It’s dangerous to be a Muslim in Modi’s totalitarian India

Article 19 of India’s constitution states that all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression, but unfortunately, for the Muslims in India, there is no such tolerance in this country.

A Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui recently announced on social media that he might quit the industry after several of his shows got cancelled because of the threats he received from the right-wing Hindu extremist groups. So, is it dangerous to crack a joke in India?

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According to Al-Jazeera, on January 1 this year, Faruqui was jeered by the right-wing Hindus and was forced to stop his performance at a cafe in Indore in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, also ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“Hate has won, the artist has lost,” Faruqui posted on his Instagram profile after his scheduled show was cancelled by the organisers in Bengaluru, the capital of southern Karnataka state.

Nafrat jeet hai, Artist haar gaya.
Im done! Goodbye! INJUSTICE pic.twitter.com/la4xmaeQ0C

— munawar faruqui (@munawar0018) November 28, 2021

The members of an unpopular Hindu Rakshak Sangathan group in Indore alleged he had insulted Hindu gods during the rehearsals of his show.

A renowned local BJP politician’s son claimed that he overheard Faruqui passing indecent remarks about Hindu gods and the powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, but he could not submit any evidence for his allegations.

India has displayed hatred towards the Muslim communities for decades. The Muslims in India have faced discrimination and prejudice in education, politics and employment and they have always been the victims of communal violence.

Even though nearly 200 million Muslims live in India, as per the Council on Foreign Relations, they are still not treated and accepted as an integral part of the country.

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Be it Muslim students, teachers, cricketers, celebrities, or any renowned personality, if the word Muslim is attached to their identity, they will face bigotry and they will be given the most brutal treatment one can ever envisage.

The national hero of India and one of the finest international, most respected cricketers Virat Kohli’s newborn daughter received rape threats just because he supported his Muslim teammate Mohammed Shami after Indians abused him online for not being faithful to his country just because he was a Muslim.

Shami did not play well during his match with Pakistan; hence, he faced a barrage of abusive messages online.

A while back, an Indian entertainment website Mensxp reported that one of India’s top comedians Vir Das faced the brunt of some social media users who bashed him for his ‘Two Indias’ monologue. Indians sensed that he disrespected their country in a foreign land.

Das conducted a comedy show in Washington DC on November 12 in which he performed a monologue where he described his country as having two sides: “One where men worship women during the day but gang rape them at night.”

Read more: Indian Muslim comedian quits after cancellation of 12 shows

He encountered extreme backlash from the Hindu extremists; however, he called it “a satire about the duality of two very separate Indias.”

There were several complaints filed against the comedian, though many also supported the 42-year-old and gave him a standing ovation at the show.

In an interview with India Today, Das said that as a comedian, he just wants to make people laugh.

“I am just making people laugh. Everywhere in the world, comedians just want to make people laugh,” he said.

Das later shared a post on Twitter and justified what he said in his show.

“The video is a satire about the duality of two very separate Indias that do separate things. Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret,” the comedian posted on Twitter.

Moreover, the Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan has been hated for being a Muslim several times just because he spoke up about the religious intolerance against minorities in the country.

When his son Aryan Khan was arrested for being involved in the narcotics case, some people from the Muslim community claimed that he was accused and held only because he was a Muslim.

According to the Foreign Policy, since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his second term in 2019, he has pursued policies that have corroded the country’s democracy.

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In December 2019, India passed a law that granted citizenship to religious minorities – except Muslims – from neighbouring countries, with legal experts, saying it violated the country’s secular constitution, Al Jazeera reported.

The legislation was passed through the parliament by the BJP; however, the opposition parties claimed that the law was discriminatory, as it singled out Muslims in India.

A research article published by Zoya Hasan, titled, “Muslims and the Politics of Discrimination in India”, revealed that resentment and prejudice against minorities, particularly Muslims has always been common in India, as indeed in many developed and developing countries; however, Indians have simply not acknowledged the sheer existence and scale of prejudice and discrimination.

Hence, there has been little public debate or empirical analysis to establish the presence of discrimination against Muslims and identify its sources.