Anti-Muslim hate speech incidents averaged more than one in a day in India in the first half of 2023, according to a report by the Washington-based monitoring group Hindutva Watch. The report also noted that 80% of the documented incidents took place in States ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is also in power at the Center.
“In the first six months of 2023 (181 days), there were 255 recorded instances of hate speech gatherings or rallies targeting Muslims across 17 states in India, which includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” said the report, titled “2023 Half-Yearly Report: Anti-Muslim Hate Speech Events in India.” It highlighted that nearly 70% of these incidents were reported in States where elections were scheduled in 2023 and 2024.
Hindutva Watch is an independent research group that monitors attacks against minority communities. The report noted that there was an escalating trend of anti-Muslim speech ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.
The hate speech incidents were predominantly “concentrated in India’s northern, western, and central regions, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wields significant electoral and ideological influence,” the report said.
The report noted that BJP-ruled States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat were among those with the highest number of hate speech gatherings, with Maharashtra alone accounting for 29% of such incidents.
“Around 52% of hate speech gatherings in BJP-ruled States and union territories were orchestrated by entities affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, and the Bharatiya Janata Party,” it said. The RSS is the ideological parent of the BJP.
Overall, the report noted, “42% of all hate speech gatherings in 17 states which includes two centrally controlled territories were organized by groups affiliated with the RSS.”
#Report—— 255 documented incidents of hate speech events/gatherings targeting Muslims recorded in the first half of 2023. Overwhelmingly, 205 (80%) of these hate speech events occurred in BJP-ruled states and union territories.
Read the full report here: https://t.co/RFpLx8Ac1C pic.twitter.com/URqtmLuc7a
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) September 26, 2023
The report concluded that “the BJP has received significant electoral rewards for invoking communal rioting, with such incidents being associated with an increase in the vote share for the Hindu nationalist party.” Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in India in 2024.
A huge chunk of such hate speech events involved anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and many of them saw calls for violence against or boycott of Muslims. Speaking to Al Jazeera, noted activist Teesta Setalvad said that in India, hate flows from the top. “Hate is a state policy and used for political mobilization,” she added.
Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the Communist Party India (Marxist), also responded to the findings, saying that the “Modi and BJP-led government have patronized poisonous hate speeches to consolidate communal Hindutva vote. The control over governments is critical to engineer incendiary divisive strategies. This must be defeated by fostering peoples unity.”
A few days ago, a major controversy had broken out when a BJP legislator verbally abused a Muslim member of parliament from an opposition party on the floor of parliament.
