Indian Election Muslims Work To Avert Polarisation In Key State

The sun scorched the carpeted car park at Mudipu Junction outside Mangalore in Karnataka state as volunteers arranged rows of red plastic chairs and placed mounds of biryani and fruit on the table for a public iftar, the moment Muslims break their fast during Ramadan.

- Amrit Dhillon

But this was no ordinary iftar. India is in the midst of a general election during which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) are seeking a third term, and factionalism is rife.

The BJP, a formidably welloiled machine, is going all out in Karnataka because it is the only state in south India where it has a foothold. For a party with vaunting ambitions to reshape the political landscape for generations to come, this has frustrated the leadership.

In the last general election in 2019, the BJP won 25 of Karnataka's 28 seats. But the BJP may not be able to repeat such a decisive victory this time round; while the Congress party has languished in opposition for 10 years at a national level, it won a handsome victory in state elections last year.

It is not yet clear whether BJP candidates will rely on the party's familiar tactics of drawing on religious divisions and polarising voters, but the campaign has the potential to turn vicious.

Amid such a climate, the organisers of the iftar decided, they said, to make a point of inviting Hindus and Christians to share the meal earlier this month.

"The Hindu-Muslim polarisation in this area is so deep after decades of the BJP's divisive politics that we thought we'd make it an iftar for everyone. Let us sit, eat, talk and remember we are all Indians," said Ibrahim Mohammed, who has several businesses in the area.