So much has been written in recent years about Hindutva, the separatist ideology that aims to turn India into an aggressive "Hindu nation" in which Muslims are, at best, reduced to living as second-class citizens. Hindu nationalists saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election in 2014 as their historic opportunity to push their agenda without restraints. They have a make-believe world of political and religious myths to make Muslims and other religious minorities irrelevant in India.
Fears of Indian Muslims about their safety, religious identity, economic well-being and participation in politics have grown as a result of various policies pursued by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The agenda of the BJP and its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is terrifying as far as Muslims and Islam are concerned.
Muslims in India, numbering more than 200 million, faced discrimination in the government and private sectors for decades under the Congress party’s rule, but what the BJP is trying to do is extreme.
The recently published book "Shikwa-e-Hind: The Political Future of Indian Muslims" by political scientist Mujibur Rehman looks at the situation in stark terms. There is an attempt at "de-Islamazing" India through hegemonic Hindutva power, the author argues. He teaches at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi and I recently met him to discuss some of the issues raised in his book.
The anti-Islam issues are significant as Modi in June this year began his third five-year term as prime minister. Muslims have been at the receiving end of Hindu nationalist politics during his first two terms and stare at an uncertain future in the face of Hindutva's unchecked rise.
Rehman's book is among the latest works on the changing political landscape of India since he is familiar with the Hindutva problem beyond its academic aspects. Students of his university were among the first to participate in protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 and faced one of the worst police attacks on a university campus.
Another work, "Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy," by French political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot, published in 2021 in its English version, provided a timely account of what Hindutva was and how it operated. Jaffrelot brilliantly explained the political situation in India, aptly defined Hindu nationalism, exposed Hindutva’s modus operandi and discussed what lay in store for the Muslims under Modi.
Making Muslims ineffective in the electoral system is one part of the problem. There is no Muslim minister, even as a matter of tokenism, in the Narendra Modi Cabinet for the first time since India gained independence in 1947 despite the community making up 15% of the 1.4 billion population. In the 543-member lower house of Parliament, there are just 24 Muslim members, of whom none is from the BJP-led coalition.
Most are from the constituencies where Muslims make up a significant part of the electorate. This annoys Hindu nationalists even more, forcing them to imagine new ways to manipulate the election process or reorganize the constituencies.
"Thus, the ideological project of Hindutva politics seems to be guided by the simple logic: Muslims no more. The multi-pronged attack on everything associated with Muslims – masjids, Waqf land, dargahs, hijab, etc – suggests that the long-term goal is mainly to de-Islamise India," Mujibur Rehman writes.
He told me: "My book is concerned with the political future of Muslims. Do they have a say in political power? The BJP doesn't field Muslim candidates. It has a deliberate campaign to deny them representation in the state assemblies and national Parliament." He also faults non-Hindutva parties for dubious politics.
"No political party wants Muslims to be Muslims. Each one wants them to be a Muslim of their kind," he writes in the book.
In the conversation with me, Mujibur Rehman said that many politicians and parties understand the need for secular politics in India, but the BJP’s onslaught has scared them and they avoid raising Muslim issues or seeking their support.
The reason Muslims are targeted by the Hindutva class, led by the Brahmins and upper castes, is that they see the community as a threat to their developing majoritarian project. How Hindutva advances has implications not only for the most populous country but for the wider region and the world at large.
"So far, the discussion in India about Muslims is about the violation of their rights. What I am arguing in my book is that there is a sustained campaign to de-Islamize India," Mujibur Rehman said.
India has been witnessing an ideological war for more than a century, especially since the RSS was created in 1925.
"What happened in 2014 is that the RSS and the BJP became hegemonic political forces. The fightback is not serious; Congress is not doing it. Hindutva forces are leading a multi-front attack through shakhas (RSS training camps) and state institutions," Mujibur Rehman told me.
Hindutva organizations use all sorts of pretexts to target Muslims. Sometimes they come up with bizarre claims of Hindu temples being buried under grand historical mosques and monuments and approach courts for “surveys" to invade mosques, at other times they file police complaints about "beef" in refrigerators in Muslim households. Since the cow is considered holy by some Hindus, some regions of India have a prohibition on beef consumption (India's bizarre food politics will require a separate discussion).
There have been instances of attacks on Muslim youth for simply being with their Hindu female friends or work colleagues in what has been propagated by the Indian media as "love jihad."
Muslim properties have been targeted over allegations of their being illegally built, Muslim vendors have been barred by mobs from selling products in Hindu areas, police and local authorities have demolished homes of Muslims for activism or minor offenses without due process while the courts have remained mostly mute to the travesty of justice.
"Any excuse will be used to attack Muslims. Everything about Muslims is illegal. They want Muslims to live as per their whims and diktats," Mujibur Rehman said.
Even the consolidation of the geographical region, generally today's South Asia, which was fragmented into hundreds of kingdoms and fiefdoms until most of it was governed under the mighty Mughal empire, is not appreciated by Hindu nationalists.
The empire was started by Babur in the 16th century and expanded by other rulers after his death. It went into a terminal decline after Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707.
Mujibur Rehman highlights three pivotal moments in history. The first was in 1857 when Indian Muslims became British colonial subjects, then came the subcontinent’s partition in 1947 resulting in the birth of Pakistan (including Bangladesh, which was then known as the East wing of Pakistan), and the 2014 electoral triumph of Narendra Modi.
The past decade has caused a tectonic shift in Indian politics and not a short-term political turmoil, as many bewildered Muslims tend to believe. How is the Indian Muslim elite placed in this phase of history? Can elite sections provide direction to the wider community?
The Congress party, since 1947, manipulated the Muslim elite to serve its symbolic secularism. Elite sections of Muslims have become depoliticized and too focused on their narrow interests.
"De-politicization of Muslim elites is problematic. They can raise their voices against injustice but have mostly embraced silence because of their individual interests," Mujibur Rehman said.
If the community, despite its large numbers, more than the combined population of Spain, France and Germany, remains politically passive, there are far greater dangers ahead.
Mujibur Rehman warns in the book: "Only when the political future is ensured will Indian Muslims be empowered to bargain and negotiate their economic or cultural future. The systematic weakening of the political future would cause Indian Muslims to gravitate towards destitution, a permanent state of misery, a life of no rights, and endless persecution."
