668hate speech events recorded in 2023, as per the new survey.
(Photo: Namita Chauhan/The Quint)
A total of 668 hate speech events were recorded in 2023. This is what the latest India Hate Lab report 2023 has put forth as it reveals alarming trends and damning revelations when it comes to the rapid rise of hate speech events in India and its consequences.
A 62% jump in hate speech from the first to second half of the year.
In an election year that India finds itself in, it becomes crucial to see the simultaneous rise in hate speech and why it continues to persist and flourish.
Done in collaboration with Hindutva Watch, the report tracked daily online activity of Hindu far-right groups, their national and regional leaders.
"The normalization of hate speech has been central to the Hindu far-right project of transforming India into a de facto Hindu nation. A form of symbolic violence itself, it has also enabled physical violence, disenfranchisement, and destruction aimed at Indian Muslims as well as other Indian religious and caste minorities," they said.
BJP-ruled states have had the most hate speech events.
The report claimed that about 104 hate speech events were organized in the state of Uttar Pradesh alone. "The state, where over 38 million Muslims reside, is led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has a prolific history of delivering hate-filled speeches."
Meanwhile, Haryana witnessed about 48 hate speech events, forming about 7.2% of all hate speech events in the report's dataset, while only constituting about 2% of the Indian population.
75% of the events took place in BJP-ruled states.
Amidst a surge in hate speech events, witnessed numerous incidents of communal tension and violence, inflicting considerable harm upon the Muslim community.
Between 1 January and 1 October, IHL documented 91 hate speech events across 27 out of 36 districts in Maharashtra.
"Mumbai and Kolhapur district, which ranked among top five in hate speech events, were also the ones to witness most incidents of communal tension and violence in the state."
Maharashtra was at the top of the list, faring the worst.
Overall, organizations such as the VHP-Bajrang Dal, individual BJP leaders, the Sakal Hindu Samaj (SHS) and the Hindu Jagran Vedike were responsible for 307 events, forming about 46% of all hate speech events in 2023, the report added.
The division of the hate speech events.
Despite experiencing a surge in hate speech events during the BJP's tenure before the May elections, Karnataka has witnessed a gradual decline in such events ever since the Congress government came to power.
Kajal Hindustani was the topmost source of hate speech.
The analysis of the individuals most actively involved in delivering hate speeches reveals a pervasive network of far-right influencers, leaders of far-right groups, and members of the BJP. Just five speakers were responsible for 146 hate speech events or 22% of all hate speech events documented by IHL.
The use of the war to peddle anti-Muslim hate peaked in November, with references during 17 events recorded by IHL. 32 out of the 41 events (78%) took place in BJP-ruled states and union territories.
A lot of hate speech, mainly anti-Muslim was generated out of Israel-Gaza issue.
14 October: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) General Secretary Surendra Jain during a speech shared unverified reports about "beheaded babies," demanding that Israel should not stop until it has demolished this "jihadi mentality that has infected the entire world."
20 October: VHP leader Ishwar Lal used the attacks to assert that this was the "character" of all Muslims.
10 November: BJP leader Kapil Mishra said, "What Israel faced is what we have been facing for 1400 years
Conspiracy theories, call for violence, 2024 elections were part of the hate speech.
Only around 10.6% of events in BJP-ruled states included BJP leaders, whereas, this figure rose to about 27.6% in non-BJP ruled states, suggesting that BJP is more likely to partake in hate speech when attempting to make inroads in non-BJP ruled states.
"In particular, BJP leaders delivered hate speeches during their election campaigns in the opposition-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh," the report continued.
Hate speech events peaked in October before state elections.
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