The United Kingdom Indian Muslim Council (UK-IMC) has released a report which highlights the alarming normalization of hate speech and divisive rhetoric against Muslims by leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India.
The report released on April 21 showed a concerning trend of hate speech that doubled during the second term of the BJP-led government, spanning from 2019 to 2024.
Unveiling ‘portfolios of hate’
The UK report titled “Portfolios of Hate,” documents a curated selection of hate speech against Indian Muslims via incidents that were reported by the national media in different regions across India.
The research mainly concentrates on the candidates from the BJP-led NDA alliance in the current general elections, who consistently highlight the accomplishments of Narendra Modi over his ten-year term in their campaigns. However, It highlights the fact that from 2014 to 2019, during Modi’s first term, the candidates above were named in 23 incidents of hate speech. In all, 70 of these cases are listed in the report.
These incidents expose the troubling trend of pervasive use of rhetoric speech aimed to target minority communities, particularly Muslims. The report reveals a picture of the broader landscape of hate speech in Indian politics as well.
Rising number of hate speeches
Pertinently, on February 2024, India Hate Lab also released a report in which it documented 668 hate speech incidents targeting Muslims in 2023. The report stated that 255 of those had occurred in the first half of the year, while 413 took place in the last six months of 2023.
As per the research, 498 out of 75% of those events happened in states that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) states. The majority of hate speech against Muslims was reported from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
The UK-IMC report also highlights the fact that hate speech is now being used as a tactic in elections to garner a majority of votes. Hate speech directed towards Muslims has become commonplace in India’s political discourse as a result of divisive rhetoric.
PM Modi at the forefront
More importantly, in the report, PM Narendra Modi emerges as a central figure, with incidents of hate speech making him top on the list. From justifying past anti-Muslim violence to propagating inflammatory narratives referring to Muslims as “infiltrators”, “looters” and also accusing them of “disrespecting Hindu sentiments”.
The report paints a disturbing picture of the language used by prominent BJP figures, including Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda and BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya amid the ongoing Lok Sabha 2024 elections.
Implications for social fabric
The UKMC report also said that by amplifying divisive narratives and fostering animosity towards Muslims who comprise 14.2% of India’s population, politicians risk deepening existing fault lines and eroding the foundations of a pluralistic society. The various reports revealing the hate speech trends including the UK-IMC research serve as a wake-up call.
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