India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waits to welcome leaders of the G20 countries at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 9, 2023.
The governing party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its allies were responsible for most hate speech incidents against Muslims, as per a recent study published Monday, September 25.
Approximately 80% of the 255 occurrences of "hate speech gatherings targeting Muslims" were found to have taken place in states and union territories administered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to research by Hindutva Watch. Researchers in Washington, DC, document incidents of violence and inciting rhetoric directed towards Muslims and other minorities in India.
A Detailed Study
Since Modi came to power in 2014, researchers have seen an escalating trend of anti-Muslim discourse in India.
According to Bloomberg, the survey showed that the governing BJP and its affiliates, such as the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the Sakal Hindu Samaj, were responsible for more than half of the instances recorded this year. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's ideological forebear, is connected to these organizations.
A senior BJP member in New Delhi named Abhay Verma described the allegation as "totally baseless" in an interview. He clarified over the phone that they do not divide the country and people based on their faiths. He said the BJP does not condone hate speech in any form.
After India's police bureau ceased collecting data on hate crimes in 2017, this research is the first of its kind that tracks hate speech directed towards Muslims. Hindutva Watch gathered information mostly from media reports and social media. Journalists and academics carried out a detailed study of occurrences, using data scraping tools to discover verified films of hate speech events.
In the absence of a legally binding definition of hate speech in India, the study's authors relied on the United Nations' definition, which defines hate speech as any form of communication that uses "prejudiced or discriminatory language towards an individual group based on attributes such as religion, ethnicity, nationality, and race."
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Anti-Muslim Rallies
According to the data, the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat hosted the most rallies where hate speech was present. One-third of the events had their respective states' parliamentary elections set for this year.
About 64% of the events, based on data collected by Hindutva Watch from 15 states and two union territories, promoted anti-Muslim "conspiracy theories," such as the belief that Muslims are seducing Hindu women into marriage in order to convert them.
The research found that 33% of the gatherings featured calls for violence against Muslims, and 11% included calls for Hindus to boycott Muslims. The subsequent events allegedly contained hate-filled and sexist speech directed at Muslim women.
The survey found that many government employees actually contributed to the spread of hate speech rather than preventing it. Some of the chief ministers, lawmakers, and high-ranking BJP officials were cited as perpetrators of hate speech in this study.
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