Over five years, BJP has consistently sought to marginalise Muslims | The Indian Express

Over five years, BJP has consistently sought to marginalise Muslims | The Indian Express

Written by Harsh Mander |Updated: May 4, 2019 8:27:06 am

Mander is a human rights worker and writer

Over five years, BJP has consistently sought to marginalise Muslims

The 2014 general elections were crafted by the BJP to render India’s Muslims politically irrelevant by welding disadvantaged Hindu castes with privileged  castes— and in India’s Northeast even with Christians — against the constructed common enemy, India’s Muslims.

Through PM Modi’s stewardship of the country, there has been a surge in hate speech and lynching. (Photo: AP/Representational)

Anis Kidwai, who lost her husband as he fought to save lives in a communal riot in 1947, went to Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi offering her services for the survivors of Partition. In great sadness, Gandhiji spoke to her of the fires of hate that burned around him. Until a Muslim child is able to walk outside without fear, he said to her, he could not leave Delhi. One of Gandhiji’s tests of the country that we must build was simply this, of a Muslim child living here without fear. Apply this to the India of 2019.