Kashmir
Kashmir is a territory that both India and Pakistan claim and have already fought two wars over. Although both countries claim to have full rights over Kashmir, the area is globally recognized as “Indian-administered Kashmir” and “Pakistan-administered Kashmir.”
On August 5, 2019, Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, a provision that granted autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. Technically, it takes approval by the Jammu and Kashmir constituent assembly for Article 370 to be revoked – which is impossible because the assembly was dissolved in 1956.
The United States’ response to this dangerous and volatile situation was embarrassing. Essentially, Donald Trump clumsily forced his way into the conflict between Delhi and Islamabad at a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in July 2019.
After the meeting, Donald falsely claimed that Prime Minister Modi had specifically requested his involvement, which led to India’s Ministry of External Affairs releasing a Tweet – the only way Donald Trump would probably see it – that said, “We have seen @POTUS’s remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to U.S. President.”
The tweet continued, “It has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism. The Shimla Agreement & the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India & Pakistan bilaterally.” This sure seemed like India’s way of saying butt out!
That said, it’s in America’s best interest to encourage a resolution on Kashmir between India and Pakistan, as well as demand that the Muslim minority in both Kashmir and India is protected.
…which leads to the escalating (unacceptable) dynamic within India. In May 2019, Modi, the incumbent prime minister, and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a historic victory which solidified the Hindu nationalists’ place in the power structure of the country.
Today, more than a decade after taking office, Modi remains enormously popular at home and one of the world’s most prominent political leaders. His extraordinary popularity – and what critics describe as a growing cult of personality – makes India’s democratic backsliding all the more concerning. Under Modi, power has become increasingly concentrated, journalists and civil-society groups have faced growing pressure, government institutions have been used against political opponents, and protections for dissent and minority rights have eroded.
In 2023, the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) ranked India 108th among 179 countries on its Liberal Democracy Index and classified the country as an “electoral autocracy.” That assessment continued in subsequent reports. In 2025, India ranked 100th out of 179 countries on V-Dem’s Liberal Democracy Index, while V-Dem continued to identify India as one of the world’s major autocratizing countries.
In its 2026 report, V-Dem described India’s democratic decline as a “slow but systematic dismantling of democratic institutions,” citing deteriorating freedom of expression and media independence, harassment of journalists critical of the government, and attacks on civil society and the political opposition.
Indeed, press freedom has deteriorated dramatically under Modi. In its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked India 161st out of 180 countries, warning that violence against journalists, politically partisan media and concentrated media ownership had left press freedom “in crisis.” India subsequently climbed to 151st in 2025 but fell six places to 157th in 2026. RSF now points to increasing judicial harassment of independent media, the use of defamation and national-security laws against journalists, violence against reporters, and growing political pressure on the press.
Most frightening is the increasingly brazen anti-Muslim rhetoric from parts of India’s Hindu nationalist movement, including explicit calls for violence. In 2025 alone, India Hate Lab documented 1,318 hate-speech events targeting religious minorities – 98 percent targeting Muslims.
Of particular concern is Kashmir. In 2019, Modi’s government revoked Article 370, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special autonomy, deployed additional troops, imposed sweeping restrictions, detained thousands and shut down communications. Although regional elections finally returned in 2024, Jammu and Kashmir still has not regained full statehood. Tensions erupted again after the April 2025 terrorist attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people, triggering a massive security crackdown and ultimately military strikes between India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, India’s roughly 200 million Muslims – the country’s largest religious minority – have faced growing discrimination, communal violence and unequal treatment by authorities.
In 2024, Modi’s government began implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act, which provides an expedited path to citizenship for immigrants belonging to six non-Muslim religions from neighboring countries while excluding Muslims. Combined with proposals for a nationwide citizenship register, it has raised fears that Muslims unable to prove their citizenship could be disproportionately affected. Those concerns intensified in 2025, when authorities expelled hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims suspected of being undocumented immigrants – including some Indian citizens.