Fears for India’s Muslims as Modi’s Hindu nationalists win third term

BENGALURU, India: For India´s 200-million-plus Muslim minority, a third term for the Hindu-nationalist ruling party brings renewed fears for their future in the constitutionally secular country.

Many Indian Muslims worry Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will relegate them to “second-class citizens” in a Hindu nation.

“During the last 10 years, Muslims were publicly targeted, abused, and humiliated,” said housewife Shabnam Haque, 43, in Jharkhand´s state capital Ranchi.

“Hate against the community is increasing day by day and Muslims are being dehumanised. We fear this trend will increase.”

For some, the reduction of BJP seats offered a glimmer of hope.

“Diverse political representation is crucial for a healthy democracy, and a strong opposition is vital,” said Salman Ahmad Siddiqui.

The 42-year-old banker comes from the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh -- India´s most populous state and the heartland of the Hindu faith -- where the BJP lost its majority.

“The election results are unsurprising, reflecting a growing sense of unease among young people and the middle class,” Siddiqui added.

But Rahman Saifi, 27, a social activist from Uttar Pradesh, said the BJP still had a fresh mandate to drive forward its right-wing policies for its faithful Hindu followers.

“Even with a reduced majority, they may continue to push their agenda of establishing a Hindu Rashtra (country) in India,” Saifi said. “It´s concerning.”

Hindu activists will likely be emboldened to call for more religious sites to be taken from Muslims.

Those demands have grown louder since Modi inaugurated a grand temple to the deity Ram in January, built on the grounds of a centuries-old mosque in Ayodhya razed by Hindu zealots in 1992.

“Muslims are very scared that... they will implement anti-Muslim laws and policies in a dictatorial manner and promote hatred in society”, shopkeeper Anwar Siddiqui said in the northern state of Uttarakhand -- a BJP heartland.

Far to the south, Muhammad Samshuddeen, 25, a shopkeeper in the tech hub of Bengaluru said that “India is a secular country for all religions,” adding, “We are here to live peacefully too.”

In Muslim-majority Kashmir, the Modi government´s 2019 decision to bring the region under New Delhi´s direct rule -- and the subsequent clampdown -- have been deeply resented.

The BJP´s third term will mean “further hardship”, 53-year-old Riyaz Ahmed from Srinagar said.

“We have been suffocated,” he said. “If anyone tries to speak the truth you are uncertain you will remain free.”