ABSTRACT
In 2016, Ansar Ahmad Shaikh, a young Muslim man from the western state of Maharashtra, hit the newspaper headlines after cracking the coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination; he had previously faced discrimination in finding a place to rent in Pune. Although many cases of Twitter activism have led to concrete changes on the ground, it is not clear if this movement made any changes in discrimination against Muslims based on the Urdu language, script, and names. This campaign did however bring the issue of Muslim discrimination out into the open for ordinary people to discuss. This further shows that there are people who, within their limited powers, do try to make a change and confront the discourse of hate and bigotry with love and compassion. The chapter presents a few selected cases of discrimination that revolve around the Urdu language, its script, and Urdu/Muslim names during the recent Hindutva rule.
