What's It Like to be Muslim in Modi's India? To Be Called an ‘infiltrator’ in your own home?

What's it like to be a poor Muslim in Modi's India? To be called an infiltrator in the land where your ancestors were born, lived and died? How do poor Muslims view 5 years more of Modi?: Independent journalist Alishan Jafri answers

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At a time when the Prime Minister has called Muslims “infiltrators” and people who have more children than the rest of us, the independent journalist and an aspiring documentary filmmaker Alishan Jafri answers the questions what is it like to be a poor Muslim, without connections and influence, in Narendra Modi’s India? What does it feel like when you are called an infiltrator in the land where you and your ancestors were born, lived and died? And how do poor Muslims view the prospect of 5 years more of Narendra Modi and his constant picking on Muslims?



In a 33-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Alishan Jafri also addresses other questions connected to the situation facing poor Muslims in India. For instance, every day the Prime Minister claims reservations for OBCs, STs and SCs will be snatched and given to Muslims. What impact is this having on Hindu-Muslim relations? Has it made Muslims apprehensive of the reaction of their Hindu neighbours?



When it has become commonplace for Ministers, MPs, MLAs and, perhaps, the BJP as a whole, to refer to Muslims as Babar ki aulad and abba jaan and repeatedly tell them to go to Pakistan whilst accusing them of love jihad, land jihad, population jihad and cow lynching, what impact has this had on their mental health and well-being? How did it feel when in December 2021 a Dharma Sansad in Haridwar publicly called for the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Muslims? What is it like to be accused of appeasement when you are amongst the poorest, the least educated and worst represented people in your country? And how do poor Muslims view their lives? Are they happy and content or are they just living and surviving?



I am deliberately only giving you the questions. I think you should hear the answers for yourself. Alishan Jafri speaks with a poignancy and suppressed emotion that powerfully conveys the plight of poor Muslims.


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