In Modi’s India, citizenship is a test you may never pass

Can you prove you are an Indian citizen? I’m not sure I can.

So, I can only imagine what those without my privileges must endure in new India – plucked from homes or workplaces, their proof of identity dismissed, homes demolished, some forcibly transported to the Bangladesh border and pushed over, others erased from voter rolls and some stuffed into detention camps.

From Maharashtra to Assam, India’s offensive against “infiltrators” has begun, unannounced and arbitrary.

Many abandon fragile livelihoods to flee homewards to avoid detention and deportation. Some can do little as loved ones disappear or are carted off to detention. Others forsake daily wages for days or weeks to look for documents that might protect their vote and existence as Indians. Lives are upended, trauma is inflicted and families are torn apart.

In this quest for identity, millions face the prospect of being reduced to second-class citizens – or stripped of citizenship altogether.

Why the government is subjecting some of its most vulnerable citizens to fear and displacement became clear on Independence Day, when the prime minister – without uttering the “M” word –announced the launch of a “high-power demography mission,” making what was unofficial, official.

“Today, I wish to warn the nation of a grave concern and challenge,” said...

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