The days of broken glass in the ‘new’ India 

In August 2023, a school teacher in India was seen encouraging students to take turns hitting their Muslim classmate. When confronted, she replied, "I am not ashamed. I have served the people of this village as a teacher. They all are with me." 

This perhaps sums up the prevailing situation of systematic anti-Muslim sentiment in India. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the rise of Hindu nationalism has not only altered the nation's social fabric but also led to significant concerns about the state of its democracy. 

India, once a beacon of democratic principles and secular identity, now faces accusations of sliding into an authoritarian hybrid regime. 

On Wednesday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report detailing severe violations of religious freedom in India throughout 2024, including killings, assaults and the destruction of places of worship. 

The report highlights the role of government officials in spreading misinformation and hate speech to incite violence against religious minorities and enforcement of India's legal framework to target and disenfranchise religious minorities, including the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and several state-level anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws. 

USCIRF has recommended that the US State Department classify India as a "Country of Particular Concern" for its ongoing violations of religious freedom.

To that end, we take a look into the erosion of democratic norms in India targeting religious minorities, and the increasing centralisation of power – which has raised critical questions about the future of the country's political system.

After the BJP's re-election in 2024, within weeks, a Hindu mob brutally beat three Muslim men in the central city of Raipur, killing two of them on the spot for allegedly carrying beef. A Muslim man in UP also faced the same fate. Authorities in Madhya Pradesh demolished 11 Muslim households where police say they found beef. 

The 'Hindutva' agenda

While Modi and the BJP leaders perpetuate a 'New India' under their leadership, it seems like it is being built upon the suppression of minority rights.

At the heart of this transformation is the BJP's pursuit of the Hindutva agenda – aiming to culturally homogenise India. In the pursuit of this goal, India emphasises its Hindu heritage while marginalising the contributions of other communities, particularly Muslims. 

One of the most concerning aspects of this shift is the aggressive targeting of India's Muslim minority, which makes up around 14% of the population. This community, with over 230 million people, faces systemic discrimination, violence and exclusion under Modi's government. 

From the renaming of cities to reflect Hindu mythology to the demolition of historic Muslim mosques to lynching Muslims for dating Hindu girls or transporting beef – this agenda has manifested itself in various forms. This is not just a physical erasure of history but a symbolic effort to reshape India's identity into a singular Hindu narrative.

The many forms of erasure of the Indian Muslims 

Anti-Muslim sentiments have been peddled through WhatsApp groups by far-right Hindu groups. These groups frame Muslims as historical invaders who must be pushed back to reclaim a pure, Hindu India; or as "termites" – dubbed by Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah. 

One of the most alarming aspects of this trend is the use of bulldozers as a symbol of Hindu nationalist power. The demolition of Muslim homes and businesses, often justified as part of anti-encroachment drives, has become a common sight in states ruled by the BJP.

The bulldozer has become a potent symbol of the government's ability to literally and figuratively "crush" its opponents, particularly Muslims. This tactic of collective punishment, where entire communities are targeted for the actions of a few individuals, has been widely condemned as a violation of basic human rights. 

The Indian Supreme Court had also halted bulldozer action across India, saying that it cannot be done without the court's permission. The main pretext of the demolition campaign was that the residences belonged to so-called 'criminals,' who happened to be Muslims. 

The Court ordered them to wait for legal proceedings, saying "Heavens will not fall" if they wait. 

Then there is the demolition of historic mosques. 

The Babri Masjid, destroyed in 1992, marked a turning point in India's religious tensions. To cash in the political points, the BJP rushed to inaugurate the Ram Mandir on the site of the demolished mosque in January 2024. 

It was just the beginning. BJP's slogan "Babri to bas jhanki hai, Kashi Mathura baki hai" (Babri is only a sneak peek; Kashi and Mathura are yet to happen) still echoes around the country, and 880 Islamic religious sites are now being listed by them to be demolished and reclaimed. 

In 2022, a 16th-century mosque in Uttar Pradesh was demolished, followed by the destruction of the 600-year-old Akhondji Mosque in Delhi. Last November, a 300-year-old mosque in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, was razed to make way for a highway. 

One of India's largest and oldest mosques, the 800-year-old Shamsi Jama Masjid in Budaun, also came under dispute when a local Hindu farmer, supported by the right-wing Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), filed a court case. 

