Muslims are not actually minority in India or for that matter anywhere for most of worlds. First, the entire concept of "minority" is founded on numerical strength which is flawed. Muslims are less than Hindus in India but they are (and they broadly consider them as such) part of much bigger global institution of Islam.
Islam is the second-largest religion in India, with 14.9% of the country's population, approximately 195 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam. It makes India the country with the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries. South Asia contains the largest population of Muslims in the world.
There are two major denominations amongst Indian Muslims. The majority of Indian Muslims (over 85%) belong to the Sunni branch of Islam while a substantial minority (over 13%) belong to the Shia branch. There are also tiny minorities of Ahmadiyya and Quranists across the country.
One-third of Muslims are of South Asian origin. The majority of Indian Muslims belong to the Sunni sect of Islam, while the Shia form a sizeable minority.
With around 204 million Muslims (2019 estimate), India's Muslim population is about the world's third-largest and the world's largest Muslim-minority population. India is home to 10.9% of the world's Muslim population. According to Pew Research Center, there can be 213 million Muslims in 2020, India's 15.5% population.
The vast majority of the Muslims in India belong to South Asian ethnic groups. However, some Indian Muslims were found with detectable, traceable, minor to some levels of gene flow from outside, primarily from the Middle East and Central Asia. However, they are found in very low levels.
India has seen three Muslim presidents and many chief ministers of State Governments have been Muslims. Apart from that, there are and have been many Muslim ministers, both at the centre and at the state level.
The partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics.
Eventually, under the Ghurids, the Muslim army broke into the North Indian Plains, which lead to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206 by the slaves of the Ghurid dynasty. The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India.
Based on 1951 census of displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan (both West and East) from India while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan (both West and East). Some critics allege that British haste in the partition process increased the violence that followed.
Indian Muslims (ہندوستانی مسلمان) Islam is the second-largest religion in India, with 14.2% of the country's population, approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in the 2011 census. It makes India the country with the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries.
This is the fate of Muslims in India. They are beaten and lynched on mere suspicion. Because of this anti-Muslim and antagonistic atmosphere, Muslim minority in India fear for their lives. The heinous crime perpetrated against Muslims at present in India is that of mob lynching. These lynchings are executed by cow vigilantes.
They are made scapegoats every time. Recently a young Muslim youth returning from Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Madhya Pradesh has been beaten in north Delhi’s Bawana by the extremist Hindus. He was suspected as COVID-19 positive and for hiding his travel history. This is the fate of Muslims in India.
Muslim youth are arrested for false allegations of smuggling cows. After these allegations, the so-called cow vigilantes in a broad day light lynch them without any fear and fret of legal actions against them. This is a state sponsored crime.
Muslims have equal right to live in India with dignity and without fear. They have sacrificed their lives like others in freeing India from the yolk of the Britishers. Muslims who are living at present in India did not leave India for Pakistan at the time of the Partition. They did so because they love India.
The population of India represents one of the most diverse and iniquitous societies of the world. While religion, caste, tribe, and language constitute profound forms of social diversity, they do not form mutually exclusive social categories; rather they intersect and crosscut each other in diverse ways.
Alam M.S. (2020) Muslim Minorities in India: Trapped in Exclusion and Political Populism. In: Kaul V., Vajpeyi A. (eds) Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34098-8_9