THE rising tide of hatred against Muslims is no longer a fringe phenomenon in the contemporary landscape of Indian democracy; it is being spread systemically through the very institutions meant to protect constitutional equality. From the normalization of inflammatory rhetoric in political rallies to discriminatory citizenship laws, the state machinery is increasingly being used to treat India’s 200 million Muslims as second-class citizens. One of the most insidious tools in this arsenal of marginalization is the tactical redrawing of electoral maps which is a process known as gerrymandering, which is currently unfolding with surgical precision in the northeastern state of Assam.

The recent delimitation exercise in Assam, ostensibly a routine administrative update to reflect population shifts, has been exposed as a calculated move to dilute the political potency of the state’s Muslim minority. Assam’s Muslims comprise roughly one-third of the population and are now finding their democratic influence systematically dismantled. Before the redrawing of boundaries, Muslims held a decisive majority in approximately 35 out of 126 assembly seats. Following the Election Commission’s so-called reorganization, that number has plummeted to roughly 20 seats. This 40% reduction in representation did not happen by accident; it was achieved through the sophisticated use of “cracking and packing.

Cracking involves taking a concentrated Muslim neighborhood and splitting it into several different constituencies dominated by Hindu majorities. This ensures that the Muslim vote is neutralized and unable to elect a representative of their choice. Conversely, packing involves cramming as many Muslim voters as possible into a single seat, thereby wasting their surplus votes and preventing them from influencing neighbouring districts. For example, in the constituency of Naoboicha, Muslim-majority pockets were reportedly split into four separate segments, effectively erasing a seat that previously sent Muslim legislators to the assembly.

This demographic engineering is framed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a necessary step to protect “Indigenous” rights. However, this narrative relies on the harmful insider vs. outsider trope that has long been used to vilify Bengali-speaking Muslims. By labeling these citizens as foreigners or infiltrators, the state justifies their political disenfranchisement under the guise of cultural preservation. The message is crystal clear: while Muslims may retain the right to cast a ballot, the system will ensure that those ballots no longer have the power to influence the outcome of an election.

The implications of this move extend far beyond Assam. It sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of India, suggesting that the ruling party can engineer its way to permanent dominance by erasing the opposition’s demographic base. When institutions tasked with ensuring fair play, such as the Election Commission, become instruments of a majoritarian and authoritarian agenda, the core of the democratic contract is broken.

The gerrymandering in Assam serves as a stark warning for the so-called world’s largest democracy. It is a testament to how systemic hatred can be codified into law, transforming a democracy into a system where representation is a privilege for some, rather than a right for all. This is the shameful state of the world’s largest democracy!

—The writer is an alumnus of QAU, MPhil scholar and a freelance columnist, based in Islamabad.

© Pakistan Observer