A report by Hindutva Watch indicates that anti-Muslim hate speech incidents in India averaged more than one a day in the first half of 2023 and were seen most in states with upcoming elections.
This Washington-based group monitoring attacks on minorities finds that there were 255 documented incidents of hate speech gatherings targeting Muslims in the first half of 2023.
The report says that about 70 percent of the incidents took place in states scheduled to hold elections in 2023 and 2024.
About 80 percent of those events took place in areas governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is widely expected to win the general elections in 2024.
Rights groups accuse Modi’s administration of mistreating Muslims, but the nationalist government denies the presence of minority abuse.
They point to a 2019 citizenship law described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by the United Nations human rights office for excluding Muslim migrants; an anti-conversion legislation challenging the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief, and the 2019 revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status.
The report also mentions the demolition of Muslim properties in the name of removing illegal construction and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP was in power in that state.
