view of Muslims.

Source: The Independent 

The clashes between protesters and supporters have resulted in the death of at least 23 people according to the BBC. The BBC also reported that “Photographs, videos and accounts on social media paint a chilling image of the last few days – of mostly Hindu mobs beating unarmed men, including journalists; of groups of men with sticks, iron rods and stones wandering the streets; and of Hindus and Muslims facing off.” Access to areas affected by the violence has been severely restricted, with Al Jazeera reporting that many people in the area are fleeing do to the violence. Over 200 people have been injured in the past four days.

Source: Khaleej Times

Prime Minister Modi has been widely criticized for his lack of response to the violence. I believe that the violent clashes were highly likely to occur due to the discriminatory nature of the citizenship law passed by the Indian parliament. By condoning religious discrimination at the legal level, the Indian government has demonstrated to its citizens that it is okay to discriminate against others. It is important to note that not everyone in the Indian government supports the legislation and there has been widespread protests against the citizenship law by all, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc. What are your opinions on the violence? Do you think it was likely to occur because of the legislation? Perhaps you can identify another trigger. Let me know in the comments.