CERT is pleased to announce the forthcoming seminar on Islamophobia in India, scheduled for the 13th of August in Delhi. This seminar holds significant importance as it serves as a preliminary endeavor in support of our ongoing research project on Islamophobia within Indian educational institutions. The primary objective of our research is to meticulously document the experiences of Muslim students in these institutions, with a dedicated focus on illuminating the precise magnitude and characteristics of various narratives and incidents that perpetrate acts of Islamophobia, including instances of discrimination and harassment. Through this meticulous undertaking, our study aims to establish a robust evidentiary foundation, facilitating comprehensive discussions and effective strategies for combating the pervasive issue of Islamophobia in India.

The seminar will be conducted in accordance with the following conceptual framework:

Concept Note

Muslims in India account for 10.9% of the global Muslim population and comprise 14.2% of the country’s total population (Muslim Population by Country 2023). Although the social and political conditions in which Indian Muslims live, particularly the atrocities committed with the backing of both the state and the masses, have been the subject of scholarly analysis and discussion for a long time, it has been limited to some of the traditional theoretical approaches (such as the concept of communalism) that have been utilised since the partition of the subcontinent. However, many, such as Pritam Singh (2017), have demonstrated the inadequacy of approaches such as communalism, in addressing atrocities against minority communities like Muslims, particularly when communal differences within the Muslim community are considered, which in turn places the blame on the community itself. Moreover, this deficiency is evident in the failure of mainstream secular parties to comprehend and engage with Muslim issues, as well as in their active and passive participation in the atrocities. After September 11, 2001, atrocities against Muslims took on a new form and content. The majority of violent acts perpetrated against Muslims were sanctioned by the state mechanism, either through direct involvement or through a baffling silence against the act.

In this context, political activists, academics, and students adopted the term Islamophobia as both a theoretical approach and political terminology. It was a direct transference of the idea of Islamophobia to India, which has been prevalent in a global context, particularly in Western nations, and has led to legal formulations against anti-Muslim outbreaks of violence in nations such as the United Kingdom. The Muslim- minority context in India is under-theorized in the paradigm of Islamophobia studies and requires significant attention compared to other contexts (Kunnummal 2022), despite the fact that Islamophobia in India has been the subject of scholarly discussions and is frequently employed in popular discourse.

Numerous attempts have been made to define Islamophobia. The conventional use of the term can be traced back to a 1997 report by the Runnymede Trust, which divided the concept of Islamophobia into eight parts. Those parts ranged from the notion that Islam is an unchanging monolith to the belief that it is inherently violent and fundamentally inferior to the West (Sayyid, 2014). A precise and universal definition of Islamophobia is nearly impossible to formulate and would be misleading, due to the fact that existing definitions of Islamophobia are limited to specific social and historical contexts. This indicates that Islamophobia cannot be defined or comprehended independently of context. It is not to deny the common characteristics of Islamophobia, such as the war on terror unleashed by the United States in the wake of 9/11, which are present in the majority of Islamophobic cases, but rather to comprehend the peculiarities of particular instances of Islamophobia, such as Islamophobia in India. In order to comprehend and combat Islamophobia in India, a context-specific or comparative theorization of Islamophobia in India is crucial. Nonetheless, Salman Sayyid, while acknowledging the Runnymede Trust Report’s definition of Islamophobia as a racialisation of Muslims, attempted to define the concept “as an undermining of the ability of Muslims as Muslims” (Sayyid, 2014). This aspect of the Islamophobia category resembles the anti-semitism category in that it “defines Jewishness in a way that impoverishes Jews’ ability to define themselves” (Sayyid, 2014).

In general, RSS and its fringe elements are regarded as the most visible and proclaimed Islamophobes. But the structure of Islamophobia in India is rooted in modern discourses of politics, community, caste, gender, nationalism, state, religion, and economy that contribute to the racialization of Muslims (Kunnummal 2022). Sayyid identified India as one of the contemporary world’s regions in which Muslims constitute a minority population. According to Sayyid, the cultural, socioeconomic, and historical contexts in which Islam is practised influence the ways in which Islamophobia is practised. Indian nuances are significant to take into account and should be understood accordingly.

Focal Areas of the Seminar

In light of the foregoing discussion, the purpose of the seminar is to deepen our understanding of the problem of Islamophobia in India and to suggest methods for combating it. Therefore, the Seminar’s discussions will centre on (but not be limited to) the following main themes;