Out of sight in his own country: What is it like for Modi to be a Muslim in India?

Six years ago, a Muslim boy returned home with a red face from a well-known school in the northern Indian city of Agra. "My classmates call me a Pakistani terrorist," the nine-year-old told his mother. ‘

Reema Ahmed, a writer, vividly remembers the day. "That day, a little excited boy clenched his fists so hard that his palm was marked with nails. He was very angry. ‘

His son narrated the story that as soon as his teacher came out of class, his classmates started fighting with the boy. At that time, a group of students pointed to him and said, 'This is a Pakistani terrorist, kill him.' ‘

The child told his mother that some of his classmates even called him a drain worm. When Reema Ahmed complained about the incident to the school authorities, she was told that she was "just an illusion ... such things did not happen". ‘

Rima Ahmed finally pulled her son out of school.

Today, the 16-year-old is studying at home. She says, "I saw the harsh attitudes of the society from my son's experience, which was a feeling that I had never encountered when I grew up here in my youth. ‘

"Our class privilege may have saved us from feeling Muslim all the time. Class superiority now seems to be targeting you more. ‘

Ever since Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, a tumultuous journey has begun in the lives of India's 200 million Muslims.

Hindu angry mobs have beaten up several people and targeted small Muslim traders on suspicion of carrying out beef trade. Petitions have been filed against mosques. Internet trolls have organized online 'auctions' of Muslim women.

Right-wing groups and the 'mainstream' media have fueled Islamophobia by levelling allegations of 'jihad', 'love jihad'. Muslim men are falsely accused of converting Hindu women through marriage.

And anti-Muslim hate speech has increased. And three-fourths of such cases have been reported from BJP-ruled states.

Zia-ul-Islam, author of Being Muslim in Hindu India, says, "Muslims have become second-class citizens, an invisible minority in their own country. ‘

But the BJP and Prime Minister Modi deny that minorities are being ill-treated in India.

"These are just the problems of a few people who don't even bother to get out of their surroundings and meet other people," Modi told Newsweek magazine. Even India's minorities no longer recognize this narrative. ‘

Yet Reema Ahmed, whose family has lived in Agra for decades, feels a change when she mentions Hindu friends living in crowded houses in the middle of the city's narrow streets.

In 2019, Reema Ahmed left the school's WhatsApp group due to a message. There were only two Muslims in the group, one of whom was Reema. He left the group when India claimed air strikes on militant hideouts in Pakistan.

"If they hit us with missiles, we will enter their homes and kill them," the message from the WhatsApp group read. This message was sent in line with Prime Minister Modi's message in which he said something about killing terrorists and enemies of India by entering their homes.

Reema Ahmed recalls that moment it was just "my patience that answered". I said to my friends, "What happened to you?" Are you justifying the killing of civilians and children? ‘

Rima talks about peace. But they got the answer. Someone asked him if he was pro-Pakistan just because he was a Muslim. "They accused me of being anti-national," she says. ‘

"Suddenly appealing for non-violence was made like being anti-national. I told them I don't have to be violent to support my country. I called the group 'Khuda Hafiz'. ‘

The changing environment is also felt differently. For a long time, her sprawling home has been a meeting point for her son's classmates, regardless of gender or religion. But now is the so-called era of 'love jihad', in which Hindu girls are asked to leave for a certain time and not stay in his room.

"My father and I made our son sit and told him that the atmosphere was not good. You have to limit your friendship, be careful, don't stay outside for long, you don't know when things will turn into 'love jihad'. ‘

Iram, a fifth-generation environmental activist living in Agra, has also seen a change in the conversation among the city's children while working in local schools. He heard a child say to a Muslim classmate, "Don't talk to me, my mother has told me not to (talk to you)." ‘

"I'm thinking, really?! It reflects Muslim phobia. It will become something that we will not be able to improve again easily. ‘

Iram had many Hindu friends of her own, and she did not feel insecure as a Muslim woman.

