New Delhi, India – India averaged nearly two anti-Muslim hate speech events per day in 2023 and three in four of those events (or 75 percent) took place in states governed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, it revealed. a report released Monday.
In 2023, hate speech events peaked between August and November, the period of political campaigns and polls in four major states, according to a report published by India Hate Lab (IHL), a Washington-based research group , DC.
As India heads toward a national vote in the coming months, a first-of-its-kind IHL report maps the spread of anti-Muslim hate speech across the country. The group documented a total of 668 hate speech events.
Last month, India Hate Lab's website became inaccessible in India after the government blocked it under the controversial Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. The government also blocked Hindutva Watch's website, an independent hate crime tracker also run by IHL founder.
The new report, the first time a research group has tracked hate speech events in India for a year, tracks how these events spread geographically across India, the triggers behind these events and when they occur.
What are the hotspots of hate speech in India?
The group documented a total of 668 hate speech events in 18 states and three federally governed territories. The Indian states with the highest scores for these events were: Maharashtra in the west with 118 incidents, Uttar Pradesh in the north with 104 incidents and Madhya Pradesh in central India with 65 incidents.
These three states are among the largest voter bases, are currently governed by the BJP and together account for 43 percent of the total hate speech events recorded in 2023.
But relatively smaller states, such as Haryana and Uttarakhand in northern India, were not immune either.
While Haryana witnessed 48 hate speech events, or about 7.2 per cent, events in Uttarakhand accounted for 6 per cent; both states are also among emerging hotspots of anti-Muslim violence. Seven people were killed and more than 70 injured in violence in Haryana's Nuh region in August 2023; Earlier this month, five Muslims were killed in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, while protesting against the demolition of a mosque and a religious school in the city.
Prem Shukla, BJP national spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the party has been opposing “Islamic fundamentalist forces” and alleged that the IHL data represented a “biased picture of the situation”.
“The other so-called secular states are attacking the majority Hindu community with hate speeches, but no one is talking about it,” Shukla said in a telephone interview. He also dismissed the IHL report, claiming that its supporters “have sworn to destroy the BJP”.
Who governs the states with the most hate speech?
According to the report, 498 hate speech events, accounting for 75 per cent, took place in states ruled by the BJP or in territories it effectively rules through the central government. Among the 10 states with the most hate speech events, six were governed by the BJP throughout the year. The other three states, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, held legislative elections in 2023, in which power changed hands: Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh moved from the opposition Congress party to the BJP, and Karnataka from the BJP to the Congress. Bihar, the last of the 10 states with the most hate speech events, was governed by an opposition coalition until last month, when its chief minister switched sides to join a BJP-led alliance.
More than 77 percent of speeches that included a direct call for violence against Muslims were also delivered in BJP-ruled states and territories.
One-third of all hate speech events documented by IHL were organized by two far-right organisations, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's ideological mentor. . In 2018, the US Central Intelligence Agency labeled the VHP and Bajrang Dal “religious militant organisations”.
“Our analysis shows that anti-Muslim hate speech has been normalized and become part of India's socio-political sphere,” said Raqib Hameed Naik, founder of IHL. “We anticipate rampant use of anti-Muslim hate during the upcoming general election to polarize voters.”
What are the provocations used for hate speech events?
The report documented that 63 percent of the total 668 hate speech events referenced Islamophobic conspiracy theories.
Theories included “love jihad,” a supposed phenomenon in which Muslim men lure Hindu women to marry them and convert to Islam; “land jihad,” which alleges that Muslims are occupying public lands by building religious structures or holding prayers; “halal jihad,” which sees Islamic practices as the economic exclusion of non-Muslim merchants; and “population jihad,” which alleges that Muslims reproduce with the intention of eventually outnumbering and dominating other populations.
All of these conspiracy theories have been debunked: the government's own data, for example, shows that Muslim fertility rates are falling faster than those of any other major community in India.
More than 48 percent of the events occurred between August and November, a period in which state elections were held in four major states.
Reacting to the IHL report, Amnesty International called on the 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 foster greater equality,” Aakar Patel, chairman of the board of Amnesty International India, told Al Jazeera.
What is the latest weapon of hate being used against Indian Muslims?
Since October 7, far-right Indian groups have been weaponizing the Hamas attack on southern Israel and Israel's ongoing war on Gaza to stoke anti-Indian Muslim fears and hatred.
From October 7 to December 31, 2023, one in five hate speech events invoked Israel's war, a phenomenon that peaked in November, according to the IHL report.
Pravin Togadia, founder and current president of the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad, said at an event in Haryana on November 20: “Today it is Israel's turn. That same Palestine is emerging in our towns and our streets. Saving our prosperity and our women from them is a big challenge for us.”
That same month, BJP leader Kapil Mishra said: “What Israel faced is what we have been facing for 1,400 years.”
Other analysts have found that India has also become an epicenter of disinformation about Israel's war on Gaza, which is spread over the Internet.
