Formal and informal factors of Muslims’ marginalisation in today’s India

Talk by  Prof. Dr. Cristophe Jaffrelot

Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King‘s India Institute (London)

Indian Muslims have always been under-represented in the institutions of India, including the bureaucracy, the police and the judiciary. Since the rise of the BJP, they have also been marginalized in the elected bodies – the national parliament as well as state assemblies. Similarly, they have never joined the formal sector of the economy in large numbers, partly because of their lack of education. But lately, the level of education for Muslims in North India has been declining. They have also been the main casualties of Hindu majoritarianism in terms of access to the housing market, partly because of the role of vigilantes, partly because of new laws. The combination of these two factors explains that inter-religious marriages have become almost impossible. Since 2014, vigilantism and state actions have converged for transforming Muslims into second class citizens.

About the speaker:

Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot is Senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute (London), President of the French Political Science Association and Chair of the British Association for South Asian Studies. He works as a Non Resident Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and as a Permanent Consultant at the Centre for Policy Planning Staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among his recent publications are, The Pakistan Paradox. Instability and Resilience, London, Hurst; New York, Oxford University Press; New Delhi, Random House, 2015, (as a co-editor with A. Kohli and K. Murali) Business and Politics in India (OUP, 2019) and (as a co-editor with A. Chatterji and T.B. Hansen) The Majoritarian State. How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India (Hurst and OUP, 2019), as co-author with Pratinav Anil, India’s First Dictatorship. The Emergency, 1975-77 (Hurst and OUP, 2020) and as sole author Modi’s India. Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2021) and Gujarat under Modi. Laboratory of Today’s India (Hurst and OUP, 2023).

Date: Friday, 15 December, 2023

Time: 16:15 - 17:45 CET

Venue: CATS Lecture Hall 010.01.05 Building 4010

(enter from SAI Building 4130)