A recent study by Hindutva Watch reveals that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party, BJP and associated groups were involved in the majority of hate speech incidents targeting Muslims in the first half of the year, Bloomberg reports.
The report said that around 80% of the 255 documented "hate speech gatherings targeting Muslims" occurred in states and union territories governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The report suggested an escalating trend of anti-Muslim speech in India since Modi assumed power in 2014. More than half of the documented incidents in the report were attributed to the ruling BJP and its affiliated groups, including 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.
The report identifies Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat as states with the highest number of hate speech gatherings. Notably, a third of the documented incidents occurred in states with legislative elections scheduled for the year.
Hindutva Watch also found that approximately 64% of these events propagated anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, (Love Jihad) including claims of Muslim-Hindu marriage conversions.
“33% of the events included incitement to violence against Muslims, while 11% called for Hindus to boycott Muslims. The remaining gatherings involved hate-filled and sexist speech targeting Muslim women,” the report reads.
Rather than combating hate speech, government officials have frequently engaged in it themselves,” the report said. “As this report documents, some of the purveyors of hate speech include chief ministers, legislators, and senior leaders from the ruling BJP.”
However, Abhay Verma, a senior BJP member, dismissed the report as "totally baseless" and denied the party's support for hate speech.
This report is significant as it is the first to document hate speech against Muslims since India's crime bureau ceased collecting hate crime data in 2017.
Hindutva Watch relied on social media and news sources for data collection, using data-scraping techniques to identify verifiable videos of hate speech events and conducting in-depth investigations through journalists and researchers.
While India lacks an official definition for hate speech, the report adopted the United Nations' characterization of hate speech as any form of communication employing prejudiced or discriminatory language based on attributes like religion, ethnicity, nationality, and race.