The Chessboard
India Levers
The power behind India's persecution of its Muslims and of Kashmir, and the power that can end it — drawn from the India opinions and the Genocide Plan built on them.
Power for ending the persecution of India's Muslims
India's state machinery drives the persecution; enforced courts, due process and accountability can end it
The power behind the persecution lies with the BJP-led state. Its leaders win votes by branding Bengali Muslims illegal migrants. Its officials, tribunals, police and soldiers turn that message into voter deletions, evictions, border pushbacks, detentions and demolitions in Assam, West Bengal and Kashmir. India's Supreme Court has set limits, banning punitive demolitions and requiring notice, but officials often ignore them on the ground. Opposition parties, Kashmiri politicians and rights monitors push back by exposing abuses and citing India's international obligations, but they cannot enforce anything. The balance shifts only when court safeguards are enforced, the state must prove its claims and officials answer for breaches.
Key points
- Electoral engine. Campaigns branding Bengali Muslims 'illegal migrants', redrawn constituencies and voter-roll purges turn hostility into votes, giving the BJP strong reasons to continue.
- State machinery. Foreigners Tribunals, the Election Commission, police and soldiers turn suspicion into deletion, expulsion, detention and demolition, often without hearings, notice or compensation.
- Courts, the strongest lever. The Supreme Court's ban on punitive 'bulldozer justice' is the strongest lever, yet it bites only when officials ignoring notice and review answer for it.
- Burden on the state. Making the state prove its migration claims, and ending one-sided rulings and pushbacks, would break a documents trap hitting women and the poor hardest.
- Kashmir's collective punishment. In Kashmir, central rule since 2019 and the demolition of relatives' homes after Pahalgam, which Kashmiris call collective punishment, make restored representation and individual responsibility central demands.
- Monitors and opposition. Human Rights Watch, opposition parties and Kashmiri leaders expose abuses and invoke India's treaty obligations, but their power depends on courts and public pressure.
- What follows for Muslims. For Muslim states, joint investigation over escalation and keeping water out of conflict serve Kashmiris best, while India's Muslims need legal support, hearings and redress.
Drawn from
- India: Citizenship — the CAA, the NRC, Detention and ExpulsionAcross Assam and West Bengal, eviction drives, voter-roll purges and border pushbacks have stripped Bengali Muslims of homes, votes and, HRW says, due process, as elections turn on "illegal migrant" rhetoric.
- India: Kashmir — Article 370, Detentions and the UN ResolutionsSince Article 370's 2019 revocation, Kashmir has seen deepened central control; the 2025 Pahalgam attack triggered mass detentions and home demolitions that Kashmiri politicians and residents call collective punishment.
