ABSTRACT
The transformation witnessed in the pattern of Muslim politics in India, manifested in political attitudes, voting behaviour and political formations is in sharp contrast to what was seen in the early years of nation building, say roughly the fi rst three decades after India’s independence. Three factors could be attributed to this change: (a) the onset of the coalition era in Indian politics in which Muslim voters have wider choices among secular parties in India’s multi-polar polity; (b) the Muslim awareness of shortcomings of the old fashioned symbolic secularism; and (c) the rise of a distinct brand of organised Hindu fundamentalism of the Sangh Parivar (BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal, SHS, etc.) variety feeding Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic militancy and terrorism. This organised Hindu fundamentalism is distinct because it operates within the constitutional universe of India’s parliamentary politics.
