Episode 19: India Modi-fies Citizenship Laws

Q: How can a law offering a path to citizenship for religious refugees from neighboring countries lead to nationwide protests?A: When the law excludes Muslims from that path... and there are already 200 MILLION Muslims in your country.This week, Steve and Soumi discuss mass protests in India over Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.Since the law passed last week, Indians of all religions have taken to the streets to voice their displeasure. Social media and news reports showed awful video of police entering one Muslim university's library and beating students who appeared to be doing homework.For his part, Modi, who has his own checkered past vis-a-vis Hindu-Muslim violence, has not done nearly enough to tamp down tensions, adding to suspicions that this is all part of his plan to Make India Hindu Again (even though it already largely is).Further Reading:1.    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/india/2019-09-11/roots-hindu-nationalisms-triumph-india 2.    https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/12/16/21024306/india-protests-muslim-citizenship-amendment-bill 3.    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50805092 4.    https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/citizenship-amendment-act-protest-hartal-live-updates-december-17-2019/article30326650.ece 5.    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-16/india-protests-show-modi-s-hardline-agenda-may-hurt-economy 6.    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/world/asia/india-citizenship-protests.htmlPS: this will be our final show for 2019! See you (perfectly, har har) in 2020, fam.