The quiet migration: Why Muslims are leaving India in staggering numbers

Middle East Eye

2 days ago

When *Taufeeq Ahmed boarded a flight from New Delhi to Canada in early 2020, he wasn't chasing a promotion, a degree or the promise of a better paycheque.
Instead, he was trying to leave something behind - a heavy sense of unease that had been quietly building for years, and a fear that had finally become impossible to ignore.
'I lived close to Jamia Millia Islamia,' he said, referring to the prominent university in New Delhi where he used to study.
'During the anti-CAA protests, I saw police beating unarmed students, dragging them by their hair, firing tear gas into libraries. I had seen footage of this kind of state violence in Egypt or Hong Kong. But now, it was right outside my door.'
The CAA, or Citizenship Amendment Act, was passed in 2019 by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sparking nationwide protests. The law fast-tracks Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from neighbouring countries, drawing criticism for institutionalising religious discrimination.
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The protests at Jamia turned violent when police stormed the campus. For Ahmed, that moment ended any illusion he had of safety.
'That night changed something inside me,' he said. 'It wasn't just about policy anymore. It was personal. The fear was immediate and physical.'
Vulnerability
In the following weeks, the weight of that fear hardened into a more profound disillusionment. What Ahmed had once brushed off as isolated incidents - lynchings in distant towns, discriminatory remarks at workplaces, inflammatory speeches by politicians - now felt systemic and undeniable.
The realisation that the institutions built to protect people were complicit, or worse, indifferent, left him questioning the very idea of belonging.
'I was totally disillusioned by the idea of our country. It is truly messed up in so many ways - inequality, environment, caste, urban planning. I can go on, but speaking as a Muslim, the hate that the majority population have for Muslims is unimaginable. The levels of Islamophobia are through the roof,' Ahmed told Middle East Eye.
Today, Ahmed and his wife live in Toronto, where he says his faith is respected, not scrutinised.
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'There are prayer rooms in public buildings, and accommodations during Ramadan exams. It is unimaginable in India,' he said. 'The contrast made me realise just how deep Islamophobia runs back home.'
Ahmed's story is part of a broad but quiet trend: Indian Muslims leaving the country in growing numbers.
While India's economic migrants and tech talent continue to dominate headlines, this exodus, driven by religious polarisation, is rarely discussed.
'I am selling my property here and shifting to Dubai. At least I will get some peace,' said *Karim Sadiq, a businessman based in Lucknow, the capital of India's most populous state. Sadiq says the police have been after him since he and his family volunteered for one of the anti-government protests.
For fear of reprisal, he refused to divulge more details. 'I will take my family along soon after things are settled there (Dubai),' he added.
According to a Pew Research Center analysis, India is the second-largest source of Muslim migrants globally, after Syria.
Roughly six million Indian-born Muslims now live abroad. Though Muslims represent about 15 percent of India's population, they account for an estimated one-third of Indian emigrants, indicating a migration rate significantly higher than other religious groups.
'This isn't just economic,' said Dr Nizamuddin Ahmad Siddiqui, a legal academic and co-founder of Project Mishkat, which fosters Muslim public discourse. 'It is social, political, psychological. Indian Muslims increasingly feel like second-class citizens in their own country.'
Rising hostility
India's political climate under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP, which has been in power since 2014, has been marked by rising Hindu nationalism. Incidents of communal violence, discriminatory laws, and hate speech targeting Muslims have grown more frequent.
Muslims in India have faced a range of challenges during this period, including mob lynchings over allegations of cow slaughter, campaigns against interfaith marriages often labelled as "love jihad", economic and social boycotts, and rising barriers to employment and housing.
Hate speech by political leaders and the spread of Islamophobic narratives through social media have further fuelled hostility.
In several instances, Muslim places of worship have been targeted, and there has been growing pressure on Muslim identity and practices in public life.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the US government designate India as a "Country of Particular Concern" in its 2025 report, citing egregious systematic violations of religious freedoms.
For Muslims in India, day-to-day life has become fraught. Ahmed says that after every major incident of violence against Muslims in the country, friends start reaching out, asking how to move to Canada.
'As a Muslim scholar, I no longer feel safe even expressing my views'
- Kamran Ahmed, Delhi-based researcher
'Whenever something awful happens - a lynching, a hate crime - I get calls,' he said. 'But many have to give up because migration is expensive and hard. Not everyone can afford it.'
For those who can afford it, though, the decision is increasingly clear.
Kamran Ahmed, a Delhi-based research scholar, says he is using most of his and his parents' savings to move out of the country. The decision, he says, is heartbreaking but necessary.
