Jun 12, 2026 12:24 pm IST

The Story Of A Hotel Check-In, And An India That No Longer Exists

Recently, a Muslim BJP leader was denied a room in a hotel in Aurangabad. Therein lie both the tragedy and the irony of our times.

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor MP, Columnist

Shashi Tharoor MP, Columnist

There is a profound, aching sorrow that accompanies the realisation that a nation is gradually losing its soul. For those who have long cherished India as a grand, inclusive experiment in pluralism, recent years have brought a steady accretion of disheartening news. Yet, occasionally, a singular incident cuts through the noise of daily politics and lays bare the sheer depth of our moral drift. One such unsettling moment was captured for me in a recent news report about what many might consider a trivial incident - headlined "'Hotel boot' for minority BJP leader".

The report details an incident involving Sajjad Yousuf Shah, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Jammu and Kashmir media co-incharge and a vocal pro-India voice. While visiting Aurangabad in Maharashtra, widely regarded as one of India's most industrialised, progressive, and prosperous states, Shah checked into a hotel, only to be asked to leave an hour later. The reason given to him, as he recounted with deep sadness on social media, was linked directly to his Muslim and Kashmiri identity.

The tragic irony of this incident is stark. Here is an individual who actively worked within the ruling party's ecosystem, championing the mainstream national narrative in a sensitive region, only to find that the very identity-based biases fostered by his party's political discourse could not shield him. When the structures of prejudice become institutionalised and normalised, they do not discriminate based on political loyalty. They target the identity itself. This incident serves as a harrowing hook to examine a much larger, quieter, and deeper tragedy unfolding across our landscape: the normalisation of anti-Muslim bigotry in contemporary India.

How Did We Arrive Here?

For millennia, India's identity was anchored in profound civilisational graces. We took immense pride in the philosophy of "Atithi Devo Bhava" - the belief that a guest is akin to the divine, deserving of unconditional warmth, safety, and respect. Parallel to this was the concept of "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb", a poetic and lived reality of syncretic culture where Hindu and Muslim traditions, languages, and daily lives flowed together like the sacred rivers, enriching the soil of our collective consciousness.

To witness these foundational civilisational virtues give way to an era where a Muslim citizen, as an........

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