It's not just about children. Siraj Qureshi, a local journalist from Agra, works on interfaith. But now they are lamenting the age-old relationship between Hindus and Muslims.

He recounts a recent incident where a man selling goat meat in the city was stopped by members of a Hindu right-wing group, handed over to the police and the police registered a case and sent to jail.

Siraj Qureshi says, "The man had a regular license, but the police still arrested him. However, he was later released. ‘

Many in society note the change in the behavior of Muslims travelling on trains, due to incidents in which Muslim passengers were attacked for allegedly carrying beef.

"Now, we are all careful, avoid eating anything other than vegetables in public transport or not traveling on public transport if we can afford it," says Reema Ahmed. ‘

Kaleem Ahmed Qureshi, a software engineer-turned-jewellery designer and musician, has been settled in Agra since the seventh generation. They also organise a 'heritage walk' to protect the city's heritage.

Carrying his rabab, he recently boarded a joint taxi with a Hindu passenger from Delhi to Agra. "When they saw the briefcase in my hand, they asked me to open it. He was afraid that it was not a gun. I realised that they had become sensitive because of my name. ‘

"This is the problem we live with. Now whenever I travel, I have to take great care of where I am, what I say, what I do. ‘

According to him, "I now feel uncomfortable even while giving the name to the ticket checker on the train. ‘

Kaleem Qureshi is aware of the root cause of this behaviour. According to him, "Politics has poisoned communities. ‘

Syed Zafar Islam, a national spokesperson of the BJP, recently told me in Delhi, "Muslims have no reason to worry. ?

He attributed the rise in Islamophobia to "irresponsible media houses".

"A small incident happens somewhere, and the media exaggerates it like never before. In a country of 1 billion and 400 million people, many such incidents can occur between communities or within communities. ‘

"You can't draw such a general conclusion from one or two incidents that the ruling party is anti-Muslim. If anyone presents it as a target against Muslims, he is wrong. ‘

I asked him how he would react if his children came home from school and said they had been labelled 'Pakistani terrorists' by these classmates because of the family's religion.

Syed Zafar Islam, a former banker, joined the party in 2014 and has two children, one of whom is currently in school.

"Like any other parent, I'll feel bad," he said. It is the responsibility of the school to ensure that such things do not happen. Parents should make sure they don't say such things. ‘

In a country where 79 per cent of the population is Hindu, what does the BJP's commitment to establish a Hindu Rashtra (state) mean?

"People know that this is just political rhetoric. Has our government or party said such things? Why does the media give so much space to those who say such things? When the media gives space to such people, we get worried. ‘

But then what about the decline in Muslim representation? The BJP does not have a Muslim minister in both houses of Parliament and no member in both houses of parliament and only one member out of more than 1,000 across the country is a Muslim.

Syed Zafar, himself a former BJP MP, said no such thing happened under any well-thought-out plan.

According to him, the Congress and other opposition political parties are using Muslims to defeat the BJP. If a party fields a Muslim candidate and Muslims will not vote for him, then which party will issue him a ticket?"

It is true that only eight per cent of India's Muslims voted for the BJP in 2019 and are increasingly voting as a bloc against Modi's party. In the 2020 Bihar state elections, 77 per cent had supported the anti-BJP alliance.

In 2021, 75 per cent supported the regional Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. And in 2022, 79 per cent supported the opposition Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

Syed Zafar says opposition parties led by the Congress created "fear and anxiety" in the community to ensure that they remained loyal. The Modi government, on the other hand, does not discriminate "between communities".

According to him, welfare schemes are reaching all the people. Muslims are benefiting the most from some schemes. There have been no major riots in the last 10 years. In fact, in 2020, more than 50 people, most of them Muslims, have been killed in the riots in Delhi over the controversial citizenship law. But in India, in many years since independence, there has been a much worse situation. ‘

Syed Zafar blamed the community for alienating itself from the mainstream. "Muslims should introspect. They should simply reject treatment as a vote bank and not be influenced by religious leaders. Modi is trying his best to bring the society together so that people live together happily, and they do not go astray. ‘

I asked him how he saw the future of Muslims in India under Modi's leadership.

