Agar waqf sampatiyon ka theekestimalhota to Abdul ko puncture nahin bananapadta (Had Waqf properties been used sincerely, Abdul wouldn’t have to fix cycle punctures for a living).
During a rally in Haryana’s Hisar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hurled this taunt at the Muslim community. His echoing of right-wing Islamophobic stereotypes ignites a trend on online platforms as Muslim professionals show off their “puncture” jobs in boardrooms and operating rooms. Muslims across India have chosen unapologetic pride and humour, not anger on this remark.
However, leaders of the opposition criticised Modi’s use of such language and questioned what he had done over the years for impoverished Muslims and Hindus.
Several critics charged that the prime minister was perpetuating negative preconceptions about Muslims at a time when disparities in education and employment are impacting people from all walks of life.
Along with social and political marginalisation, attempts have been undertaken to economically isolate and weaken Muslims since the BJP took office in 2014. These attempts appear to follow a malevolent and systemic pattern. This is supported by several national and international reports.
According to the 2023 Oxfam India inequality report, Muslims have the lowest representation in salaried jobs and own less land than any other major community. Only 3.6% of Muslim graduates secured government jobs in recent recruitment drives despite forming 16% of the population.
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report also revealed that Muslim unemployment is consistently higher than the national average.
Notwithstanding the government’s advocacy of “SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas”, the reality on the ground frequently presents a different image. There are several instances of institutional mechanisms causing minorities to be economically marginalised.
Besides continuously trimming the minority affairs ministry’s budget, the government dissolved the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation in 2022. It stripped a crucial economic lifeline for Muslim artisans, traders, and micro-entrepreneurs.
Critics note selective development. Infrastructure surges in pilgrimage sites like Ayodhya and Ujjain are not mirrored in Muslim-majority districts such as Kishanganj or Mewat, where health and education metrics remain critically low.
While states pour millions into infrastructure for Hindu religious events – 850 crore for Kumbh Mela 2021 alone – schemes meant for minority upliftment, like pre-matric scholarships for Muslim students, were slashed by the central government in 2022. The Maulana Azad Education Foundation is now defunct, and the PM’s 15-Point Programme for minorities is largely dormant.
Minority-concentrated areas continue to lag in development indices. The disbursement of micro-finance, business grants, and educational support frequently bypasses Muslim-dominated localities.
The economic policy narrative under the BJP often conflates national interest with cultural uniformity.
Beyond the well-known rhetoric of “Love Jihad” and “Land Jihad,” a more recent term– “Sharbat Jihad” – has made its way into the political lexicon.
Similarly, during Kanwar Yatra, vast public resources – security, sanitation, road closures – are deployed, significantly disrupting local businesses, especially in minority-concentrated urban areas. In Meerut and Muzaffarnagar, Muslim shopkeepers reported forced shutdowns and harassment.
In July 2024, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand announced directives requiring restaurants along Kanwar Yatra itinerary to publicly display the religious identities of their proprietors and staff. They also banned sale of meat, chicken and fish for more than 15 days.
Targeted campaigns by Hindutva groups affiliated to the ruling party affect street vendors, meat traders, garment sellers, and small-scale artisans.
The rise of cultural dog whistles has emerged in the political lexicon, often without substantive evidence but with significant societal impact. These narratives frame Muslim practices and businesses as existential threats to the Hindu majority.
The “Sharbat Jihad” narrative attacks a long-standing practice of Muslims offering free drinks during hot weather, recasting a gesture of communal harmony into an alleged plot of subversion.
In line with the BJP’s cultural nationalist ideology, festivals like Mahakumbh, Navratri, and Kanwar Yatra serve as both spiritual and political occasions. They also highlight a growing trend: the economic exclusion of Muslims in India.
For the first time Muslim businessmen were barred from setting up their stalls in the just concluded Kumbh mela in Allahabad. Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad chief Mahant Ravindra Puri had declared that although they don’t have “any enmity” with Muslims, they cannot set up shops during the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj as it would “corrupt religion”.
Banners warning Hindus not to purchase from Muslim vendors during Navratri fairs first appeared in Gujarat’s Kheda region in 2022. Muslim vendors were unofficially prohibited from setting up shop at Hindu festivals in Karnataka by temple authorities in locations such as Udupi and Shivamogga. The Sri Krishna JanmabhoomiSangharshNyas in Mathura had urged all local temples to stop buying clothes for their deities from Muslim tailors. Similar demands had been made to temples in various parts of Uttar Pradesh. In 2023, Bajrang Dal members in Madhya Pradesh threatened customers who entered Muslim shops near temples.
SanskritiBachaoManch members started an anti-Islamic campaign against Muslim-owned companies in Bhopal. They put up religious banners that said, “I am Sanatani,” to identify Hindu-owned businesses. They also advised Hindu customers to purchase only from other Hindus and to keep their money out of “wrong hands”. “We want to give this message that your money should not go to jihadis, and people who carry out incidents of love jihad should not use it,” said Chandrashekar Tiwari who heads the Hindutva group. But the police, often mute spectators, rarely take action.
These campaigns are not just rhetorical; they carry economic consequences. Targeted boycotts, social media vilification, and physical attacks disrupt Muslim-owned businesses and deter consumer engagement. Over time, these actions erode the economic base of the community, reinforcing cycles of poverty and social exclusion.
Latest in this series is Baba Ramdev’s attack on Hamdard’s century old iconic summer beverage RoohAfza, alleging that it is engaged in a “Sharbat Jihad”. It was unquestionably a despicable attempt to capitalise on the recent surge in Hindutva nationalism and religion, which was brought on by a political force.
“These boycotts aren’t isolated – they’re organised economic warfare,” says Prof. Apoorvanand from Delhi University. “They reinforce the idea that Muslims are outsiders, even in commerce.”
“This isn’t just about hurt sentiments – it’s about shrinking space, economically and culturally,” says activist Harsh Mander. “We’re witnessing a silent economic partition.”
Majoritarian intimidation is nothing new. Hindutva supporters have engaged in a number of reprehensible actions in the country, including threats and violent acts against Muslims, desecration of their houses of worship, and calls for an economic boycott of the minority.
Akshita Prasad observes, “Hindutva is inextricably tied to violence. The violent rhetoric espoused by Hindutva against minorities underpins its various manifestations – on the internet, in general society, within institutions, and through state action. Its objectives of furthering Hindu hegemony, converting India into a Hindu Rashtra, and propagating Hindu supremacy run concurrently with efforts aimed at the othering of minorities and effectuating their socio-economic marginalisation. Apart from the direct forms of socio-cultural and physical violence that Hindutva outfits and ideologues inflict on minorities, an insidious form of Hindutva majoritarianism is the economic violence it perpetuates against Muslims.”
In the past, Mandis – where Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, and Jains lived, worked, and prospered – were crucial to India’s economic growth. However, bazaars are now turning into battlefields. The harm will not only be social but also financial unless state institutions take a strong stance and recover inclusive space in public life and policy.