Leaders associated with VHP and BJP have been caught on video making inflammatory statements against Muslims and Christians as calls for violence fill these events. Youth from organisation like the VHP were witnessed on camera dancing with swords and racing on bikes with swords through Muslim concentrated neighbourhoods, in what can only seems like an attempt to intimidate minorities. It seems like hate speech is increasingly becoming a norm, and an efficient means of polarising communities and sentiments across the nation. In an analytical piece by Sabrang India, using data collected by Citizens for Justice and Peace’s public hate tracking resource, has uncovered new shifts in patterns related to Hindutva and its political mobilisation in India.
It observed that instead of outright communal riots, there is now a concentrated effort to promote communalism through hate speech economic boycott resolutions against Muslims, and mob lynching incidents targeting Dalits and Muslims. The state side by side plays a role by demolishing minority homes and pursuing legal actions against them, often with impunity granted to Hindutva hardliners engaged in communal violence and hate speech.
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Gariaband, Chattisgarh
In Gariaband, a leader from the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal has been seen promoting hateful rhetoric and conspiracy theories against Muslim and Christian minorities. During a public address, this leader claimed that the Muslim population in India has increased significantly since independence, alleging that Christians and Muslims are forcefully converting innocent Hindus. “When India got independence, the population of Muslims was 2.5 percent, today it is 15 percent! They have been progressing for decades. Hindus need to awaken. Christians and Muslims have been forcefully proselytising innocent Hindus. Muslim men have been coercing Hindu girls under the idea of Love Jihad to marry and procreate and increase their population.” The video surfaced online on September 6, 2023.
This story was originally published in cjp.org.in. Read the full story here