At least 20 people have now died in street clashes between Hindus and Muslims in northeastern New Delhi, India's capital. The violence stems from months of protests against a divisive citizenship law pushed through by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which offers legal status to every prominent religious minority except Muslims, who make up 14 percent of India's population.
The protests against the law had been peaceful until Sunday, when local BJP leader Kapil Mishra threatened to mobilize a Hindu mob to clear out the protesters, specifically warning police that if the streets weren't cleared by the time President Trump left India, his followers would do it instead. "As Air Force One flew Trump and his delegation out of New Delhi late Tuesday, Muslim families huddled in a mosque in the city's northeast, praying that Hindu mobs wouldn't burn it down," The Associated Press reports. Along with the 21 confirmed deaths, at least 189 people have been injured from bullets, knives, clubs, and stones.
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The violence was seen as an embarrassment to Modi as he hosted Trump on his first state visit to India. Trump said late Tuesday he'd heard about the violence but he didn't "want to discuss" it, "I want to leave that to India." Muslims said they feared the violence would get worse after Trump left. "It's a little quiet because Trump is here," rickshaw driver Mohammed Tahir told the Times. "Their side is scared to give the prime minister a bad name," but "as soon as Trump leaves ... they will attack."
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