All language subtitles for VICE.S07E02.720p.HDTV.x264-aAF

- Synced and corrected by chamallow -

These protests have really erupted

across the country.

This is where they're
planning on putting

hundreds of thousands of "foreigners."

Are all people not equal?

All people are not equal.

Are you afraid that if the
kids don't have wrestling

that they may turn to terrorism?

All of these kids want
to become champions,

but not all of them
can make it to the top.

Several thousand people showed up today

to make their voices heard

about what they see as anti-Muslim

discriminatory moves by
the ruling BJP government.

But they've been met
by hundreds and hundreds

of police forces, some
of them in full riot gear,

ready to push them back.

Demonstrations like this

have swept across India since December,

with hundreds of thousands of people

taking to the streets

to protest a set of
new laws that they see

as an attack on India's secular core.

They've been met by
heavy police response.

Some of the protesters have
managed to break through.

They're trying to get
over these barricades.

How old are you?

More than 32 people were
taken to the hospital,

mostly due to the large crowds.

India is the world's biggest democracy,

but many here are angry.

They say Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and his ruling BJP party
have spent the last six years

turning India into a
Hindu nationalist state.

Modi was once banned from the U.S.

for his alleged role
in anti-Muslim riots

that left thousands dead.

He's also successfully campaigned

for Muslim religious
sites to be replaced

with Hindu temples.

And just last year, he locked down

India's largest Muslim region, Kashmir,

jailing opposition and
limiting Internet access.

But his latest policy could
pose an even larger threat.

In December 2019, Modi's party passed

the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA.

This legislation promised an
easier route to citizenship

for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,

Jains, Parsis, and Christians.

Everyone, that is, except Muslims.

This new law, combined with an effort

to update India's citizenship registry,

has many of the country's
200 million Muslims,

the world's second-largest
Muslim population,

extremely worried.

They fear that the government's pledge

to remove illegal
immigrants is actually a plan

to get rid of them.

The months-long protest kicked off

at Jamia Millia Islamia,

a majority-Muslim
university in New Delhi.

Zakia Ali was guarding the library

when hundreds of police
broke into campus,

claiming they were looking
for troublemaking protesters.

Is this blood?

Forced it open?

The university crackdown became

an iconic moment in protests
that continued for months.

The widespread resistance
sparked more police action.

And the situation eventually descended

into full-blown sectarian riots.

Mosques were vandalized.

People were beaten,

sometimes with police joining in.

In total, at least 70
people have been killed.

I have never witnessed
anything more traumatizing

than what I have been
witnessing right now

as a journalist in India.

Rana Ayyub is a renowned Muslim

journalist-turned-activist

who's one of the loudest voices

condemning Hindu nationalism.

Ever since Narendra
Modi has come to power,

this... this bigotry which
used to be in the fringe

has now become the mainstream.

So we are headed towards an India

which is now asserting itself

not as a democracy
but as a Hindu nation.

Why is it do you think that that Hindu

nationalist rhetoric is so popular?

Because they make
this 82% Hindu majority

feel like victims in their own country.

It's like, why are white supremacists

popular in the United States?

This is all stoking the sentiment

that most of the Muslims are migrants;

they do not belong here.

This democracy's no longer a democracy.

This is Assam,

a sleepy northeastern state

that's become the test
case for how the new

citizenship policies
could play out nationwide.

Last year, the government published

a national register of citizens, or NRC,

which excluded 1.9 million people.

Those off this list now have to prove

they really are Indian citizens,

and for Muslims who were excluded

from the Citizenship Amendment Act,

being off the list could mean
ending up in a detention camp,

something Modi says doesn't exist.

So we've just reached

the first detention center
that they started building.

Until just a few months ago, this area

was all farmland, and now suddenly,

hundreds of workers have descended

on this spot and started building

these massive watchtowers, double walls,

and huge, huge facilities inside.

This is a brand-new detention camp

being built in the state.

The central government
has directed other states

to start building their own.

22-year-old Razul is a
Muslim construction worker

who's been at this site for
the last year and a half.

