India’s treatment of its Muslim minority under the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proven a major source of the rift between Islamabad and Delhi, with right-wing groups using Modi’s “Hindutva” credentials as a shield in their bid to reshape Indian society.
Such groups have provoked sectarian clashes, razing Muslim homes and rounding up Muslim men, as emboldened “cattle” vigilante groups lynch Muslims accused of smuggling beef. Authorities avert their gaze from the bigotry, which includes the circulation of oft-rubbished rumors about Muslim men luring Hindu women for religious conversion or spitting in restaurant food.
The Indian prime minister and his party have rejected allegations of discrimination by pointing to welfare programs that seek to cover Indians equally. However, Modi continues to make headlines for repeating anti-Muslim tirades during public addresses, calling them “infiltrators” and insinuating they have “too many children.” It is also undeniable that anti-Muslim hate speech has increased, with three-quarters of such incidents reported from states ruled by the BJP. As one Muslim leader, Ziaul Islam, notes: “Muslims have become second-class citizens, an invisible minority in their own country.” In a bid to dampen the collective prejudice against them, many eschew identity-assertion and unequivocally renounce the idea of a Muslim nation, dissociating from the theological bipolarity of dar-ul-Islam and dar-ul-harb.
Unfortunately, ahead of the ongoing general elections in India, the situation has only worsened, with increasing political polarization. Critics have lamented backsliding on the country’s secular character, with Muslim politician Asaduddin Owaisi telling Germany’s DW the ruling party did not have a single Muslim lawmaker in the federal parliament. “This is damning, but BJP carries it as a badge of honor,” he added, highlighting the persistent sidelining of India’s largest minority under Modi.