The Role of Performance in Constructing Muslim Citizenship in the 2019–20 Anti-CAA Protests: New Trends in Indian Muslim Belonging Today

Abstract

Scholars of Indian religious traditions have described how Muslims belong to Indian society as a charismatic other, a sectarian minority, and a liminal community (Ahmad and Reifeld 2004; Gold 2013; Sila-Khan 2004; Robinson 1979). While these are important analyses, they do not adequately address recent developments in Muslim self-statement and identification that are determinedly Indian and Muslim, grounded in a rejection of the limited terms of their acceptance and inclusion. This article identifies a new trend in understanding Indian Muslim affiliation, one that is continually shaped by the long-standing question of Muslim belonging. I turn to data from contexts of public and private performances of Muslim identities that emerged throughout India, and around the world, in response to the official exclusion of Muslims from the premises of citizenship in the 2019 CAA (Citizenship Amendment Bill) legislation. From late 2019 to early 2020, Muslims and their allies in the anti-CAA movement publicly recited poetry, staged theatrical performances in the street, and organized a weeks-long women-led sit-in in Delhi to collectively reject the exclusionary premises of the new citizenship legislation and argue that being Muslim and Indian is no contradiction. How the question of Muslim affiliation is articulated and contested in genres of performance not only newly theorizes Muslim belonging in India today, but also reveals the important role of performance in constructing notions of religion, community, and nation.