Daily Times

Even the hatred-hardened supporters of ultranationalist BJP would hesitate before defending its legislator’s flagrant series of vile abuses against a fellow member of the parliament.

MP Danish Ali’s religion branded his back with a target for communal slurs and naked display of Islamophobia, leading to threats, for the sole crime of taking part in a parliamentary debate – exactly what was expected of him by the constitution. Although the remarks have been expunged and the BJP’s MP sent off with a slap on his wrist, this episode speaks volumes about the ordeal an ordinary Muslim faces day in, and day out as he tries to balance two distinct parts of his identity.

Abusing religious minorities, especially Muslims, has become part and parcel of those operating under the blessing of the Narendra Modi administration as they gloat in the aura of fear they have created for anyone who does not come from their umbrella. While New Delhi might not realise it, the latest instalment in obvious impunity for those who mock, ridicule and intimidate minorities has touched off another round of worries.

The Indian Supreme Court has repeatedly appealed and demanded answers against the apparent patronising. Calling an elected MP a terrorist and a militant might not surprise those who endure such rants on a daily basis or frequently hear them during rallies and campaigns but because these expletives were acknowledged at the highest echelon of power, that too, in the beginning session of the new parliament, the mainstreaming of anti-Muslim agenda has entered another act.

You cannot shut your eyes and close your ears to reprehensible displays of prejudice and still dare to call yourself the largest, secular democracy on the face of this Earth. Much sooner than it can imagine, India (Bharat, to be precise) would have to decide which face and persona to unravel before the world. *