In the last ten years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had political successes. This has made people think he cares about the Hindu people in India. India’s 200 million Muslims feel like they have less influence in the country’s politics, even though they live in the world’s biggest democracy.
According to some people, Mondi has been able to do this after stopping Muslim people from becoming citizens and taking away the special self-governing status of the country’s only region where most people are Muslim. Constructing a Hindu temple where a group of angry people destroyed a mosque.
There have always been problems between Hindus and Muslims in India, but things have gotten worse with Modi as the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, which follows a Hindu nationalist philosophy. With Modi likely to win a third term in office, things don’t look good for Muslim politicians and citizens. The final decision for this year’s vote will happen in June.
Not only has Modi increased his criticism of Muslims in his campaign speeches. Since the BJP started gaining power in the mid-1980s, there are fewer Muslim lawmakers in parliament and state legislatures.
Muslims are not being represented as much in the ruling BJP or in opposition parties.
When Modi became the leader in 2014, there were 30 Muslim lawmakers leaving the parliament – and only one of them was from the BJP party. Muslims now have 25 seats out of 543, but none of them are members of the BJP.
India has changed from a place where Muslims were mostly left out to a place where they are intentionally kept out, according to Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a political scientist and historian at Ashoka University in New Delhi.
“If you don’t have someone to speak for you, you can’t ask the government for things that your community needs, like education, jobs, healthcare, or roads,” Mahmudabad explained.
In the mid-1980s, 11 out of every 100 people in India were Muslims, and nine out of every 100 seats in parliament were held by Muslims. Today, 14 out of every 100 people in India are Muslims, but less than five out of every 100 seats in parliament are held by Muslims.
Nine out of 10 people in parliament are Hindu, and 80% of India’s 1.4 billion population are also Hindu.
Muslims are not represented well in state politics. India has over 4,000 lawmakers in state legislatures in 28 states, and about six percent of these lawmakers are Muslim.
A report from the government in 2006 showed that Muslims in India are not doing as well as Hindus, Christians, and people from lower castes when it comes to being able to read and write, how much money they make, and being able to go to school. They have improved a little bit, but are still in a tough spot, according to many different studies.
During Modi’s ten years in power, the BJP has made different laws that Muslim leaders believe treat them unfairly.
Some states governed by the BJP made laws to stop people from different religions marrying each other. They say they want to protect Hindu women from marrying Muslim men and changing their religion.
One state that was ruled by the BJP party made a rule that girls can’t wear hijabs in school. The law changed after the BJP no longer had political power.
The BJP wants to change some laws in India’s constitution that deal with marriage, divorce, and inheritance. This could affect certain religious practices.
Many Muslims are often subjected to violence, and Modi has done little to stop it. Hindu mobs have killed Muslims because they were accused of eating beef or smuggling cows, which Hindus believe are sacred animals. Their houses and shops have been destroyed by bulldozers, and their places of prayer have been set on fire.
At recent campaign rallies, Modi said that he thinks Muslims are not supposed to be in the country and that they have too many children. He also said that the BJP’s main rival, the Congress party, wants to take money from Hindus and give it to Muslims. However, he didn’t have any proof for these statements.
Lots of Muslims think that Modi is trying to create disagreements as a way to win votes.
“They are keeping the Hindu-Muslim problem controversial and ongoing. ” Mehmood Bhai Khatri, a 64-year-old Muslim voter from Gujarat, said that they still don’t get along. This is Prime Minister Modi’s home state and a place where the BJP is very popular.
Khatri said, “But who will speak up. If they do, they might get arrested or have their homes destroyed by a bulldozer. ” “Nobody talks because they are scared. ”
No Indian state has a Muslim as the top leader, and the BJP and its allies have leaders in 19 states.
In Uttar Pradesh, where many people are Muslim, only a few of the state’s lawmakers are Muslim.
As the BJP gets stronger, experts say that other Indian political parties are less likely to choose Muslim candidates because they are afraid of upsetting Hindu voters.
Most Hindus support the BJP, but it’s hard for Muslims to agree on what they want because they are very different from each other in terms of their religion, ethnicity, language, customs, and culture.
“Mahmudabad, the political scientist, said that the only way to bring together this diverse group of people is by making Islam the thing they all have in common. ”
However, when political parties do not have many Muslims as candidates, important issues for them, such as minority rights and hate speech, are rarely discussed in parliament. This was expressed by Muhammad Saad, a Muslim cab driver in New Delhi.
Saad asked, “If there are no Muslims in the parliament, who will speak up for us. ”
Experts say the BJP has been trying to connect with Muslims by asking for their help as volunteers and at election time. However, the party only had 13 Muslim candidates in total in the 2014 and 2019 elections, and none of them were chosen.
The BJP says it does not treat Muslim people unfairly.
party allows all people to join, not just Hindus, according to M Abdul Salam.