The music videos themselves are low-budget. Just static images showing Hindu supremacist symbols and cut-out shots of singers. On occasion, they display photos of leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, the Hindu nationalist ruling party in India. But the lyrics speak of the slaughter of Muslims and have been chanted at religious rallies, sparking violence.
These songs are part of a genre known as “Hindutva Pop”, named after a nationalist ideology associated with right-wing extremism that advocates for establishing India as a Hindu nation-state. And YouTube, one of the top music streaming platforms in the country, has helped this music expand its reach among young audiences.
YouTube not only hosts such songs; it also generates videos for them.
One YouTube-generated video is for a song by Hindutva singer Ved Prakash Shukla titled: “Jab Tak Hindu Rakt Hai Yogi Ji Har Bar Ayenge”, which translates to “Yogi will come to power till Hindu blood runs in our veins”. In the song, Shukla chants in Hindi: “We will write Jai Shri Ram with streams of blood”, invoking the Hindu deity Ram. In the 20th century, some Hindu nationalists co-opted Ram to push anti-Islamic fervour. As author and activist Harsh Mander wrote for Scroll, “remaking his gentle image from a symbol of righteousness, duty, compassion and devotion, into a wrathful combative warrior raging against the politically constructed “enemy within”. In 1992, a Hindu nationalist mob attacked and destroyed the 16th-century mosque, Babri Masjid, believed by a section of the Hindu community to be on the site of Ram’s birthplace. In 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (a leader of the BJP) laid the foundation for the construction of a Hindu temple dedicated to Ram where the mosque once stood.
In recent years, Hindu mobs have used the slogan “Jai Shri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram) while carrying out violent attacks on minority communities. The video featuring Shukla’s song chanting the slogan—which was traditionally used as a greeting—has over 171,000 views. Yogi Adityanath, the man the song says will come to power, is a BJP leader and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, an Indian state which has made headlines for violent crimes against Muslims. Adityanath is known for making inflammatory anti-Muslim statements. A 2011 documentary features a public speech where he says, “We have decided that if they [Muslims] capture one Hindu girl, we will capture at least 100 Muslim girls. If they kill one Hindu, we will kill 100.”
This story was originally published in bellingcat.com. Read the full story here .