Why India’s Hindu nationalist party has the support of some Muslims in the country

The ruling Hindu party in India has secured support from some Muslims, even though the party has been hostile to the religion.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

India’s Prime Minister Modi and his party, the BJP, have long been accused of being hostile to Muslims, who make up about a seventh of the country’s population. Just a week – just this week, the Modi government said it would implement a law that fast-tracks citizenship for certain immigrants, but not Muslim migrants. And as the country heads into election season, the BJP commands support from a surprising quarter, Muslim Shiites. NPR’s Diaa Hadid reports from the northern Indian city of Lucknow.

DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Down an alley in Lucknow’s Muslim Old City, Shahnawaz (ph) says his vote in upcoming elections is locked in.

SHAHNAWAZ: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: The store owner says around here we support the BJP. Most Muslims in India largely vote against the BJP, but this minority also includes about 25 million Shiites. They’re a minority that has long seen the place that we now know as India as a refuge from persecution at the hands of Sunni Muslims. Nadeem Hasnain is a prominent academic who has written extensively on Shiites in India.

NADEEM HASNAIN: Many of them believe that had India not been there then the Shiism ideology and Shiism community, they would have faded away.

HADID: Most recently, some Shiites also credit the Hindu nationalist BJP with lifting a 20-year ban on a ritual key to their faith.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing in non-English language).

HADID: The Azadari. That’s where Shiites march in processions to mourn the seventh century killing of the Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. They chant, beat their chests. Some whip themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing in non-English language).

HADID: The Azadari was banned in the late ’70s after clashes between Shiites and Sunnis. It was also when the Indian Congress Party dominated…