Working here is hard for Razul.

He tells me his own mother was
left off the citizenship list.

At what point did you realize

what it was that you're building?

Why have you stayed working here

for the last year and a
half, knowing that your own

family members could end up here?

Razul has no choice

but to earn the money to help his mother

prove her citizenship,

a process that means providing
documents dating back decades,

something that's particularly hard

for the quarter of
Indians who are illiterate.

Razul has been busy working at the site

of the detention camp recently,

but several hours this
way, there's a village,

which is where he grew up,

where the rest of his
family is still living.

Even in this remote village,

Halima, Razul's mother,
is afraid the authorities

might find her and take her away.

What went through your
mind when you found out

you were not on that list?

How can that be the case?

I mean, you guys provided presumably

the same documents for all of you.

How come it's just her
that was left off the list?

Women's names are often left off

important documents,

meaning that even though this family

have lived in Assam for generations

and the rest of the family
are considered citizens,

Razul's mother is not.

Halima is set to stand trial

before a Foreigners' Tribunal

to determine her citizenship fate,

but it won't be easy.

We've obtained documents
that show the government

has dismissed judges who don't declare

a high rate of people foreigners.

In a performance review of 70 judges,

those who had a good performance

and were recommended for retention

declared on average

about seven times more foreigners

than those who were terminated.

Kartik Chandra Roy
was one of those judges

removed from his post.

What proportion of people
who are deemed foreigners

do you think are
getting a fair judgment?

I mean, India is supposed to be
a democratic, secular country.

Do you think that it is?

But those at the top are doubling down.

All that we can say is that
the PJB government has acted.

We met Dr. Subramanian Swamy,

a top leader of the ruling BJP party,

at his home in New Delhi.

On this issue, the country is with us.

Most people like our hardline approach

to solving pending problems.

I mean, the UN has called this bill

fundamentally discriminatory in nature.

Surely by leaving out
Muslims and including

every other religion in
this bill, this is just...

this is rolling back India's
secular, democratic core.

The act cannot be faulted for that.

This was a commitment we had made

over several years,
over several governments.

We have completed the job.

We know, where the Muslim
population is large,

there's always trouble,

because the Islamic ideology says so.

I mean, there's 200 million
Muslims living in India.

That's the second-largest
Muslim population in the world,

and you're saying that wherever
Muslims live, there's problems?

If Muslims become more than 30%,

that country's in danger.

- That sounds like hatred.
- No.

That sounds like language
of hatred towards...

It's easy to say hatred.

I'm being kind to them

by not letting them come to India.

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution

guarantees the right to
equality, as you know,

for all persons living in India.

I can tell you that's
a misinterpretation

of Article 14.

Article 14 guarantees

equality of equals.

- I'll give you an example...
- Are all people not equal?

All people are not equal.

Muslims do not deserve

equal rights to apply for citizenship?

There's no such thing as equal rights.

They're not in an equal category.

I mean, clearly, there
is a lot of resistance.

There is a lot of fear coming

from both Muslim and non-Muslim people

who are deeply dissatisfied.

I think these demonstrations
are very small.

That's a matter of opinion.

Public outcry has continued for months.

And the protest that seems to rankle

the ruling party the most is this one,

a peaceful sit-in that's shut down

a major New Delhi highway.

This highway is a site where women,

mostly mothers of students
of Jamia University,

first came to express
their dissatisfaction

and start protesting
against the government,

and since then,

these protests have really swollen.

This sit-in has become
something of a ground zero

for those resisting the
Citizenship Amendment Act

and what it stands for.

How many days have you
been coming here for?

Yes, we are heading towards a dark time,

but it's also a moment of glory for us

because India is finally resisting.

What's at stake is the
vibrant plural democracy

that India took great pride in.

Our secularism is at stake.

The fact that we're a
diverse country is at stake.

The soul of India is at stake.

We're here at one of the most famous

wrestling schools in
the capital of Dagestan,

where hundreds of young boys come

in hopes of being wrestling champions.

This is just the warm-up.

