STATELESSNESS IN INDIA Due to the escalation of racist sentiments, Muslims and Bengali speakers were forced out of jobs.75 Freedom of movement within the country was arbitrarily restricted to force citizens face the NRC process,76 State governments across the country are constructing detention centers.77 Targeted arrests and political statements inciting hate78 have caused fear and panic in Muslim communities across India. (H) A socio-political environment based on hate against Muslims Persistent anti-Muslim narrative has been spread by political leaders from central to local governments with a clear desire to divide the majority Hindu population from Muslims, the largest religious minority. While the Union Law Minister accused Muslims of belonging to a factional secessionist gang,79 Union Interior Minister, Amit Shah, referred to the migrants as “infiltrators” and “termites” who eat the grains and steal the jobs of “our poor”.80 The term “infiltrator” clearly alludes to Muslim migrants when viewed in context, such as “[w]e will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs".81 Usage of “termites” has resonance with usage of “cockroach” and “snakes” for the Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide of 199482 Another BJP leader, 75 The Wire, Bengaluru Apartment Complexes Plan to Ban Bengali Speaking Migrant Workers, November 4, 2019. 76 “Manipur and Mizoram assemblies have passed legislations that bar non-residents from settling in the states. The move follows apprehension that there will be an exodus from Assam after the National Register of Citizens has been compiled…Nagaland has taken up with the Union home ministry its plan of compiling a ‘register of indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland’ (RIIN).” See, Rahul Tripathi, Economic Times, Manipur, Mizoram pass bills fearing Assam influx after NRC, September 19, 2019. 77 Currently there are over 10 functional detention centers in India, and several others are under construction. See, Sumnat Sen & Naresh Singaravelu, The Hindu, Where are detention centres in India?, January 1, 2020. See also, Telegraph, 10 inmates of detention centres in Assam died in last 1 year: Govt March 17, 2020; K.S. Sudhi, The Hindu, Kerala plans detention centre, December 27, 2019. 78 The Home Minister of India, Mr. Amit Shah has, at several instances, claimed that the NPR and the NRC are not related. However, the sole mention of NPR in law is in Rule 3, titled, National Register of Indian Citizens. See, Sumnat Sen & Naresh Singaravelu, The Hindu, Where are detention centres in India?, January 1, 2020. 79 Suhit K Sen, First Post, Anurag Thakur leading 'golimaaro' chant tests limits of political speech, speaks to malaise of hate in Indian polity, January 28, 2020. 80 Sankalita Dey, The Print, Amit Shahs Termite Jibe Draws Nazi Germany Rwanda Parallel, 26 September 2018. 81 James Griffiths & Manveena Suri, CNN, Outrage over BJP promise to 'remove every single infiltrator' from India, April 12, 2019. 82 Kennedy Ndahiro, The New York Times, In Rwanda, We Know All About Dehumanizing Language, Arpril 13, 2019. 11