India Research Trip

During the winter break of my junior year, I traveled to Telangana, India, in the southern part of the country, marking my first visit to the land of my heritage. I wanted to investigate the current treatment of Muslims in India. During my time there, I conducted 11 interviews with various individuals, including journalists, activists, and civil rights attorneys. I was both disturbed to learn how drastically life for Muslims had changed since the time of my grandparents in the 1950s. I gathered firsthand evidence of the ongoing discrimination against Muslims under Prime Minister Modi’s regime, documenting how secular democracy in India has been undermined. This experience became the foundation for a research paper I began in June 2023, which I completed in August 2024. The paper focuses on the rise of the Hindutva movement and the increasing threat of mass violence against Muslims, and it is set to be published by the Center for Development Policy and Practice.