NEW DELHI: When a colleague asks him about Islam, a young corporate professional has a standard response: “Google it.”A few years ago, he says, he would have happily explained Ramadan, fasting or Eid. Today, he avoids religious conversations altogether, not because he is confused, but because he is cautious, fearing that an innocuous conversation could one day be read as “preaching.“In the aftermath of the alleged religious conversion racket uncovered at TCS Nashik, where nine FIRs were filed alleging employees were targeted over “financial weakness” and “family issues” and gradually pushed toward conversion, many Muslims say even ordinary conversations about faith now feel risky.Muzaffar Khan, a Bengaluru-based software development engineer whose videos advising Muslim youth on workplace conduct have gained traction on social media, says young professionals need to be especially careful in the current climate. “People are easily influenced by fake news and propaganda against specific communities and often target them,” Khan told TOI. “Muslims should not give anyone any loophole or opportunity to misuse situations or attack us mentally and emotionally.”Across offices, colleges and neighbourhoods, Islamic greetings and words like “Salam”, “Alhamdulillah” and “Mashallah” are disappearing; Muslims avoid references to halal food, hijabs and beards are donned with caution, parents worry about their kids’ lunchboxes, and censoring themselves out of fear that a casual comment, an invitation, or a shared video could trigger a complaint, an FIR or worse.Supreme Court advocate Shahrukh Alam sees such behavioural shifts as part of a broader social climate. “A Muslim saying something even vaguely critical can result in an FIR, while a far more provocative remark by someone from the majority community goes unregistered…Hate speech is not episodic but cumulative…there is growing self-censorship among Muslims. They are curtailing their own constitutional freedoms to avoid daily hostility.” A Delhi-based employee ,who didn’t want to be named, said: “Earlier, if someone asked me why we pray five times a day, I’d explain. Now I don’t. I don’t want anyone saying later that I was trying to convert them.” The shift is visible even to those outside the Muslim community.In Aligarh, farmer and local BDC election contestant Jeetu Baghel said, “Many of my Muslim friends have become reluctant to participate in public campaigns and protests. Earlier they would come together on issues like unemployment or inflation. Now they’d rather stay on the sidelines.” Religious scholars are also responding to the anxieties. Deobandi scholar and patron of Jamiyat Dawatul Muslimeen Maulana Qari Ishaq Gora advises young Muslims to be thoughtful rather than fearful. “I believe a person should never feel compelled to hide who they are. But wisdom does not always require becoming a mirror in every setting…The strongest expression of one’s identity is not the tongue but character,” he says.The caution comes amid anti-conversion laws in several states, high-profile arrests, bulldozer actions, social-media prosecutions and controversies around religious conversions—with a dozen Indian states where anti-conversion laws are now in force including UP, MP, Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka.