So all of these kids want
to become champions, right?

it's a small mountainous republic

in the Russian Federation.

It's kind of like a
state within the U.S.

Like its neighbor Chechnya,

Dagestan is predominantly Muslim.

Despite its size, it's home to 33

Olympic champion freestyle wrestlers,

including 16 gold medalists.

Magomed Abasov is a wrestling coach

who oversees a network
of wrestling schools

in the highlands of Dagestan.

Where do these wrestlers come from?

If the root is in the village,
that's where I want to go.

What is it that makes the
mountain people so strong?

Wow. Wow.

Oh-ho.

That's a lot of vodka.

To my health? What about your health?

To the mountain men of Dagestan.

Alzo, a little bit, little bit.

So out of the three of you,

who's the best wrestler?

So all of three of you want
to be champions of wrestling.

You don't have a sign on here
that says "don't do drugs."

You just have a sign
that says "no terrorism."

Are you afraid that if the
kids don't have wrestling

that they may turn to terrorism?

Dagestan grappled with
terrorism decades ago

after the long-standing
conflict between Russia

and the Islamic insurgency
in neighboring Chechnya

spilled over its border.

It remained the site of one of Europe's

bloodiest conflicts as recently as 2013.

Russian authorities say this morning

they've arrested two people connected

to a pair of deadly
bombings that raise tensions

for the Winter Olympics.

Today Dagestan is much more stable,

and wrestling remains the republic's

greatest cultural export.

It seems that here at the school,

it's more than just wrestling.

You're teaching character
and how to behave.

How would you feel if
one of your sons said,

"I don't want to be a wrestler"?

You have a fight coming up.

Are you prepared?

What happens if you don't
make Olympic champion?

Then what do you do?

Dagestan is also known for producing

some of the fiercest mixed
martial arts fighters in the world,

who dominate its most prominent

and lucrative organization, the UFC.

Dagestan, there's just something

- in the water over there.
- Yeah, they just...

Oh, they train with bears, right?

The reigning undefeated champion

of the lightweight
division is national hero

Khabib Nurmagomedov.

There's the tap!

In October 2018, he
defeated the former champ

and UFC legend Conor McGregor.

Even Khabib traces his roots

to the wrestling culture
of the Dagestani highlands.

In this viral video,

this dude is wrestling
a bear at nine years old.

Every few months,

MMA fighters take to the mountains here

to train in this
unforgiving environment.

Wait, I'm not done?

We still got more?

Among them is professional MMA fighter

Timur Valiev, who's only lost

one bout since 2011.

It's about 8,000 feet
above sea level up here.

I can hardly talk.

I feel like I'm Sylvester
Stallone in Rocky IV.

You run across the ice?

I'll bust my ass.

Man, y'all crazy.

Ah! Ah!

Come on, come on!

Let's go, champ!

Ain't no treadmills.

There ain't no bench press.

It's just rocks, snow, and grit.

This guy good. He is not joke.

We've seen hundreds of kids training.

- Yes.
- Eight, nine, ten years old.

- Yeah.
- Right?

That want to be Olympic wrestlers.

They want to be champions,
and they see Khabib,

and they think about mixed martial arts.

Yes.

What does it say about wrestling

as a foundation for
fighting in Dagestan?

We're in the town of Gergebil',

where over 150 boys are competing

from 16 mountainous regions of Dagestan.

The winner goes on to compete
at the republican level

with the hopes of fighting

in the Russian national competition.

Basically, this is the tournament

to determine who is the best

teenage wrestler from the mountains.

It's kind of chaotic right now.

We got fathers, we got coaches here.

You got kids coming in overweight.

And these mountain
men are not having it.

Unfortunately, today won't
be that day for Magomed.

Because of an ongoing injury,

he was flagged as
being unable to compete

in today's tournament.

But one of his teammates,
Gusein, has a chance.

How you feeling?

Are you worried about your competition?

Do you think this loss today

will make him a better fighter?

Yeah!

So everybody around the world

is afraid of Dagestani fighters.

Not everybody, but some people.

- Synced and corrected by chamallow -