Jul 04 2025 to Jul 04 2025 6:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Roughly 200 million today, Indian Muslims are greater than the population of Britain and France or Germany put together. According to the Indian Constitution, Indian Muslims are treated as political equals, which is what India’s secular polity promised after its independence, encouraging more than 35 million Indian Muslims at the time of Partition to choose India as their motherland over Pakistan. However, the supposed relationship of equality between Hindus and Muslims as scripted in the constitution is being increasingly replaced by the domineering tendencies of a Hindu majority in India today.

In his new book, Shikwa-e-Hind, political scientist Mujibur Rehman examines the contemporary condition of Indian Muslims through the lens of what he calls their “third political moment”, a phase defined by the erosion of constitutional promises of equality and the consolidation of a majoritarian ethos since 2014. Tracing the community’s historical and political arc from the aftermath of 1857, to the equal citizenship envisioned in 1947, to today’s embattled democratic space, Rehman makes a compelling case for renewed political imagination and agency.

While the economic future or cultural rights of Indian Muslims have been debated since 1947, it is the political future that demands attention because only as an equal and participatory community in the politics of the nation, can economic and cultural futures be addressed. This book explores the political future of Indian Muslims in this context.

In conversation with author and columnist Aakar Patel, and moderated by journalist Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed, this session will delve into the urgent political questions facing Indian Muslims today. It will explore the tension between constitutional ideals and majoritarian pressures, the structural challenges of representation, and the possibilities for reclaiming dignity, rights, and democratic participation. A Q&A with the audience will follow.

Speakers

Mujibur Rehman
Author & Professor, Jamia Millia Central University
Dr. Mujibur Rehman teaches at Jamia Millia Central University, New Delhi, specialising in identity politics and development politics, with a special focus on religious minorities. His earlier publications include Rise of Saffron Power: Reflections on Indian Politics (2018), and Communalism in Postcolonial India: Changing Colors (2016). He writes for major Indian dailies and weeklies on contemporary issues and has also worked on research projects hosted by Princeton University, Columbia University, Sciences Po, University of York, and ICSSR. He has received his graduate training from the University of Austin, Texas, USA; the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi. His next book project is tentatively titled, Explaining the Muslim Mind.

Aakar Patel
Columnist & Chair, Amnesty International India
Aakar Patel is a syndicated columnist who has edited English and Gujarati newspapers. His books include Why I Write, a translation of Saadat Hasan Manto’s Urdu non-fiction (Tranquebar, 2014), Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here, a study of majoritarianism in India and Pakistan (Westland, 2020), Price of the Modi Years, a history of India after 2014 (Penguin Random House, 2021), The Anarchist Cookbook, a guide on why and how to protest (HarperCollins, 2022) and the novel After Messiah (Vintage, 2023). He is Chair of Amnesty International India.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed
Journalist
Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed is an award-winning journalist with Frontline news magazine and is based in Bengaluru.