Harun Nasrullah
Anti-Muslim hate speech incidents in India averaged more than one a day in the first half of 2023, with the most occurring in places with forthcoming elections, reports a Washington-based monitoring group.
Titled ‘2023 Half-Yearly Report: Anti-Muslim Hate Speech Events in India’ the report, published by Hindutva Watch on September 24, tallied 255 documented anti-Muslim gatherings.
According to the study, about 70 per cent of anti-Muslim speeches occurred in states with elections in 2023 or upcoming elections in 2024.
And 80 per cent of anti-Muslim hate speech took place in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat states witnessed the highest number of hate speech gatherings, with Maharashtra accounting for 29 per cent of such incidents, the report found.
Most of the hate speech events mentioned conspiracy theories, calls for violence, and socioeconomic boycotts against Muslims.
Hindutva Watch documented online activities of Hindu right-wing organisations, vetted videos of hate speeches posted on social media, and collated data on isolated occurrences reported in the media.
Abu Asim Azmi, a Muslim politician from Mumbai, Maharashtra’s capital, has called for anti-terror legislation to be used to curb hate speech.
“The Supreme Court has already made strong observations about hate speech. Have the governments become so impotent that they can’t act on it?” he asked. “If the law and order situation has deteriorated in the country, 70 per cent of it is because of hate speech.”
Azmi said hate speeches are being made even inside the Indian Parliament. “The people who have taken oaths to the constitution are making such remarks. There could be nothing more shameful than this,” said Azmi.
He was referring to a viral incident in the lower house (Lok Sabha) of parliament when a BJP MP made Islamophobic remarks against an opposition parliamentarian.
In a debate on September 22, BJP MP for South Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri called Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)MP for Amroha Lok Sabha Kunwar Danish Ali a “pimp,” “circumcised,” and “terrorist.”
Harsh Vardhan, a former government minister and senior member of the BJP, also laughed at Bidhuri’s remarks.
Congress Leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters that the comments are an “insult not just to parliament but to every Indian” and asked why the MP who made the remarks has not been suspended.
MP Kodikunnil Suresh, who was serving as chair, said he had already instructed officials to expunge the remarks.
National Conference (NC) leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, said, “Hate against Muslims has been mainstreamed like never before. How do Muslims who identify the BJP as their party coexist alongside this level of abject hatred?”
Rights groups also alleged mistreatment of Muslims under Modi, who became PM in 2014.
They point to a 2019 citizenship law described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by the UN Human Rights Office for excluding Muslim migrants, anti-conversion legislation challenging the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief, and the 2019 revocation of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s semiautonomous status.
When the BJP was in power in Karnataka, there was also a prohibition on wearing the headscarf in classrooms and the demolition of Muslim properties under the guise of removing unlawful construction.
Photo: Kunwar Danish Ali, Bahujan Samaj Party MP was subjected to ant-Muslim abuse by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhur during a parliamentary debate. (Credit: Government of India/WikiCommons)
