Islamophobia in India: Stoking Bigotry

Discussions in research and publications on India, on the one hand have focused on the rapid economic growth, emerging and vibrant technology sector and the increasing level of affluence present in pockets across the country. On the other hand, an emerging group of scholars have examined the negative impacts of such economic success with a focus on the intensification of poverty, rural to urban migration, and the collapse of existing family and cultural norms. In both of these areas of research, very little is known about the rising tide of religious ultra-nationalism that utilizes violence and structural othering as a tool of gaining and expanding power. The targets of religious ultra-nationalism in India have been Muslim, Christian, Sikh and 'lower castes' within India's society. Within the past decade, the level of targeted violence against these religious minorities has intensified, with the arrival of the BJP into national office facilitating its deployment through all structures of the state against demonized and vulnerable groups. This strategy is familiar to observers of the political dynamics in the U.S. and Europe against the backdrop of the rising tide of Islamophobia that has been stoked and deployed by extreme right-wing groups to gain legitimacy and it has been monetized into votes at the ballot box. To date, there has been no reliable evidence, academic engagements or scholarly reports that documents this rising tide of Islamophobia in the Indian context. This lack of documentation both complicates and hinders the ability of those advocating against and countering Islamophobia. As a result, activists and advocates are often left to speak of individual incidents of violence that undermine the magnitude of the issue as seemingly isolated cases or use of "communal violence" to obfuscate the seriousness of the problem. This case-by-case approach is highly problematic, limiting the ability of advocates to assign responsibility to political elites and point to the deployment of coercive state power utilized against structurally-created marginalized and invisible populations. Ultra nationalist political elites strategically select their targets and assess their chances of holding or expanding power on its basis. It is urgent that all cases of violence is documented, compiled and highlighted in scholarly research that is grounded in a systematic theoretical basis, ultimately allowing a critique of those responsible based on evidence rooted in a robust research methodology. This first of its kind report on the status of Islamophobia in India is meant to provide a groundbreaking collection of evidence and provide a reference point for all future work on the subject.