Muslim groups ask Gates foundation to rescind honor to Indian prime minister

A coalition of Muslim and human rights organizations called on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to cancel its plans to award Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi its Global Goalkeeper Award, citing Modi’s controversial revocation of the Kashmir region’s special status.

In a presidential order in August, Modi announced plans to partition the region in half and revoke the constitutional article giving Kashmir autonomy, which his critics call an illegal attempt to dilute the Muslim majority’s political power in the region.

{mosads}The letter also cites Modi’s associations with Hindu nationalists and the revocation of 1.9 million Bengali-speaking Muslims’ citizenship in the state of Assam, as well as his government’s backing of a citizenship bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Buddhist and Christian migrants from neighboring countries but not Muslims.

“Leaders of Modi’s political party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been credibly accused of emboldening ‘communal violence’ and failing to forcefully condemn or put a stop to recent mobs of violent Hindu nationalists lynching, murdering, and brutally beating minorities, especially Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and members of lower castes within India’s society,” the letter states.

“Since Mr. Modi was elected as Prime Minister in 2014, there has been a 400% increase in hate crime violence against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits,” it adds.

The letter’s signatories include the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross USA Province and the Yemeni American Merchants Association.