No surprise
\nWashington DC
\nA report from Hindutva Watch, a Washington DC-based research group that tracks hate crimes against minorities in India, has claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliated groups were involved in the majority of hate speech incidents against Muslims in India.
\nThe report documented 255 incidents of \u201chate speech gatherings targeting Muslims,\u201d with approximately 80% of them occurring in Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s BJP-ruled states and union territories.
\nThe report suggests that there has been an \u201cescalating trend\u201d of anti-Muslim speech in India since Modi came to power in 2014. It further reveals that over half of the incidents in 2023 were orchestrated by the BJP and its affiliated groups, such as the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Sakal Hindu Samaj, which have ties to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.
\nAbhay Verma, a senior BJP member in New Delhi, dismissed the report as \u201ctotally baseless\u201d and denied that the party supports hate speech. He emphasised that the BJP does not divide the country based on religion.
\nThe report is notable because it is the first to document hate speech against Muslims in India since the country\u2019s crime bureau stopped collecting data on hate crimes in 2017.
\nHindutva Watch gathered data through social media and news outlets and used data scraping techniques to locate verifiable videos of hate speech events. The research group then conducted in-depth investigations of these incidents through journalists and researchers.
\nWhile India does not have an official definition for hate speech, Hindutva Watch adopted the United Nations\u2019 language, which characterises hate speech as any form of communication employing prejudiced or discriminatory language towards a particular group based on attributes such as religion, ethnicity, nationality, and race.
\nThe report revealed that states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat witnessed the highest number of gatherings with hate speech. Interestingly, a significant portion of the documented incidents occurred in states scheduled to hold legislative elections this year.
\nThe report also highlighted that approximately 64% of the events propagated anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, 33% included rallying calls for violence against Muslims, and 11% encouraged Hindus to boycott Muslims. Additionally, some gatherings featured \u201chate-filled and sexist speech\u201d targeting Muslim women.
\nThe report concluded that government officials have frequently engaged in hate speech themselves, including chief ministers, legislators, and senior leaders from the ruling BJP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No surprise Washington DC A report from Hindutva Watch, a Washington DC-based research group that tracks hate crimes against minorities in India, has claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliated groups were involved in the majority of hate speech incidents against Muslims in India. The report documented 255 incidents of \u201chate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-358538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n