New Delhi, India – India averaged almost two anti-Muslim hate speech occasions per day in 2023 and three in each 4 of these occasions – or 75 % – befell in states dominated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, revealed a report launched Monday.

In 2023, the hate speech occasions peaked between August and November, the interval of political campaigning and polling in 4 main states, based on a report launched by India Hate Lab (IHL), a Washington, DC-based analysis group.

As India heads for a nationwide vote within the upcoming months, a first-of-its-kind report by the IHL maps the unfold of anti-Muslim hate speech throughout the nation. The group documented a complete of 668 hate speech occasions.

Last month, the web site of India Hate Lab was rendered inaccessible in India after the federal government blocked it below the controversial Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. The authorities additionally blocked the web site of Hindutva Watch, an impartial hate-crime tracker additionally run by the IHL’s founder.

The new report – the primary time a analysis group has tracked hate speech occasions in India over a yr – tracks how these occasions unfold geographically throughout India, the triggers behind these occasions, and after they happen.

Which are India’s hate speech hotbeds?

The group documented a complete of 668 hate speech occasions throughout 18 states and three federally ruled territories. The top-ranking Indian states for these occasions had been: Maharashtra within the west with 118 incidents, Uttar Pradesh within the north with 104 incidents, and Madhya Pradesh in central India with 65 incidents.

These three states are among the many greatest voter bases, are presently dominated by the BJP, and collectively account for 43 % of the entire hate speech occasions recorded in 2023.

But comparatively smaller states, like Haryana and Uttarakhand in northern India, weren’t immune both.

While Haryana witnessed 48 hate speech occasions, or about 7.2 %, occasions in Uttarakhand made up 6 % – each states are among the many rising hotbeds for anti-Muslim violence as effectively. Seven individuals died and over 70 had been injured in violence in the Nuh region of Haryana in August 2023; earlier this month, five Muslims were killed in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, whereas protesting in opposition to the demolition of a mosque and a non secular faculty within the city.

Prem Shukla, a nationwide spokesperson of the BJP, instructed Al Jazeera that the get together has been opposing the “Islamic fundamentalist forces” and alleged that the IHL information represented a “biased picture of the situation”.

“The other so-called secular states are targeting the Hindu majority community by hate speeches, but no one will talk about it,” Shukla mentioned in a cellphone interview. He additionally dismissed the IHL report, alleging that these behind it “have sworn to destroy the BJP”.

Who guidelines states with probably the most hate speech?

As per the report, 498 hate speech occasions, which make up 75 %, befell within the states dominated by the BJP or in territories that it successfully governs via the central authorities. Among the ten states with probably the most hate speech occasions, six had been dominated by the BJP all year long. The different three states, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh had legislative elections in 2023, by which energy modified arms: Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh moved from the opposition Congress get together to the BJP, and Karnataka from the BJP to the Congress. Bihar, the final of the ten states with probably the most hate-speech occasions, was dominated by an opposition coalition till final month, when its chief minister switched sides to affix a BJP-led alliance.

More than 77 % of speeches that included a direct name of violence in opposition to Muslims had been additionally delivered in states and territories ruled by the BJP.

A 3rd of all hate speech occasions documented by the IHL had been organised by two far-right organisations, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, that are related to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP. In 2018, the United States Central Intelligence Agency tagged the VHP and Bajrang Dal as “religious militant organisations”.

“Our analysis shows that anti-Muslim hate speech has been normalised and become part of India’s socio-political sphere,” mentioned Raqib Hameed Naik, founding father of the IHL. “We foresee rampant use of anti-Muslim hate during the upcoming general elections to polarise voters.”

What are the provocations used for hate speech occasions?

The report documented that 63 % of the entire 668 hate speech occasions referenced Islamophobic conspiracy theories.

The theories included “love jihad”, an alleged phenomenon the place Muslim males lure Hindu ladies into marrying them and changing to Islam; “land jihad”, which alleges Muslims are occupying public lands by constructing non secular constructions or holding prayers; “halal jihad”, which views Islamic practices because the financial exclusion of non-Muslim merchants; and “population jihad”, which alleges that Muslims reproduce with the intention of ultimately outnumbering and dominating different populations.

All of those conspiracy theories have been debunked: The authorities’s personal information, as an illustration, reveals that Muslim fertility charges are dropping quicker than these of some other main group in India.

Over 48 % of the occasions occurred between August and November, a interval that noticed state elections in 4 main states.

Reacting to the IHL report, Amnesty International referred to as on Indian authorities to place an finish to the rise in speeches calling for violence and hatred in opposition to non secular minorities.

“[The authorities] must take concrete measures to counter stereotypes, eradicate discrimination, and foster greater equality,” Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India, instructed Al Jazeera.

What’s the newest hate weapon getting used in opposition to Indian Muslims?

Since October 7, Indian far-right teams have been weaponising the Hamas attack on southern Israel, and Israel’s ongoing conflict on Gaza to stoke anti-Indian Muslim fears and hate.

From October 7 to December 31, 2023, one in each 5 hate-speech occasions invoked Israel’s conflict, a phenomenon that peaked in November, based on the IHL report.

Pravin Togadia, founder and present president of the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad, mentioned in an occasion in Haryana on November 20: “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 identical month, Kapil Mishra, a BJP chief, mentioned: “What Israel faced is what we have been facing for 1,400 years.”

Other analysts have discovered that India has additionally emerged as an epicentre of disinformation on Israel’s conflict on Gaza, spreading via the web.