When asked if Indian Muslims have become second class citizens in their own country, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, who is also a former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, said, “They are knocking on the doors of being second class citizens by the way they’re being treated by the state … yes, I think they will be in deep trouble. That is on the anvil. Today they’re in a very, very grave situation.”This is how Jung described the situation Indian Muslims find themselves in today: “A minority in the backyard at the moment. A minority that is ill-treated and doesn’t find a place in the Indian horizon currently. And it’s hurting. Where it will go, I cannot say. But it requires introspection from everyone. Right now, it is only the liberal society that is concerned about it … and that is going to be disastrous for us.”In the interview, Jung also spoke about the elections held in Bengal and Assam where, though 27% and 34% of the respective population is Muslim, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not field a single Muslim candidate. He also addressed the fact that for the first time since independence, the central government does not have a single Muslim minister and that the BJP does not have even one elected Muslim member of parliament.Once upon a time, India had Muslim presidents, vice-presidents, home and external affairs ministers and occasionally heads of armed forces and intelligence agencies. Today no Indian state has a Muslim chief minister and several do not even have Muslim ministers. We just have one Muslim governor, one Muslim central government secretary out of 100 and one Muslim Supreme Court judge out of 32.Yet, Muslims are 15% of India’s population and are estimated to number around 200 million. That is a very sizeable number.Does this suggest Muslims are being pushed out of the public life of the country? How do Muslims view this outcome where their votes don’t matter to the ruling party and their participation in public life has sharply shrunk? How do they perceive their relegation to the opposition, who itself is shy of championing Muslim causes for the fear of alienating Hindu voters? Listen to the interview to find out Najeeb Jung’s answer.Watch the full video: