Why #TALKTOMUSLIM We need to acknowledge marginalisation and confront it head-On..!!

TALKTOAMUSLIM THREW an open chal- enge at our unwillingness to putourselves in incomfortable conversations within our so- iety, families and our own conscience. The esponses have ranged from "ohbutItalkto ny Muslim friend all the time" to "it's just ake victimhood" and "I don't talk to people ased on their religion". Each response is ymptomatic of a denial of the urgent need o have that important conversation India eeds for introspection. The hashtag is under immense derision or placing religion before any other form of dentity. What would have been a healthier vocabulary? Talk to a human? Talk to an indian? Talk to a friend? Let's face it—all are eeble attempts to shy away from whatneeds to be said — talk to a Muslim, because: One, it is Muslims who are being made political capegoats by unscrupulous political lead- ars and unashamed news anchors. Two, the aricatured Muslim identity rubbed in your ace and brainwashed into your psyche hrough 24/7 television is not what the very diverse Muslim communityis like.

Three, re- igiously marked ghettos are increasingly the eality of India. This is not an overnight phe- omenon but aslow process of otherisation f Muslims adopted by the Congress and maximised by the BIP. It first distanced phys- cally, then alienated mentally and isnowde- monising emotionally. Four, it's not in our ands that bracketing "us vs them" narra- ives have successfully eclipsed social media.

The hashtag does not advocate the mi- nority to make themselves available for an- swering bigotry. It puts an onus on the major- ity to step out from their privileged cocoon.

Tothose who oppose the semantics—a sin- cere request to come up with something more effective —that changes the narrative of demonisation. Till then, condemnthe na- tional leaders for not beingable to rise above divisiveness. Notthe common citizens, who point out the reductionof 172 million Indians to their religious identity. We all need to be together in the good fight. Inan ideal circum- stance, #TalkToAMuslim would have been sacrilege to the idea of India. But it has be- come a necessity in this new reality of India.