This month in India, political violence erupted in the eastern state of West Bengal after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party won key elections amid allegations of voter suppression targeting Muslims. Zeba Warsi reports with support from the Unity Productions Foundation on families that are now fighting to prove they belong in the only country they’ve ever known.
Zeba Warsi:
The state government did not respond to “News Hour”‘s requests for comment, but has previously said it is only acting against illegal immigrants.
But the Washington-based research group Center for the Study of Organized Hate has documented 32 instances of hate speech and eight calls for violence in Assam last year. Last month, the state went to polls and the campaign was also marked by dozens of hate speech events.
At his own election rallies, Modi invoked anti-Muslim rhetoric, referring to Bengali Muslims as infiltrators.