NEW DELHI, Feb. 19 -- As the 2024 General Elections loom on the horizon, some Muslim elite are appealing to the Muslim community to take a re-look at the BJP. They claim that Indian Muslims are not being discriminated against. Such intellectuals also argue that the BJP is giving special attention to Pasmanda Muslims and the Sufi Muslims. They also argue that Muslims are beneficiaries of BJP's schemes for social welfare: food, housing, gas, and water, among others, and lastly, that there has been no major communal violence since 2014 and that India has been most peaceful during the last fifty years.

Such appeals are based on half-truths and ignore the core problem which shapes the lives of Muslims in India. True, some elite Muslims may no...