New Delhi, India – India will see an average of nearly two anti-Muslim hate speech events per day in 2023, with three out of four, or 75 percent, taking place in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. This was revealed in a report released on Monday.
A report released by the Washington DC-based research group India Hate Lab (IHL) finds that in 2023, hate speech incidents will increase in four key states during the political campaigning and voting period from August to November. It has reached its peak.
As India prepares for a national referendum in the coming months, a first-of-its-kind report by IHL has mapped the spread of anti-Muslim hate speech across the country. The group recorded a total of 668 hate speech incidents.
Last month, the Indian Hate Lab's website became inaccessible in India after the Indian government blocked it under the controversial Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. The government also blocked the website of Hindutva Watch, an independent hate crime tracking service run by India. Founder of IHL.
The new report is the first time the research group has tracked hate speech incidents in India over a one-year period, and examines how these incidents spread geographically across India, the triggers behind the incidents, and the incidents. tracking when it occurred.
Where are the hotbeds of hate speech in India?
The group recorded a total of 668 hate speech incidents across 18 states and three union territories. The Indian states that ranked highest for these cases were the western state of Maharashtra with 118 cases, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with 104 cases, and the central state of Madhya Pradesh with 65 cases.
These three states have one of the largest constituencies and are currently ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, and together account for 43% of all hate speech incidents recorded in 2023.
However, smaller states such as Haryana and Uttarakhand in northern India were no exception.
Haryana witnessed 48 hate speech incidents (about 7.2%), while Uttarakhand accounted for 6%, making both states new hotbeds of anti-Muslim violence. In August 2023, riots broke out in Haryana's Nu district, leaving seven people dead and over 70 injured. Earlier this month, five Muslims were killed in Haldwani, Uttarakhand state while protesting against the demolition of a mosque and a religious school in the town.
Prem Shukla, the BJP's national spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the party opposes “Islamic fundamentalist forces” and argued that the IHL data presented a “biased picture of the situation.”
“Other so-called secular states are targeting the majority Hindu community with hate speech, but no one wants to talk about it,” Shukla said in a phone interview. He also dismissed the IHL report and claimed those behind it were “sworn to destroy the BJP”.
Who governs the states with the most hate speech?
According to the report, 498 incidents of hate speech, accounting for 75%, took place in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party or areas where the party has effective control through the central government. Of the 10 states with the highest number of hate speech incidents, six were ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party throughout the year. Three other states, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh, will hold parliamentary elections in 2023, resulting in a change of government. The states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh went from the opposition Nationalist Congress party to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the state of Karnataka went from the Bharatiya Janata Party to the Congress party. Bihar is the last of the 10 states with the highest number of hate speech incidents and was ruled by an opposition coalition until the prime minister switched sides last month and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance.
More than 77% of speeches containing direct calls for violence against Muslims were also given in states and territories ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
One-third of the hate speech incidents recorded by IHL were carried out by two far-right organizations, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, which are associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. It was organized by. . In 2018, the US Central Intelligence Agency tagged the VHP and Bajrang Dal as “militant religious organizations.”
Rakib Hameed Naik, founder of IHL, said: “Our analysis shows that anti-Muslim hate speech has become normalized and part of India's socio-political sphere.” Stated. “We can expect anti-Muslim hatred to become rampant in the upcoming general elections to polarize voters.”
What types of provocations are used in hate speech events?
The report documented that 63 percent of a total of 668 hate speech incidents referenced Islamophobic conspiracy theories.
This theory involved “love jihad” in which Muslim men seduced Hindu women into marriage and converted to Islam. “Land Crusade.” They claim that Muslims are occupying public land by building religious facilities and offering prayers. “Halal Jihad” equates Islamic practices with the economic exclusion of non-Muslim traders. And “demographic jihad” argues that Muslims reproduce with the aim of ultimately outperforming and dominating other populations.
All of these conspiracy theories have been debunked. For example, the government's own data shows that birth rates among Muslims are declining faster than other major communities in India.
More than 48% of the incidents occurred between August and November, when elections were held in four major states.
In response to the IHL report, Amnesty International called on Indian authorities to end the rise in speeches calling for violence and hatred against religious minorities.
“[The authorities] We must take concrete steps to counter stereotypes, eradicate discrimination and promote greater equality,” Aakar Patel, chairman of Amnesty International India, told Al Jazeera.
What are the latest weapons of hate being used against Muslims in India?
Since October 7, far-right groups in India have weaponized Hamas attacks on southern Israel and Israel's ongoing war in Gaza to incite anti-India Muslim fear and hatred.
According to the IHL report, from October 7 to December 31, 2023, one in five hate speech incidents led to Israeli war, and the phenomenon peaked in November.
Pravin Togadia, founder and current president of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad, said this at an event in Haryana on November 20. That same Palestine is rising in our villages and streets. Saving our prosperity and our women from them is a big challenge for us. ”
In the same month, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra said, “What Israel has faced is what we have faced for 1,400 years.”
Other analysts have found that India has also emerged as a hub for disinformation about Israel's war in Gaza spread through the internet.