It is a tragedy that minorities have become the focus of political narratives, targets of political vendettas, and victims of vicious campaigning during Lok Sabha elections. It is, however, not a simple issue of a desperate attempt by the ruling party to clinch power. Instead, it is a component of more generalised Islamophobic ideas, thoughts, philosophies and patterns that are pervasive on a national and international scale. The narratives also become a symbol of binary opposition between the majority and minority, who are not only antagonistic but also perpetual enemies.

Islamophobia

While stereotyping minorities, it creates a sense of victimhood among the majority and translates the community identity into a communal identity. It attempts to resurrect the memories of historical humiliation, such as the crimes committed, the devastation of houses of worship, the conversion of nearby communities, the type of slavery, and the ensuing alienation experienced by the majority community. All these were used as political torpedoes to merge the majoritarian identity with the state. The consecration of Ram Lala in Ayodhya and divinity declaration witnessed the beginning of the merger of the state with the majoritarian culture.

Changing narrative

Initially the political narrative in this year’s Lok Sabha elections revolved around winning more than 400 seats, given that the ruling dispensation was sure of repeating its performance in the previous General Election. "Abki paar 400 paar" became the campaign's focal point assuming that several factors, including the dedication of Ram Lalla's statue, the repeal of Article 370, the elimination of triple talaq, the implementation of Citizens Amendment  Act, the awarding of Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur, Charan Singh, Swaminathan, and others, populist schemes for people with low incomes and women, PM's charisma and his international stature, the equally awful opposition leadership, etc., would make its victory far more easy  than one would have predicted. Once its calculation slowly received flak, in each succeeding phase, the narratives and discourses during the campaign trail shifted to minorities.

The new discourse blended many myths, imagined histories, negation, and refusal despite being as old as colonialism. During the campaigning, the minorities were much maligned, slandered, and vilified.

Islamophobia in history

Islamophobia as a thought process, as an idea, and as a conceptual category first appeared in the political domain in the 1990s, though its origins can be found in the immediate birth of the religion and subsequently during medieval and colonial eras. The Christian fathers were the first one to scrutinise religion, calling frequently Prophet as “imposter,” with a critical role played by St John (676-749), a disciple of Lord Jesus. The call given by Pope Urban II to liberate Jerusalem from Muslims ended in the First Crusade (1096-1099) war, followed by three more wars. Populist Italian poet and philosopher Dante (1265–1321), in his “Divine Comedy,” a collection of poems, refused to acknowledge Islam as a religion, and, believed that Islam was a heresy against Christianity. Incidentally, his writings sowed the seeds for a “civilizational clash” between the two Semitic religions — Christianity and Islam. . 

Colonialism and Islam 

Indeed, colonialism and Islamophobia went together, as both mutually co-existed. Colonisation brought strong memories of hatred, never-ending conflict, and conquest. Colonialism had three tasks: one dismissing the contribution of the faith and its followers; secondly stereotyping and thirdly creating spaces for perpetual hegemony and dividing Muslim world.

It all began with critically questioning its basic structure, amorphous knowledge production, arts, science, architecture, political philosophy, and its relation to the state and mundane issues. Paradoxically, Ibn Sina, a Spanish Arab philosopher who introduced great Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to Western World, was denied a space in the Western knowledge system. The contribution of Al Haytham in his Kitab al-Manazir for optic science; Al-Tusi of then Persia who worked in astronomy, ethics, mathematics and philosophy; Al-Khwarizmi in algebra and Algorithm; Jabir ibn Hayan in chemistry; Al-Rizvi and Ibn-Sina in medicine; Al-Battani and Phargani in astronomy; Al-Khazini for kinetics etc. were condemned or suppressed from the gaze of public domain.

The colonial powers used stereotypes to maintain their perpetual hegemony over the Islamic world, portraying the Muslim world as mysterious and lazy, as Edward Said put it in his book Orientalism. Local culture was replaced with colonial culture, and various social systems, including caste, ethnic groups, and tribalism, were enlisted and condemned using different terms. Finally, Islamophobia changed the course of world politics. During and after the two World Wars, colonial powers divided the Muslim world into several tiny nations that posed no threat to Western interests. After driving the Palestinians from their land, Israel was established, fostered, and planted as a hostile state— much against the wishes of the Arab world. Colonialism also created spaces for Hindutva perspective growing, which continued to have its spillover effect even today.

Savarkar illustrated this in his "Essentials of Hindutva," and Bankim Chatterjee did the same in his "Anand Math" Devi Chaudury Rani" and "Sitaram". For Bankim, Indian nationalism was nothing short of Hindu nationalism and advocated strong Hindu Rastra. Savarkar, much before writing on Hindutva, supported Hindu Muslim unity for Swaraja and Swabhimana while detailing the first War of Independence.

Postcolonialism and Islamophobia

Islamophobia as an idea and a thought surged dramatically in the 1990s, both internationally and in India. John P Huntington's Clash of Civilisations, a well-known political theory, was one of the books that affected Islamophobia worldwide. Huntington classified seven civilisations that have been at war with each other throughout history. He believed that Islamic civilizations constitute the Anglo-Saxon world's primary enemy, although Islamic countries are not homogenous. This analysis served as the theoretical foundation for attacking Afghanistan, the Taliban, ISIS, and several other nations. In the Indian context, unlike the West, where it took a racist form, it traversed through Hindu-Muslim conflict, narrative on “appeasement”, Uniform Civil Code, abrogation of Article 370, Triple Talaq, cow protection, the consecration of Ram Lalla statue, etc.

The primary forms of Islamophobia, aside from these, were history texts, medieval history, and the history of partition, population explosion, identity markers like the hijab, food culture, Azan, and dress culture. The latter intensified with the rise in terrorism, militant groups, and the frequency of riots and attacks, including the attack on Parliament. Paradoxically, even Covid-19 added fuel to Islamophobia, as they were targeted as super spreaders. The construction of narratives that minorities snatching away the reservation meant for OBCs, that they are multiplying to be the majority, that they are resorting to vote jihad, forest and land jihad, that they have the first claim over national resources, etc., shows the trajectory and the way the colonial/postcolonial and Hindutva form of Islamophobia converging and the distinctive nature of Indian form of Islamophobia in the campaign trail, which tends to   stereotypes, and marginalize the minorities as equal citizens of India. This shows the direction towards India's end of its journey. Can there be any solution? Given that two historical figures, Gandhi and Ambedkar, had opposed such a trend growing in India during the colonial period? Paradoxically, Ambedkar has been appropriated to advance the ideology of Islamophobia, and Gandhi has been accused of too much appeasing the Minorities and charged with all the contemporary ills, including poverty and backwardness that India is undergoing.

 Prof Muzaffar H Assadi is a political analyst, former Political Scientist & Dean Faculty of Arts, Mysuru University. The opinions are the writer’s own.