Similar disputes have arisen around the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. Generally, these mosques are in Muslim-majority areas. Some Hindu nationalists even claim that the Taj Mahal was, in fact, a Shiva temple called Tejo Mahalaya. 

In addition to physical violence, legal mechanisms have been used to suppress Muslim voices. 

The 2019 revocation of Article 370, which stripped Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state, of its special status, was a clear example of the government's disregard for the rights of Muslim-majority areas. 

Meanwhile, the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) represents one of the most direct legal threats to Muslims. By providing a pathway to citizenship for refugees from neighbouring countries, but explicitly excluding Muslims — institutionalising religious discrimination. 

This law, when paired with the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), threatens to disenfranchise millions of Muslims who may not be able to provide the necessary documents to prove their citizenship.

In regions like Assam, where the NRC was first implemented, many have found it nearly impossible to provide the necessary documentation, leading to fears of detention or deportation.

The BJP has consistently framed Muslim immigrants as "infiltrators,"  particularly dubbing them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and a threat to national security. This narrative resonates with many voters, particularly in regions facing demographic changes and economic challenges.

The BJP's rise to power in Assam in 2016 was significantly bolstered by its pledge to address the issue of "illegal immigrants." However, the release of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final list in 2019 revealed a troubling oversight: it excluded not only Muslims but also many Bangla-speaking Hindus. 

This prompted the BJP to call for a complete reevaluation of the process. 

In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to erase or diminish the role of Muslims in Indian history. The government has quietly edited history textbooks to remove references to the Mughal Empire, which ruled much of India from the 16th to the 19th centuries. 

The BJP's version of history presents the Mughals and other Muslim rulers as foreign invaders, responsible for the "oppression" of Hindus, rather than as integral contributors to India's diverse heritage. 

This rewriting of history is not limited to textbooks. Popular media, including Bollywood films, has also played a role in reinforcing the BJP's narrative of Hindu victimhood and Muslim aggression. 

Labels and representations

Films like Padmaavat (2018), Tanhaji (2020) and Samrat Prithviraj (2022) depict Muslim rulers as brutal conquerors. There has been a visible uptick in similar films. For instance, 'Kerala Files' (2023) peddle lies about Muslims. This cultural messaging is reinforced by political rhetoric. The narrative is simple—Muslims are bad, Hindus are good. 

There is also the controversial film 'Kashmir Files' (2022). 

As a result, Muslims in India now live in an environment of deep insecurity. Acts of violence, such as mob lynchings, are not isolated incidents but are part of a broader strategy to marginalise and disempower the community. 

Additionally, BJP leaders and media outlets sympathetic to the government frequently refer to Muslims as "anti-national." Muslim communities are often portrayed as disloyal, with allegations that they support Pakistan, India's long-time rival, by the BJP-backed media houses, commonly known as the Godi Media.  

Another conspiracy theory known as "population jihad" is propagated, which claims that Indian Muslims have higher birth rates with the intention of outnumbering Hindus. However, government data reveals a different reality. 

Fertility rates among Muslims are decreasing more rapidly than those of any other major religious group in India. Specifically, the fertility rate for Muslims declined from 4.41 to 2.36 between 1992 and 2021. In comparison, the fertility rate for Hindus dropped from 3.3 to 1.94 during the same period. 

Then there is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Human Rights Watch analysed all 173 campaign speeches by Modi and found that in at least 110 speeches, Modi made Islamophobic remarks  – intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said only promoted Muslim rights.

This marginalisation is also evident in the political arena. Muslim representation in Lok Sabha has steadily declined under the BJP's rule. The current Lok Sabha has the lowest share of Muslim MPs in 60 years. Less than 5% of its members currently are Muslims. 

In total, there are currently 24 Muslim MPs (4.4%) in the Lok Sabha. 

After the BJP's re-election in 2024, within weeks, a Hindu mob brutally beat three Muslim men in the central city of Raipur, killing two of them on the spot while another died later in hospital for allegedly carrying beef. A Muslim man in UP was lynched for the same reason. Authorities in Madhya Pradesh demolished 11 Muslim households where police say they found beef. 

In many cases, the police and other authorities have been slow to respond, if they intervene at all, leading to accusations of state complicity in the violence.

In this year's election, the popularity of such policies seemed to have waned as the BJP alliance was able to secure only 240 seats in Lok Sabha instead of their desired 400 seats out of 543 in total. So there might be some hope after all, but meanwhile, India's religious freedom lives under heightened threat, more than ever before.