Abstract: 

For the past decade or so there has been much speculation about the fate of Muslims and their place in Indian politics. This paper seeks to argue that the recent shifts in politics have caused the center of politics to move further to the right which in turn has precipitated a change in the politics of the opposition parties as well wherein there is a perception that Muslims have become political “untouchables.” I argue that this change also marks a shift from a position of marginalization towards one of exclusion and was catalysed by a number of political, cultural, legal, institutional and religious factors that will be elaborates upon in the paper. Furthermore, the possibilities of new forms of politics emerging out of these changes will also be explored.

Ali Khan Mahmudabad is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and History, Ashoka University, India. He is an historian, political scientist, writer, columnist, and an occasional poet. He completed his MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK). He previously studied the Arabic language at the Univ of Damascus (Syria) and did a double degree in History and Political Science at Amherst College (USA).

His first book was Poetry of Belonging, Muslim Imaginings of India, 1850-1950 which was published by OUP in 2020. This year Ali published an English translation of an Urdu novel Aghaaze Sahar. The Break of Dawn has been published by Penguin. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East and he writes a fortnightly column for the Urdu national daily, Inqilab and as well as writing for a number of English language magazines and newspapers. Ali also spends time lecturing in schools, colleges and universities as well as advising policy think-tanks on a wide-range of subjects including political, religious and security related issues in South Asia as well as greater West Asia (the Middle East). He speaks and conducts research in a number of languages and has appeared on English, Hindi and Urdu television programs and radio shows.