A scrutiny of contemporary Muslim identity

BOOK REVIEW

- NILANJAN MUKHOPADHYAY

Everything that is contained between the covers of this book is drawn from the author's experience, which has been, and is, being "lived"; actually there's no escaping this, sadly for no other reason but his "primary" identity. Yet, he belongs to that demographic majority of Indians that "grew up in the 1990s", around one of the most significant watersheds in India's polity and society—the demolition of the Babri Masjid and its prelude. But within that majority, he remains in the minority, both among his faith-based community as well as among those who share his beliefs.

Despite the complex web of identities, the book is not a memoir and it leaves out most events of his life that most sensitive Indians would be able to fathom. Instead of talking about what he, his family and friends weathered over this period, Hilal Ahmed turns his analytical gaze to the developments that, in more ways than one, have transmogrified the nation.

The title, which appears at first glance to be intriguing, becomes more comprehensible when one focuses solely on the subtitle—Muslims in New India.

Innumerable books can be written on the condition/plight/choices and/or compulsions of Muslims in today's India. The author, however, has chosen an omnibus framework of contemporary reality from the standpoint of Muslims.

The book is not an "entire" history of how things came to such a pass; for that any author would have to go well beyond even the 20th century. Instead, the book exhaustively examines events that have gravely altered the status and position of Muslims since 2014.