General Elections in India: What are the views of minorities?

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General elections are going on in India . The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party claims to win more than 400 seats, an absolute majority, to form the government for the third time in a row.

On the other hand, the minority communities in India fear for their future in the country.

The opposition parties have formed a grand alliance to defeat the BJP -led NDA in these elections.

However, many experts believe that the BJP is more likely to form the government in view of the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370.

Both the NDA and the grand alliance named 'India' have announced candidates for as many seats as possible out of a total of 543 seats.

BJP has nominated only four Muslim candidates from Assam, Bihar, Lakshadweep and Kerala .

Meanwhile, India Block has nominated 34 Muslim candidates. Delhi Congress spokesperson Dr. Aneet Singh said that the BJP is doing deviant politics and that is the reason why they have no Muslim candidate in the Lok Sabha elections.

Anit Singh while talking to Independent Urdu said that 'BJP takes its decision on the basis of population ratio as the Muslim population in India is about 20 per cent, while they are targeting 80 per cent of the Hindu vote bank. .

"They are counting on the Hindu vote bank, but now people have woken up. Now they will vote for development. This time the slogan of 'Ab Ki Baat, 400 Par' will not work.

Minority representatives have raised many questions about the intentions of the ruling BJP, which has long been accused of discriminating against minorities.

Many BJP leaders have been advocating Hindu Rashtra, a nation based on the Hindu religion.

Delhi-based lawyer Saiful Islam told Independent Urdu that 'Muslims are not afraid this time, they know that they have only one way forward and that is to defeat the BJP in this election.'

Saiful Islam said that in a country like India, Muslims have different political strategies in many states. Muslims vote for the coalition parties of India and in some states even the BJP-led parties are getting votes despite the anti-Muslim rhetoric from the saffron party.

BJP also has some Muslim workers due to which some percentage of votes goes in favor of BJP.

Saiful Islam further said that this is the first election after CAA and NRC. In the 2022 elections, there was not a single polling booth where the BJP did not get 45-45 Muslim votes and spent at least two-three lakh rupees to get these votes.

'BJP knows that people of different castes like Rajput Dalits etc are not happy with it. They know that twenty to thirty thousand Muslim voters will ensure their victory. Until a few years ago, the BJP had Muslim representatives in its cabinet and parliament. In the last few years various charges like UAPA and NSA charges against Muslims created a sense of fear.'

According to him, in the by-election 2018, many Muslim citizens were arrested in the Adhial district of Bihar for raising slogans. All these things cause hesitation for the Muslims and silence them.'

Saif said that BJP's slogan 'Ab Ki Baar, 400 Par' is a strategic slogan. Which needs to be understood. BJP wants to amend the constitution and for that they need absolute majority.

Saif believes that 'BJP's aim is to remove the word secular from the Constitution and they are creating an impression with the slogan 'Ab Ki Baar 400 Par'.

Bennett Francis, a resident of Delhi who belongs to the Christian religion, told Independent Urdu that in his opinion, even Christians are not safe in India.

'We are not happy,' says Bennett-Francis. There is no security for us here, our churches are being attacked day and night and it feels that those who are involved in the attacks are protected by the government.'

'Attacks on our community have increased by 500% since BJP came to power'

According to him, 'There are talks of making Hindu Rashtra ie Hindu country, our forefathers fought for the country and provided equal space to all.

"Government should not interfere in religion, but they should focus on development work to take the nation forward."

The Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) published a report in December 2023 stating that 687 incidents of violence against Christians were reported in 23 Indian states.

According to the report, there were at least 147 incidents of violence against Christians in 2014. In 2015, their number was 177 and the number is increasing every year.