It has become an extraordinary burden and challenge for any Indian to have a Muslim identity. This burden the Muslims have endured, many will argue, since India awoke to "life and freedom at the stroke of the midnight hour" of August 14-15, 1947. Yet it sat lightly on them as their belongingness to India was not debated day after day. Their woes would recede to the margin of their consciousness as cracks in Hindu-Muslim relations, caused by periodic communal stress, were repaired. An imperfect India would struggle to ensure its imperfections did not become the new normal.

This struggle has not only been abandoned under the Modi rule, but it has become a cherished political project to deepen and make permanent India's imperfections. There are celebrations, in certain quarters, every time a poisonous wart pockmarks our social life. From lynching to tailoring the citizenship law, the list of reasons for detesting Muslims has grown for an ever-expanding segment of Hindus willing to become assailants.