Families displaced by the violence and arson in New Delhi took shelter in a different neighborhood on Friday.
Atul Loke for The New York Times
New Delhi violence was inevitable, critics say
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was quick to say that the violence that gripped the capital over the past week — when more than 40 people were killed, most of them Muslim — was spontaneous.
But critics had long warned that the increasingly Hindu-nationalist tilt of Mr. Modi’s policies would lead to tragedy. From their perspective, the mob killings were only a matter of time.
Now the question is whether the bloodshed will force Mr. Modi to change course — or if he and his allies will look again to Hindu nationalist sentiment for an increase in support and a distraction from the country’s economic woes.
Background: Critics say that by appointing Hindu nationalists, scrapping the statehood of what had been India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, and passing a citizenship law seen as widely discriminatory against Muslims, Mr. Modi and his allies have slowly chipped away at the country’s secular priorities.
New Delhi violence was inevitable, critics say
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was quick to say that the violence that gripped the capital over the past week — when more than 40 people were killed, most of them Muslim — was spontaneous.
But critics had long warned that the increasingly Hindu-nationalist tilt of Mr. Modi’s policies would lead to tragedy. From their perspective, the mob killings were only a matter of time.
Now the question is whether the bloodshed will force Mr. Modi to change course — or if he and his allies will look again to Hindu nationalist sentiment for an increase in support and a distraction from the country’s economic woes.
Background: Critics say that by appointing Hindu nationalists, scrapping the statehood of what had been India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, and passing a citizenship law seen as widely discriminatory against Muslims, Mr. Modi and his allies have slowly chipped away at the country’s secular priorities.
