It is extraordinary that a segment of Indian Muslims should forget their experiences of the last seven years and adopt an ambivalent position on the Taliban sweeping into Kabul, with some barely able to conceal their glee in social media posts. In these seven years, Hindutva’s ingenious techniques to demonise Muslims stoked their anxiety and fear. Outraged at the threat of being deprived of their citizenship, they took to the streets and organised public readings of the Preamble to demonstrate their allegiance to the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Their own experiences should have had Indian Muslims express empathy for the terror stalking the Afghans, particularly women, as the Taliban amassed outside Kabul. In their earlier reign, between 1996 and 2001, they had enforced a rigid version of Islamic law, meted brutal public punishments, and banished women from the public arena, including disallowing them to attend school.