By Shahidur Rashid Talukdar, June 6, 2011. TwoCircles.net

According to the 2001 Census, India’s Muslim population was over 138 million, next only to that of Pakistan and Indonesia. As the final figures from the Census 2011 haven’t been disclosed yet, the current Muslim population is estimated at 180 million, which is roughly 15% of India’s population of 1.2 billion.

On a positive light, the Indian Muslims can boast of three of the Nation’s former Presidents and three Vice Presidents, including the incumbent, from the community. The list of Muslim high achievers in the field of Music, Literature and Art – including the cinema is not unimpressive either. Another field of considerable Muslim prominence is the sports. Some of the nation’s best players have been engendered from the religious minority community. Looking at these “stars”, one would bubble “WOW”! How prominent Muslims in India are!

A recent report “What it means to be a Muslim in India Today” finds that there is an intense sense of fear, growing insecurity, and universal feeling of helplessness amongst Muslims due to baseless allegation by the police - propagated by the media, and perpetuated by the inability of the legal system to provide a timely justice and inadequacy of the government measures to safeguard the interests of the Muslims.

If this trend is not effectively checked, many apprehend, Muslims – the largest religious minority in India, will descend to a second class citizenship in a democratic, secular, and pluralistic India which seemingly envisions equality for all. As tales of woes of Muslims surpass those of their wows, Indians must introspect as to whether we are moving in the right direction. READ MORE….