There is no more honest way to describe the world we live in than this: Islamophobia has become the new global currency of power. It is traded in the speeches of politicians, exchanged in the deals of diplomats, printed in the pages of media, and laundered through the language of security and counterterrorism. It buys impunity for genocide, secures legitimacy for authoritarian leaders, and bankrolls new markets of surveillance and control. The Gaza genocide has torn away whatever illusions were left: the blood of Muslims is not just cheap; it is expendable capital in the economy of global powers.
The Gaza genocide is not an isolated catastrophe; it is the center of a global pattern. From the internment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang’s camps to the expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar, from the headscarves torn off French Muslim girls in the name of secularism to the US “Muslim ban” dressed in the language of national security, the same logic is at work. Islamophobia is the shared language of power between democracies and dictatorships, between so-called secular republics and openly ethno-nationalist states. It allows brutality to pass as order, apartheid to pass as security, and genocide to pass as policy.
Nowhere is this more visible outside Palestine than in India, where 200 million Muslims are being pushed to the edge of extermination by the RSS-BJP regime. Under Narendra Modi, Islamophobia has been weaponised not as fringe hate but as state ideology. Laws like the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens have created a framework where Muslims can be rendered stateless in their own homeland. Pogroms in Delhi, lynchings over beef, bulldozers demolishing Muslim homes, and open calls for genocide from Hindutva leaders are not accidents but steps in a carefully scripted project. This project is nourished by propaganda techniques borrowed directly from Zionism: Palestinians are framed as “terrorists” the way Indian Muslims are framed as “jihadis” or “Bangladeshi infiltrators”; Gaza’s resistance is criminalised the same way Indian Muslims’ protests are portrayed as sedition. Both Zionism and Hindutva work by criminalising Muslim existence itself — and both find eager allies in Western capitals that profit from these performances of “civilisational defence.”
I can’t speak for other parts of the world but I can for the Indian subcontinent.
I’m an atheist, and personally, I try not to judge anyone based on their religion — it generally works well, especially with upper and upper middle class communities. From my experience, upper class Muslims are usually integrated into society and not involved in shady activities.
I also don’t agree with government policies that discriminate against people based on religion like requiring proof of ancestry after Independence because such policies are unjust and target citizens unfairly.
That said, I do have concerns about certain practices in some lower income communities in India. Poverty, limited education and social isolation can make people more vulnerable to radical messaging. Madrasas (which btw are even attended by children younger than teenagers) teach extreme ideas, like framing conversion as a duty or promoting a black and white worldview. In rare cases, this can lead some individuals to embrace jihadist ideology or commit illegal acts in the name of religion. Social media can further amplify these messages. While most Muslims are peaceful, certain forms of radicalisation especially among vulnerable Islamic populations can be more organised and aggressive compared to similar movements in other major religions.
So even the propaganda by our right wing government is exaggerated, it does have some truth to it. It can be solved by eliminating all religious education in pre-teen ages and criminalising parents for forcing that type of education on children.