Hate-fuelled electioneering

Report confirms use of hate speech in India to motivate voters; BJP and other far-right parties main offenders

A new report confirms what several India watchers have long been saying — that hate speech is actively being used to motivate voters, and that the main offenders are the BJP and other far-right parties. The report by US-based monitoring group Hindutva Watch says there were more than one incident per day of hate speech at large gatherings in the first half of 2023, including at least 255 that directly targeted Muslims. The group used the UN’s definition of hate speech because, and India doesn’t even have an official definition of hate speech.

Although the report does not have data for previous years, it suggests that hate speech incidents would spike in states and regions with upcoming elections. Most of the cases were reported in Maharashtra, which is India’s second most populous state and reported 29% of all incidents. Incidentally, the state also has elections scheduled for next year. One surprise was that Uttar Pradesh, which is India’s most populous state and is led by Modi ally Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanath, did not even crack the top five. However, about 33% of events involved direct calls to violence by Hindutva leaders, including calls for genocide and the destruction of mosques. Another 12% saw slightly more vague calls for Hindus to arm themselves. Several BJP leaders also called for — entirely illegal — boycotts of the Indian Muslim community and their businesses.

Over 80% of incidents also took place in BJP-run states, even though only 45% of India’s population lives in these states. This illustrates the BJP’s connivance in ensuring that calls for violence — though illegal — are never investigated, let alone prosecuted. Another notable finding was that most of the hate speech events outside of BJP-controlled areas focused on conspiracy theories, rather than calls to violence. Whether this was intentional to avoid prosecution, or just because these areas are ‘more tolerant’ is unclear, but it does reinforce the belief that the use of violent rhetoric against over 200 million Indian Muslims is a calculated decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2023.

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