India's Muslims are speaking out as Modi seeks "to delegitimize their existence"

In India, at least 27 people have died during the ongoing protests across the country against a controversial new citizenship law, which many see as an official marginalization of the country's 200 million Muslims. The Indian government has for years discriminated against Muslims, but since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office for a first term in 2014, there has been growing violence and lynchings of Muslims. While Modi's first years in power saw an escalation of anti-Muslim rhetoric, his agenda is now centered around a blatant "consolidation of the Hindu vote," says Rana Ayyub, a global opinions writer for The Washington Post. The government's ongoing attempts to strip Muslims of their rights, through acts including the months-long crackdown on Kashmir and the National Register of Citizens in the northeastern state of Assam, is driving people to speak out. Muslims in India "have been silenced for the last six years," says Ayyub. "I think they have chosen now to break the silence because Mr. Modi is seeking to delegitimize their existence."

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