An award for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is drawing increased criticism this week from rights advocates who are concerned because of Modi’s human rights record in India and Kashmir and who called to rescind the honor.

“As Modi’s India occupies Kashmir, the Gates Foundation has decided to give an award to the far-right Hindu nationalist,” peace activist group CodePink said on Twitter. “Shame on them!”

The Indian prime minister is being given the award for his sanitation and toilet access initiative, the Clean India Mission, at the foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event in New York City on September 24-25. The initiative, the foundation said in a statement to The Guardian, was evidence of “the progress India is making in improving sanitation, as part of its drive toward achievement of the U.N. sustainable development goals” and the reason for the award. 

But the Indian leader’s treatment of ethnic minorities in his country’s northeastern state of Assam—including plans to put “non-citizens” in camps—and his government’s August assault on Kashmir raise questions on the wisdom of honoring the right-wing leader. 

Modi is “committing genocide of Muslims in India and Kashmir but is receiving an award in a few weeks here in the United States from the super liberal Gates Foundation,” tweeted author Saira Rao.

“This isn’t complicated,” human rights lawyer and activist Arjun Sethi said on Twitter. “If you build a toilet in one room, and torture in another, you’re undeserving of recognition.”

A group, South Asian Americans and Allies in Philanthropy, wrote an open letter protesting the award on Medium. In the letter, the writers call for rescinding the honor because “under PM Modi’s leadership, religious minorities all across India are facing heightened levels of violence, exclusion, and discrimination.”

“For over a month now, PM Modi has placed eight million people in Jammu and Kashmir under house arrest, blocked communications and media coverage to the outside world, detained thousands of people including children, and denied basic benefits,” the letter reads. “Reports of torture, including beatings and the murder of a young child by Indian security officers, are emerging as well. In addition, the Indian government has begun to disenfranchise millions of residents, mainly Muslims, in the state of Assam.”