In 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accounted for three of every four of the nation's average of about two anti-Muslim hate speech events every day, according to a research issued on Monday.
According to a report published by India Hate Lab (IHL), a Washington, DC-based research company, hate speech incidents in 2023 increased between August and November, the time of election campaigning and polling in four key states.
The IHL has produced a first-of-its-kind research mapping the rise of hate speech against Muslims in India ahead of the country's impending national election. Almost 668 incidents of hate speech were recorded by the organization.
Due to a government restriction imposed on it by the contentious Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000, the India Hate Lab website was no longer accessible in India last month. Hindutva Watch, an independent hate-crime tracker likewise headed by the IHL's founder, had its website shut by the government as well.
The new analysis, which is the first time a research team has followed hate speech occurrences in India over a year, examines the causes of these events, when they happen, and how they spread geographically around the country.
To incite fear and hatred toward Indian Muslims, far-right groups in India have been using the Hamas attack on southern Israel and Israel's ongoing war on Gaza as weapons since October 7.
What’s the latest hate weapon being used against Indian Muslims?
An IHL research states that between October 7 and December 31, 2023, one out of every five hate speech incidents mentioned Israel's conflict, with an increase observed in November.
At a Haryana gathering on November 20, Previn Togadia, the founder and current head of the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad, declared, “Today it is Israel’s turn. That same Palestine is rising in our villages and our streets. Saving our prosperity, our women, from them is a big challenge for us.”
In the same month, a BJP leader, Kapil Mishra, stated that: “What Israel faced is what we have been facing for 1,400 years.”
