The Progressive Magazine: Why Biden Should Rethink Aligning with Modi

By Safa Ahmed

Twenty one years ago, massive anti-Muslim violence broke out in India’s Gujarat state.

Although a complete death tally has never been completed, an estimated 2,000 predominantly Muslim Indians were killed. It was one of the worst anti-Muslim pogroms in the history of independent India—and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then chief minister of Gujarat, allowed it to happen.

“[A]llow Hindus to vent their anger,” Modi allegedly told police officers in a secret meeting, as violence engulfed Gujarat. Independent investigations by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the U.K. government all found Modi centrally responsible for the violence, and for eight years, the United States and the United Kingdom denied him visa privileges in retaliation for his role in the pogrom.

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