Are We Muslims or Mujrims? How hate became India's daily entertainment

"As violence against Muslims becomes public spectacle, India's majoritarian politics has turned hate into entertainment and silence into complicity. Every morning in today's India begins with two parallel news cycles. One, broadcast on television screens, is carefully curated: Panel debates on Pakistan, Hindu pride, and endless theatre about a new India. The other, untelevised but deeply real, is the daily routine of Muslims being lynched, harassed, jailed, and demonised."

"Between the two, the message is chilling: Muslim suffering is either erased or turned into a spectacle, consumed like evening entertainment for the majority, while Muslims themselves are forced to live as if they are perpetual criminals, always accused, and never heard. Take the killing of a seven-year-old Muslim boy in Azamgarh this September. His body, stuffed into a bag, was discovered with chilling indifference by neighbours who were later arrested."

"Sociologist Stanley Cohen once wrote about states of denial: Societies in which atrocities are not hidden but absorbed so routinely that they no longer shock. That is India today: Muslim killings happen in daylight, but the majority sees them as background noise. At the same time, hate is not just silence; it is a performance. When Muslims in Kanpur raised placards saying I love Muhammad, the police responded not with protection but with FIRs against 1,300 Muslims and mass arrests."

India's majoritarian politics has turned anti-Muslim hate into public spectacle and silence into complicity. Two parallel news cycles operate daily: curated television panels celebrating Hindu pride and national narratives, and an untelevised reality of Muslims being lynched, harassed, jailed, and demonised. Muslim suffering is routinely erased or consumed as entertainment while Muslims are portrayed as perpetual criminals. Incidents such as the killing of a seven‑year‑old in Azamgarh become fleeting local reports before being overshadowed by prime‑time debates. Denial operates through absorption of atrocities so they no longer shock, and state responses often criminalise Muslim expression while glorifying or ignoring majoritarian violence.

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