He replied, "It's great... minds are slowly changing." More Muslims will join the BJP. Things are getting better. ‘

It's hard to say whether things look (getting better) or not. It is true that in the midst of this crisis, many Muslims say that their community is going through a process of reform.

"Muslims are assessing themselves and studying. A concerted effort is being made by Muslim academics and intellectuals to help students from deserving needy communities get an education. Their efforts to improve are commendable, but it is also eroding their trust in the government. ‘

Arzoo Parveen is one of those people who, along with her family, can make a way out of poverty with education in India's poorest state of Bihar.

Unlike Reema Ahmed's son, his own father was afraid of what people would think when his daughter stepped out.

"They said we were trapped in poverty, you are an adult girl, the villagers will talk about it. I told them we can't live like this. Women are moving forward. We cannot put our future at stake. ‘

Arzoo's dream has been to become a doctor ever since he heard the details of his mother's death in the hospital.

But it was the stories of women teachers in the village becoming engineers and doctors that convinced them that this was possible.

"Why don't I?" she asked, and then within a year she became the first woman in her family to pursue higher education.

She did not go to any government school outside the village, but Rahmani 30, a free coaching center set up by former Muslim politician and educationist Maulana Wali Rehman in 2008 for students belonging to poor and backward classes.

At present, 850 students, including boys and girls, are enrolled in Rahmani 30 in three cities, including Bihar's capital Patna.

These students live in rented school buildings and prepare for national entrance exams in engineering, medicine and chartered accountancy. Many of them are first-generation people who are studying while their parents are fruit vendors and labourers.

About 600 alumni are already working in software engineers, chartered accountants and other professions. Six of them are doctors.

Next year, Arzoo will be one of over two million candidates for one lakh seats from 707 medical colleges in India.

"I am ready for the challenge," she says. I want to become a gynaecologist. ‘

Mohammad Shakir Rahmani, 30, sees education as a ticket to a better life, which also helps him take care of his family.

Last April, 15-year-old Mohammed Shakir and his friend travelled by bus for six hours to Patna. On the way, Hindus also passed through the districts hit by religious riots due to the procession of the festival. He made the journey with a bottle of water and a few dates, spent the night in a mosque, sat in the entrance examination of Rahmani 30 and passed.

"My parents were very scared, they said don't go. I told them, 'Now is the time. If I don't go now, I don't know what my future will be. ‘

For this young man, who dreams of becoming a computer scientist, the fear of religious tension comes down to a lesser level in his worries.

"I told my mother That I will come back after taking the exam. Nothing will happen to me along the way. Why is something wrong? Hindus and Muslims live in perfect harmony in my village. ‘

What will happen to the future of India's Muslims who are divided on caste, creed and religious considerations?

Zia-ul-Salam talks about the sense of danger hovering over his head.

"People talk about lack of jobs and inflation for the Muslim community. But it's not just about inflation and employment. It's about the right to life. ‘

Recent memoirs of young Muslims speak of similar fears.

"Almost everyone has chosen a country where they will be able to seek refuge as an alternative solution. Some have contacted their relatives in Canada, the United States, Turkey or the United Kingdom so that they can seek asylum in those countries if needed.

Ziyad Masroor Khan recently writes in his book City on Fire: A Boyhood in Aligarh, "Even a person like me, who feels safe even in times of communal violence, is now worried about the future of his family in his homeland." ‘

Reema Ahmed in Agra is also uncertain about the future.

I initially thought it was excessive Islamophobia and it (time) would pass. That was 10 years ago. Now I think a lot has been permanently lost and the damage that was supposed to happen has been done. ‘