'As a Muslim scholar, I no longer feel safe even expressing my views,' he said. 'I have faced veiled threats, professional exclusion, and constant surveillance. I want to work in a place where I can breathe and where I am not reduced to my religion.'
His story is not unique. According to a study by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in India, in collaboration with German think tank Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 44 percent of Muslim youth reported experiencing discrimination because of their religion.
Another study revealed that 47 percent of Muslims feared being falsely accused of terrorism.
'The normalisation of hate and the silence of institutions is making it impossible to live with dignity,' Kamran said.
To be clear, migration for economic reasons is not new among Indian Muslims. Communities in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana have long histories of labour migration to the Gulf.
However, experts say that what has also changed is the nature and intention behind this new wave.
'In the past, migration was temporary. People went to the Gulf for work and came back,' Siddiqui said. 'Now, they go to settle. They want their children to grow up in safer, more equitable societies.'
He cites everyday examples of exclusion like being refused rental housing, facing suspicion for wearing a hijab or sporting a beard, or hesitating to pray in public.
'These might seem small,' he said. 'But together, they wear down your sense of belonging.'
Institutions and identity under siege
The sense of alienation is also tied to key flashpoints in India's communal landscape.
The 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid - a 16th-century mosque claimed by Hindu groups - was a defining moment. Its aftermath left scars that festered for decades. The 2019 Supreme Court verdict awarding the site to Hindus further deepened disillusionment, even among those who had reconciled with the loss.
More recently, disputes over places of worship like the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Eidgah in Mathura have kept communal tensions simmering. 'Every other week, there is a new controversy targeting Muslim history, culture, or existence,' said Siddiqui.
He also cited new laws regulating Waqf properties and the push for a Uniform Civil Code as examples of legislative efforts that, he said, aim to weaken institutions central to the Muslim community.
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'It's hard to fight on every front,' he said. 'The minute one issue fades, another takes its place.'
In 2022, over 225,000 Indians renounced their citizenship, the highest number in recent history, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs. While the government does not provide religious breakdowns, anecdotal evidence suggests a disproportionate number of Muslims are among those quietly exiting.
'Around 30 percent of the cases that come to us are Muslims,' said Khwaja Mohammad, owner of Yaseen Travels, a visa and travel agency based in Telangana, a state with a Muslim population of less than 13 percent.
'People are also investing a lot in Middle Eastern countries like the UAE and also in Turkey, which was not the case earlier. It means they intend to stay long-term or settle in these countries,' Mohammad said.
Apoorvanand Jah, a professor at the University of Delhi, however, cautions against framing the exodus as entirely religious. 'It is those with resources who are leaving,' he said. 'Muslims are part of that class too, but so are many others.'
Still, he notes, disillusionment is rising, especially among young Indians who see no economic or social future in the country.
'This is the first time, since independence, that India's youth feels completely hopeless,' he said. 'The economy is adrift, and hatred fills the airwaves. Who would want to stay in such a place?'
Can the rift be healed?
Despite the exodus and alienation, many of those leaving say they would return - if the climate changed.
Ahmed hopes to one day return to India to care for his ageing parents. "I want to go back to India because my parents are there, and they will need care and support as they grow older," he said. And even if they didn't need care and support, I want to spend more time with them."
If and when he does return, Ahmed said he would likely settle in a city he considers safer, such as Hyderabad or Chandigarh. Staying in his hometown in Uttar Pradesh, a state ruled by the BJP, he explained, would mean living "a very subjugated existence".
'Living there means to just quietly endure the numerous, daily, progressively more virulent acts of microaggression that the country's majority will do to you,' he said.
'The economy is adrift, and hatred fills the airwaves. Who would want to stay in such a place?'
- Apoorvanand Jah, professor
Siddiqui believes reconciliation is possible, but only through institutional reform and societal reckoning. 'This is not something Muslims alone can fix,' he said. 'The onus is on the majority community, the judiciary, and democratic institutions to step up.'
He draws on the words of BR Ambedkar, a key architect of the Indian Constitution, who warned that the majority must earn the trust of minorities. 'That trust has been broken,' Siddiqui said. 'Now it must be rebuilt, if not for Muslims, then for India itself.'
As India continues to project itself as a global economic power, the exodus of some of its brightest and most vulnerable citizens tells another story.
'What is happening may not be loud. There are no mass protests, no refugee convoys. But it is real,' said Kamran. 'It is a quiet, growing migration that says as much about the future of Indian Muslims as it does about the state of Indian democracy.'
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of those interviewed.