United States-based think tank India Hate Lab (IHL) published research that revealed extremely elevated levels of hate speech against Indian religious minorities especially Muslims and Christians in 2024.
The report published on Monday, February 10, with the title Hate Speech Events in India, describes the staggering escalation of hate speeches and crimes, attributing it to the ideological ambitions of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a disturbing wave of right-wing Hindutva movement across the country.
An alarming rise in hate speech events
The thorough research revealed that incidents of hate speech increased dramatically by 74.4 percent, jumping from 668 cases in 2023 to 1,165 in 2024. Additionally, statistics demonstrated three hate speech events occurring daily on average.
The hate speeches, mainly targeting the Muslim community, reached a total of 1145 cases which made up 98.5 percent of all recorded incidents. This included both explicit anti-Muslim hate speech and rhetoric targeting both Muslims and Christians. The analysis shows 115 incidents (9.9 percent) while 18 of these targeted Christian communities exclusively and 97 targeted both Muslim and Christian communities.
The report examines verified instances of hate speech at public gatherings throughout India during 2024, which usually occurred at political rallies, electoral campaign events of the Saffron party, Hindu religious processions, protest marches and gathering events of Hindutva outfits. Some gatherings specifically aimed to target minority groups through their stated goals.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric campaign during the 2024 general elections
The study identifies the Indian 2024 general elections as a significant driver of rising hate speech cases. National electoral polls sparked criticism from human rights groups and social activists who held Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the other BJP senior leaders including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Minister of Home Affairs of India, Amit Shah, Member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, T Raja Singh, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Nitish Rane responsible for heightening anti-Muslim rhetoric to achieve support from the Hindu majority electorate.
During the election held between April 19 and June 1 in India that secured Prime Minister Modi a third term in office, many reports showed he used the label “infiltrators” to describe Muslims at campaign rallies and warned Hindu voters that the Congress party would distribute wealth to Muslims if they captured power.
“During the election campaigns, these high-profile hate speeches were further amplified and reinforced by an arsenal of local BJP leaders, Hindu far-right organizations, and religious figures, who spread similar rhetoric at community and grassroots levels. This interplay between top-down and bottom-up hate speech flows helped saturate political discourse with narratives that vilified and threatened Muslims, effectively crowding out space for meaningful democratic debate,” read the report.
Hate speech peaks amid international events
Hate speech incidents reached a second peak in August 2024, coinciding with the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in neighbouring Bangladesh which triggered political instability. Several Hindutva organizations and sensationalist and biased Indian media outlets amplified misinformation to inflate incidents of Hindu oppression in Bangladesh while simultaneously fueling anti-Muslim rhetoric in India.
“Though the Hindu minority in Bangladesh did face violence, the BJP, Hindutva groups, supporters, and Indian news outlets engaged in a disinformation campaign over the scale and scope of attacks on the community,” the report added.
Hate speech trends in BJP states: UP tops the list
According to IHL analysis over two-thirds of all hate speech events emerged in BJP-ruled states, with more than 450 hate speeches made by senior BJP leaders and Prime Minister Modi made 63 anti-Muslim hate speeches.
Uttar Pradesh emerged as the state with the most hate speech events (242) followed by Maharashtra (210) and Madhya Pradesh (98), accounting for 47 percent of the total cases. A total of seven states which recorded the most hate speech events were either directly governed by the BJP or had a coalition.
“Mostly in BJP-ruled states, far-right political leaders and Hindu religious figures openly inciting violence against Muslims. This included calls for outright violence, calls to arms, the economic boycott of Muslim businesses, the destruction of Muslim residential properties, and the seizing or demolition of Muslim religious structures”.
“In many instances, incitement to violence was framed as either retribution for alleged historical wrongs committed by Muslim rulers or “invaders” against Hindus or as a preemptive measure to counter an imagined Muslim threat,” reads the report.
The role of social media in amplifying hate speech
Several social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, X, WhatsApp and Telegram played a crucial role in spreading anti-Muslim hate speech and other forms of hate events. The report revealed that hate speech incidents were initially shared in live streams on these platforms.
The analysis report identified Facebook as the main platform behind 495 hate speech events while other social media sites generated 995 of the 1,165 identified incidents. “Notably, 266 anti-minority hate speeches delivered by senior BJP leaders primarily during the April June general elections were simultaneously live streamed across YouTube, Facebook, and X through the official accounts of the party and the leaders,” the report added.
Social media platforms failed to flag hateful content, despite their community standards prohibiting hate speech. The irresponsibility of these platforms allowed harmful content to circulate extensively.
The recorded dangerous speech incidents reached 259 cases yet social media sites facilitated 219 of them through their platforms specifically Facebook with 164 occurrences (74.9 percent) and YouTube with 49 cases (22.4 per cent ).
According to reports, as of February 6 2025, there is 93.6 percent of videos on various platforms remain active despite violating community standards and only three of the videos have been removed.
The annual research demonstrates that hate speech both escalates across the Indian sphere and functions strategically as an electoral political tool to gain Hindu majority votes that show and mean dominance of Hindutva extremist outfits, who also serve as B-team of the BJP.
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