Anti-Muslim hate speech soared in 2023 in India, report says

The India recorded a 62% increase in anti-Muslim hate speech in the second half of 2023, especially in states controlled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, according to a report by a Investigation Group.

Last year, India Hate Lab (IHL) “documented 668 cases of hate speech directed against Muslims”, the Washington-based group noted in its annual report.

“The IHL recorded 255 cases in the first half of 2023, while the number increased to 413 cases in the second half of the year, an increase of 62%”he added.

Hate speeches called in a 36% of cases to exert violence against Muslims, who were mainly accused of taking their women and land from the Indians or of having more births to become the majority community in the country.

Hinduism is the majority religion in India, with a 80% of faithful (970 million people), followed by Islam, which professes a 14.2% of the population (172 million people), according to the last census carried out in 2011.

According to IHL, around fifty% of the cases registered in 2023 were organized by entities that are part of the far-right organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), considered the ideological origin of the BJP.

Thus, three out of four hate speeches were documented in states governed by the BJP, indicated the research group, which pointed to several party legislators who had especially contributed to inciting hatred.

The report also indicated that the outbreak of the Gaza war, on October 7, was used “to stoke hatred against Indian Muslims.”

Between August, coinciding with a series of events by two Hindu extremist organizations, and November, the group documented 318 cases of anti-Muslim hate, almost half of all cases collected in 2023.