India is home to more than two hundred million Muslims, one of the largest Muslim populations in the world. However, in a crowd of close to 1.5 billion people, even this large community is reduced to a minority, accounting for just 14% of the population. In recent years, the community has been constantly reminded of this fact, having to fight to prove that they are equals and that they deserve the same rights as the Hindu majority.
Although the majority of India’s Muslims are native to the country, with a very small number of them having emigrated there from the Arab world, most Muslims today would agree that they are not made to feel equal to other Indian citizens.
Their plight has deteriorated significantly since India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Muslims treated largely as second-class citizens by a government that has embraced a dangerous Hindu nationalist rhetoric.
Every election since then has been viewed by many Muslims as an opportunity to fight for their rights and freedom. Voting patterns over the years show that the community have historically tended to vote for regional Muslim parties that have promised to protect their rights, but this tactic seemed to fail as it only served to split votes for the opposition and give the BJP the advantage. In the country’s most recent general election however, Muslims voted more strategically, with a massive consolidation of votes for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) helping to deliver a significant shock in which the BJP failed to secure an outright majority where it had previously expected to win by a landslide.
Throughout their campaign over the last year, the INDIA coalition made a strong pitch for communal harmony and support for the rights of religious minorities. Muslims saw hope in this and came out in large numbers, voting for a future that promised greater equality and justice. At present however, this future remains distant.
A spike in attacks against Muslims over the past month has made it clear that this community’s struggle for justice and rights as equal citizens is far from over as they continue to face discrimination in every aspect of their lives.
On 14 June, massive protests erupted in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh after the severed head of a cow was found outside the premises of a Hindu temple. Police subsequently arrested two culprits, proceeding to demolish their houses after claiming that they had been built on illegal land.
The following day, 11 homes belonging to Muslims were demolished by the state government in Mandla, also Madhya Pradesh. As in the case in Ratlam, police claimed that the houses were built on government land, adding that they had found cattle in the backyards and beef in the refrigerators of these houses.
On 17 June, Javed Qureshi uploaded a picture of him standing next to the carcass of an animal as his Whatsapp status. Within hours, a huge mob attacked his shop in Himachal Pradesh, looting and destroying it completely, and accusing Mr Qureshi of slaughtering a cow. It was later found that the carcass in the image was not that of a cow, however a mob proceeded to pressure several Muslim business owners to flee the city within 24 hours. At least 16 business owners were forced to leave for fear of their safety.
These cases are just a snapshot of recent incidents in the country, however what is common to all of them is that these attacks, arrests and demolitions were carried out on mere suspicion, without any sort of trial or any adherence to the rule of law.
Yes, the consumption and sale of cow meat is illegal in several states across India – this law itself could be debated as it not only restricts the food choices of the Muslim community but also their livelihoods – but it is unacceptable that extremists have been so emboldened by a decade of Hindu nationalist rhetoric that they feel free to take the law into their own hands.
Meanwhile, Hindu leaders continue to target the Muslim community with hate speech while enjoying complete impunity. On 13 June for example, at an event organised by the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Mumbai a Hindu supremacist leader said that Muslim street vendors had no right to do business there.
It must be taken into account that Muslims are also among the most economically weak sections of society, and that, among them, women face multiple layers of discrimination both within and outside their community. For many of these women the only way out is education, but even that has become a struggle as they face restrictions on what they can wear.
On 23 June, a 25-year-old woman in Rajasthan was denied permission to sit for the Rajasthan Judicial Services exam because she was wearing a hijab. Muslim women continue to bear the brunt of discrimination as they are denied any chance to empower themselves and pursue a better future.
Many Indian Muslims live in fear today. Having spoken to several Muslim victims of violence and discrimination over the last few years, it is disheartening to see the increasing fear they have to live with. Every time I say hello, introduce myself and ask them questions, the first reaction is to try and hang up, that is, before I interrupt and tell them that I’m a Christian.
It worries me that I have always had to assure them that I’m not a Hindu to make them feel safe and allow them to open up, and it should worry us all that there is not a single Muslim representative in the entire coalition government, and that even the opposition have not yet spoken out on the recent attacks.
If the Muslim community’s sense of identity is allowed to be impugned by majoritarian narratives of intolerance and hate, then what future do the minority religion have in the country they call home? The Partition of 1947 was drawn on the basis that those who remained in India would continue to struggle for independence and for the freedom for everyone, regardless of their race, caste, religion or language.
So long as the majority rule act as if they are bestowed with a divine right to do as they wish, to the detriment of the minority community, Indian secularism will suffer. The political will of the country must do better to promote and protect the interests of all its citizens to avoid a dismantling of the constitution.
By CSW’s India Researcher