“Muslim hatred in India”

Muslims arrived in India more than a thousand years ago. They did not only come here as rulers or conquerors but also as soldiers, Sufis, poets, architects, farmers, traders and workers. For many centuries, including the Mughal period, Indian Muslims have contributed equally to the economy, culture, art, language, music and architecture of this land. But the colonial British made the Hindu-Muslim divide manifest through the policy of ‘Divide and Rule’. Using the historical fact that Muslims were rulers in some places, they tried to create a kind of hostility of the Hindu majority towards Muslims. This view was later systematically transformed into a part of state policy by Hindutva organizations—especially political forces like the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the BJP.

The contribution of Muslims to the Indian independence movement was immense and undeniable. Starting from Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Syed Ahmed Khan, thousands of ordinary Muslims participated in the struggle to liberate India with their blood and labor. But after independence, when India and Pakistan were divided on the basis of religion, this division was propagated as a ‘betrayal’ of the Muslim nationhood. By blaming the Muslim League for the partition of India, the Hindutva forces imposed that attitude of anger and revenge on ordinary Muslims. As a result, even after independence, Muslims continued to be viewed with a lot of distrust—as if they were still ‘foreign’ or ‘pro-Pakistan’.

This mentality is so deep that a large part of the Indian media, political parties, police administration and judiciary play a loyal role in it. For example, after any terrorist attack in India, a “Muslim name” or “Pakistani connection” is searched for before the investigation begins. The 2006 Malogaon blast, the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast, the 2008 Samjhota Express blast—all of these were initially alleged against Muslims. Many Muslim youths were labeled as “jihadis” and were kept in jail for years. But it was later found that Hindutva militant groups like Abhinav Bharat or Hindu Mahasabha were behind these attacks. Hemant Karkare himself, who had exposed these conspiracies, was killed under mysterious circumstances during the Mumbai attacks.

Anti-Muslim sentiment has become a political weapon in the Indian state today. When parties like the BJP abuse Muslims or incite violence over cow slaughter, they can unite Hindu voters. If a Muslim student scores well in university, he is called an “Indian”; but if that student speaks out against the army’s human rights violations in Kashmir, he is an “anti-national”. In other words, if a Muslim adheres to Hindutva ideology, then he is a “good Muslim”. But if he wants to establish his identity, rights or history with self-respect, then he is a “Pakistani”, “Jihadi”, “Tukde Tukde Gang”.

The main reason for this duplicity is that the Hindutva forces never want to accept Muslims as equal citizens of India. On the one hand, they want to use Muslims to test them to be “true patriots”, and on the other hand, they make them “deadly enemies” for their own political gains. For example, no matter how great Abul Kalam Azad is, he has been almost made invisible in the BJP textbooks. Because, he was a Muslim, and his position was in favor of a secular India. On the other hand, by using Muhammad Ali Jinnah or Syed Shah Bukhari, they make the Muslim nation a symbol of some kind of ‘divisiveness’, as if Muslims are always plotting to break the country.

Another thing is that when Indian Muslims play for the Indian cricket team, act in films, or make scientific contributions—then that identity is erased, they are either ‘Indian’. For example, Abdul Kalam, Aamir Khan or Sania Mirza can be said. But when someone speaks about their Muslim identity, for example, when young people like Sharjeel Imam or Omar Khalid demand their rights under the Constitution—they are labeled as traitors. This means that if Muslims do good, they are “Indian”; if they do bad, they are “foreign enemies.”

Behind this hypocrisy in India is a deep cultural crisis. Hindutva is actually the self-defense of a self-confident nation in the religious guise. They know that the thousand-year history, culture and contributions of Muslims are so rich that it fades away their so-called ‘Hindu past’. So to distort this history, they change textbooks, make architecture ‘Hindu’, and plan to destroy Muslim monuments. The demand to convert the ‘Taj Mahal’ into a Shiva temple is also part of that mentality.

Ultimately, anti-Muslim sentiment in India is not just a personal feeling—it is a manifestation of state strategy, cultural appropriation, and a crisis of identity for a majority class. This hatred is not merely religious, but a political project of nation-building, where the majority wants to turn Muslims into “different” and turn them into a dictatorship.