'I am a Muslim first when it comes to the question of believing in the unseen. And I am an Indian first when it comes to upholding the country's secular constitution. Whoever complicates the two is the enemy of my country.' Opinion | Asad_Ashraf88
On September 19 2008, as a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, a public university in India's capital city New Delhi, I was compelled to think about my identity. Was it an Indian first or a Muslim? The police had barged into our neighbourhood Jamia Nagar, and killed two students from the university. Soon after the entire neighbourhood was demonised as a 'terrorist hub', making us all look like potential militants.
The same ghetto happens to be next to Jamia Millia Islamia, an institution that has produced many great minds and famous Indian personalities such as Bollywood movie star Shahrukh Khan, and today it's teeming with young students who are at the forefront of a crucial agitation, which, for the first time, challenges the authority of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Eleven years have passed since the fateful Batla House Encounter. The question of my identity that once haunted me has resurfaced in my mind, although in a different form. In 2008, I was compelled to think about whether I was an Indian or a Muslim first. It took me a while to separate the two. I am a Muslim first when it comes to the question of believing in the unseen. And I am an Indian first when it comes to upholding the country's secular constitution.
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