The debate over Muslims as a minority community in India gained renewed attention when Kolkata’s Mayor, Firhad Hakim, made a controversial statement during an event addressing students from the minority community. A video of his speech went viral, showing the Mayor stating: “We come from such a community that in West Bengal we are 33%, and across the country, we are only 17%, and we are called a minority community in India. But we do consider ourselves as a minority. But in the coming days, we will no longer remain a minority. We believe that if Allah has grace on us and education is with us, then we will become the majority.”
This statement, delivered at an event under the ‘Firhad 30’ initiative, aimed at preparing students for competitive exams, underscored the development deficit experienced by Muslims in India. Hakim emphasized that education and divine grace could bridge this gap. However, his remarks faced widespread condemnation from opposition parties and his affiliated political party, the All India Trinamool Congress.
Political Backlash
Opposition leaders, particularly from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accused Mr. Hakim of inciting communal hatred. Sukanta Majumdar, BJP Minister from West Bengal, described the statement as venomous, alleging it provided a blueprint for creating a “Bangladesh-type situation” in India. This reaction reflects a deep-seated majoritarian anxiety that Muslims will demographically outnumber Hindus, turning India into a Muslim-majority country. Such fears are evident in rhetoric like ‘hum paanch, hamare pachees’ and allegations of ‘demographic jihad,’ which frequently dominate political discourse. The BJP’s electoral campaigns in West Bengal have often invoked these narratives, promising measures like the National Register of Citizens.
The controversy around Hakim’s statement detracted from the critical issue of the development deficit among Muslims. Despite their significant numerical presence in West Bengal, the socio-economic marginalization of Muslims underscores their minority status, challenging the reduction of minority identity to mere numerical strength.
The concept of minorities has been the subject of extensive sociological and political analysis. According to the United Nations Minority Declaration (1992), minorities are groups distinguished by culture, religion, language, or ethnicity that differ from the majority and experience unequal treatment. The Indian Constitution does not explicitly define “minority,” but it recognizes religious and linguistic minorities, safeguarding their rights through Articles 29 and 30. Under the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, six communities—Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis, and Jains—are officially recognized as minorities.
Sociologist Louis Wirth provides a nuanced understanding of minority groups. He defined minority as “any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.” This definition highlights that minority status is not merely about numerical representation but is intrinsically linked to systemic marginalization and socio-economic subordination. Wirth’s framework emphasizes the structural inequalities faced by minority groups and their exclusion from dominant socio-political and economic systems.
This sociological perspective aligns with Hakim’s remarks, which emphasized the marginalization of Muslims, particularly their under-representation in various corridors of power like the judiciary. However, the political backlash framed his comments as polarizing and a security threat, overshadowing the substantive issues of inequality and exclusion.
Muslims as a Minority in West Bengal
According to the 2011 Census, Muslims constitute 27.01% of West Bengal’s population, significantly higher than their national proportion of 14.2%. Despite this numerical strength, Muslims fare poorly on key development indicators, underscoring their socio-economic marginalization. Educational backwardness remains a critical factor in their social, economic, and political disenfranchisement. In India, the literacy rate among Muslims, recorded at 59.1% in the 2001 Census, was significantly lower than the national average of 65.38%. In West Bengal, the literacy rate for Muslims was 57.47%, about 10 percentage points below the state average of 68.64%.
The 2016 report Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal, based on a survey conducted by the Association SNAP and Guidance Guild in collaboration with the Pratichi Institute, paints a grim picture of the community’s socio-economic conditions. Citing the 2011 Census data, the report highlighted that although literacy rates among Muslims improved to 68.74% by 2011, their access to higher education remains significantly limited, revealing a critical gap in educational attainment. Only 2.7% of literate Muslims in the state have attained a graduate degree or higher. High dropout rates persist, with 15% of Muslim children aged 6 to 14 out of school. This trend is attributed to financial constraints, inadequate educational infrastructure, and the limited economic returns of education.
Muslims in West Bengal also face significant employment challenges, revealing the precariousness of their livelihoods. Approximately 47% of working Muslims in rural areas are employed as agricultural labourers or daily wage workers. Regular salaried jobs are rare, with only 1.54% of households relying on public sector jobs and just 1% employed in the private sector. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (2018-19) further substantiates these findings, indicating that only 13% of Muslims in West Bengal hold regular salaried jobs, compared to the national average of 22%. Conversely, casual labour is more prevalent among Muslims in the state, accounting for 34% of their employment compared to 26% nationally.
Poverty and lack of basic amenities further exacerbate the marginalization of Muslims. Nearly 80% of rural Muslim households report monthly incomes of Rs. 5,000 or less, close to the poverty line for a family of five. Access to civic amenities like water, sanitation, and healthcare is limited; only 15.2% of Muslim households have access to tap water, significantly lower than the state average of 25.4%. These disparities reflect systemic exclusion and capability deprivation, inhibiting the community’s self-emancipation.
Discrimination in social, economic, and educational spheres is accompanied by low political representation for Muslims. The rise of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2011 marked a significant increase in minority representation, with the number of Muslim MLAs rising from 44 in 2006 to 61 in 2011. Mamata Banerjee’s political strategy included promises of increased minority representation. However, Muslim representation began to decline after 2011. By 2021, the TMC reduced the number of Muslim candidates it fielded from 51 in 2016 to 44, of which 31 were elected. With the BJP excluding Muslims from its candidate list, Muslim representation in Bengal is plummeting.
Reframing the Minority Debate
The row over Hakim’s statement underscores the need to reconceptualize the discourse on minorities. Reducing minorities to a demographic threat perpetuates alarmist narratives that obscure evidence-based analysis. By contrast, a sociological and structural approach focuses on the lived realities of marginalization and deprivation. Wirth’s emphasis on differential treatment and collective discrimination provides a critical lens to understand the status of Muslims in West Bengal. Despite their numerical presence, the systemic barriers to education, employment, and basic amenities underscore their status as a subordinate group. By centring the debate on structural inequalities, stakeholders can move beyond divisive rhetoric to address the root causes of exclusion, fostering a more inclusive and just socio-political landscape. This shift is imperative for reframing the discourse on minorities in India, ensuring that the focus remains on equity, justice, and the transformative potential of education and empowerment.
Alayka Aftab is a PhD scholar at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her work examines the intersections of gender, economy, and urban studies, with a focus on the lived experiences of Muslim communities.
