Of the 255 select instances of hate speech in the first half of 2023 across 17 states of India, 80% of them took place in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states and Union Territories, says a report by Hindutva Watch. The report noted that seven out of eight states with the highest hate speech events in 2023 are governed by the BJP and its coalition partners, with 70% of the events taking place in states heading for elections in the coming year.
Hindutva Watch, a Washington-based independent research project founded by Kashmiri journalist Raqib Hameed Naik, chronicles hate crimes and speeches against India’s religious minorities. In their 2023 Half Yearly Report: Anti Muslim Hate Speech Events in India, they found that more than half of them (52%) have been orchestrated by entities affiliated to Hindutva groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat witnessed the highest number of hate speech gatherings.
In Maharashtra’s Kolhapur, an Instagram video shared by a 16-year-old boy in June, featuring pictures of Mughal king Aurangazeb and Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, went viral. Following this, Hindutva organisations alleged that the video insulted the Hindu community and filed a case against the minor. A day later, on June 7, they called for a shutdown in the city. Maharashtra Home Minister and leader of the BJP Devendra Fadnavis made matters worse by stating that the “riot like situation took place because Aurangazeb’s offsprings were born here”. It is important to note that Maharashtra alone accounts for 29% of the 255 instances of hate speeches.
Hindutva Watch’s report states that Maharashtra shows “how the BJP leverages state power to propagate anti-Muslim hate speech in regions with fragile electoral support”. When the Shiv Sena split into two factions in 2022, the BJP assumed power in the state and propagated anti-Muslim speeches, the report notes.
Karnataka, on its end, accounted for 13% of the hate speeches with 34 events (13%) involving speeches. The BJP leaders who gave hate speeches included former Karnataka chief minister KS Eeshwarappa, BJP Delhi vice president Kapil Mishra, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and MP Pragya Thakur. Of the 255 incidents, 11 speeches showcased sexist and misogynistic language that directly targeted Muslim women.
Hindutva Watch reports that the majority of these events (70%) unfolded in states scheduled for legislative elections in 2023 and 2024, with 85 instances occurring in five states that held or are slated to hold elections this year, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Telangana.
Several of the events that Hindutva Watch chronicled this year threw up hashed out conspiracies about ‘love jihad’, ‘land jihad’, ‘economic jihad’ and ‘Halal jihad'. They also noted that from the beginning of 2023 up till June, Hindutva groups promoted absurd notions of ‘Mazar jihad’ (unfounded allegation that Muslims intentionally build shrines to claim government and forest land), ‘UPSC jihad’ (unfounded allegation that Muslims are ‘infiltrating’ the Indian bureaucracy), and ‘fertiliser jihad’ (unfounded allegation that Muslim farmers are chiefly responsible for overusing fertilisers).