Original subtitles

[protesters] chanting native language

[Isobel] These protests have really erupted

across the country.

[women screaming]

[Isobel] This is where they're planning on putting

hundreds of thousands of "foreigners."

Are all people not equal?

All people are not equal.

[boy] speaking native language

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

that they may turn to terrorism?

speaking native language

[Alzo] All of these kids

want to become champions,

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

speaking native language

♪ dramatic electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

[indistinct shouting]

♪♪♪

♪ dramatic music ♪

[man] speaking native language

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.

[Isobel] 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.

[man] speaking native language

Some of the protesters have managed to break through.

They're trying to get over these barricades.

How old are you?

[Isobel] 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.

speaking native language

[Isobel] 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.

- [man shouts] - [explosion booms]

[Isobel] The months-long protest kicked off

at Jamia Millia Islamia,

a majority-Muslim university in New Delhi.

♪♪♪

[Isobel] Zakia Ali was guarding the library

when hundreds of police broke into campus,

claiming they were looking for troublemaking protesters.

[man] speaking native language

[Isobel] Is this blood?

Forced it open?

[protesters chanting]

[Isobel] The university crackdown became

an iconic moment in protests that continued for months.

[protesters chanting]

The widespread resistance sparked more police action.

[women screaming]

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.

[Isobel] 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.

[Isobel] 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.

speaking native language

[Isobel] 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?

♪♪♪

[Isobel] 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.

♪♪♪

[Isobel] Even in this remote village,

Halima, Razul's mother, is afraid the authorities

might find her and take her away.

[Isobel] 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?

[Isobel] 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.

[Isobel] 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?

[Isobel] But those at the top are doubling down.

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

[Isobel] 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.

[Isobel] 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?

[Rana] 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.

[protesters chanting]

♪ percussive music ♪

♪♪♪

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

[boys all speaking at once]

speaking native language

♪ fast-paced classical music ♪

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.

[whistle blows]

This is just the warm-up.

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

[Alzo] Dagestan:

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.

speaking native language

[Alzo] 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.

[Alzo] What is it that makes the mountain people so strong?

Wow. Wow. [chuckles]

♪♪♪

- [Magomed] Oh-ho. - [Alzo laughs]

That's a lot of vodka. [laughs]

[Alzo] To my health? What about your health?

[laughs]

To the mountain men of Dagestan.

[man] Alzo, a little bit, little bit.

[Alzo panting]

So out of the three of you,

who's the best wrestler?

[all] speaking native language

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

[laughter]

[Alzo] 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?

[Alzo] 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.

[woman] Russian authorities say this morning

they've arrested two people connected

to a pair of deadly bombings that raise tensions

for the Winter Olympics.

[Alzo] 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.

speaking native language

How would you feel if one of your sons said,

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

speaking native language

[school bell ringing]

speaking native language

[Alzo] You have a fight coming up.

Are you prepared?

What happens if you don't make Olympic champion?

Then what do you do?

[Alzo] 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.

[Joe] Dagestan, there's just something

- in the water over there. - [man] Yeah, they just--

Oh, they train with bears, right?

[Alzo] The reigning undefeated champion

of the lightweight division is national hero

Khabib Nurmagomedov.

[man] There's the tap!

[Alzo] 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.

[panting]

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.

speaking native language

[Alzo] 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!

[Alzo] Ain't no treadmills.

There ain't no bench press.

It's just rocks, snow, and grit.

[both grunting]

[laughs]

This guy good. He is not joke.

[both laugh]

♪♪♪

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?

♪♪♪

[Alzo] 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.

[yells]

[Alzo] 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?

speaking native language

[Alzo] Are you worried about your competition?

♪♪♪

[Alzo] 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.

[Timur chuckles]

♪ electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

♪♪