The Big Fight: Are India's Minorities Living In Fear?
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about sabka vishwas, soon after his re-election last month, many believed he was making a real effort to reach out to minorities. That perhaps, this massive mandate could see a change in the way minorities, read Muslims, are looked at and dealt with by the ruling establishment. But this past week, the headlines have been dominated by the haunting video of a 24-year-old Muslim man who was beaten up brutally by a mob in Jharkhand on the suspicion of stealing a motorcycle. Disturbing videos show him being forced to chant slogans of Jai Shri Ram and Jai Hanuman. This year alone there have been 11 hate crimes in India and almost all the victims have been Muslim. Look at Parliament, in the world's largest democracy, where almost 200 million people are Muslims, there are only 27 Muslim MPs and none of them are from the BJP. Do these hate crimes and the disproportionate representation of Muslims mean that minorities have a reason to live in fear or are those fears exaggerated?
