Lights, Camera….and Hate Speech. In the past few years, India has seen a rapid increase in communal hate speeches and hate content on media and social media. What is surprising that an increasing proportion of hate content is coming from female social media influencers.
In this three part series, The Quint will look at three such women who are firebrand, social media savvy and have become key players in the hate producing machinery.
In the first part of this series, we deep-dive into Hindutva influencer Kajal Hindustani, her trajectory and modus operandi. Kajal's mission is to "educate" the youth, especially girls, against what she calls Love Jihad. This is a frequently used term in the Hindutva ecosystem but has no legal basis or official proof.
Kajal at an event on Love Jihad in October this year.
(Photo: Kajal Hindustani)
A Self-Proclaimed Crusader Against 'Love Jihad'
A resident of Jamnagar, Gujarat, her profile on X (formerly Twitter), describes her as an ‘entrepreneur, research analyst, social activist'. On X, she has nearly 189.7K followers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 41-years old Kajal originally hails from Rajasthan and she moved to Gujarat after marriage. A BCom. graduate, she briefly enrolled in an MBA course in Pune but she left after the first semester. She worked in a corporate organisation as a cluster manager and went into working in a bank. However, due to responsibilities of young children, she left the job.
Before becoming a full-time Hindutva activist,' Kajal also started a business in 2011 which offered financial services, real estate, marketing, accounting, which is now managed by her husband and businessman Jwalant Shingala, she told The Quint.
It was only since 2016 that Kajal became more vociferously vocal on ground and social media.
Kajal started to become more vocal in 2016.
(Photo: Facebook)
Her website describes her as a “fearless lioness from Gujarat,” who has given up her surname Shingala on social media and "adopted a nationalistic approach by using HINDUsthani with her name.”
In 2021, she had 23,100 followers on Instagram. In 2023, her Instagram following went up from 122,000 (11 October) to 190,000 (18 December), an increase of 68,000 followers within two months.
PM Modi follows Kajal on X (Formerly Twitter).
(Photo Courtesy: @kajal_jaihind/X)
Kajal's vigilantism on 'Love Jihad' has been branded as an 'awareness and informative' event, to the point that she is now addressing girls and women in institutional and other spaces.
On 9 October, she remarked on X: that "awareness is the only way," to a post which showed that she addressed a gathering of 'Shri Kachhi Leva Patel Samaj' about the apparent perils of 'Love Jihad.'
On 8 October, Kajal posted a video on X, wherein she is shouting, "Hai Lakshmi, tu durga ban tu nari ban,"and the women in the crowd responded with, "Kabhi na burqe wali ban!" (Lakshmi, you become Durga or a woman, but never one who wears a Burqa).
Kajal with the same slogan on a poster in August, 2023.
(Photo Courtesy: @kajal_jaihind/X)
Noting that all the women in the crowd took an oath to completely destroy 'Love Jihad,' she wrote on X, "Looking at the number of sisters, one can guess that the women power of India has now awakened and will destroy these vampiric man-eating love wolves. Jai Bhavani."
Even on occasion of Ganesh Utsav in Bayad, Gujarat on 6 October, Kajal posted on X that she gave a speech against 'Love Jihad'. A lot of women were present in the audience.
Kajal in Gujarat addressing huge crowds on 'Love Jihad.'
(Photo Courtesy: @kajal_jaihind/X)
In the first week of October, at a program organized by 'Sanatan Thought' in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, she spoke about the same topic again.
Kajal talking about 'Love Jihad' in MP.
(Photo Courtesy: @kajal_jaihind/X)
In an even organised by the Prerna Peeth on 2 October, Kajal addressed around 5,000 students and teachers on the same 'conspiracy' and here, too she reiterated the aforementioned slogans used in Bhuj.
She was also given a platform by Sudarshan TV during their 20th anniversary celebrations in September.
At 20th anniversary event of Sudarshan news channel posted on 28 September 2023.
(Photo Courtesy: @kajal_jaihind/X)
There is a interesting pattern regarding Kajal Hindustani's following. While most of her public events are targeted at a female audience, close to 90 percent of the comments on her social media accounts are by men.
Commerce Graduate to Hindutva Influencer
The Quint also examined her Facebook page and discovered that till 2014-15, she only posted photos with her family. In 2016, she started to post in support of PM Modi and against the Congress.
By 2018, her attacks against the Opposition increased. Until then, she had not posted or said anything outrightly anti-Muslim. It all started in 2019 when she suddenly started speaking against Muslims proactively. She started calling them 'Jihadi' and even posted a video criticising Muslims and supporting CAA/NRC.
In the same year, she also began participating in programmes held by BJP She also met and supported BJP MP and the current Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla during the elections back then.
Kajal with Om Birla in 2019.
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
Kajal campaigning for PM Modi in 2019.
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
Kajal campaigning for PM Modi in 2019.
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
Apart from campaigning for PM Modi, Kajal has also promoted his 'Mann ki Baat' show at various junctures. In the same event organised by Prerna Peeth this year, she also spoke the show at length in 'Mann Ki Baat Bharat ki Awaaz: Relay Reading World Record Event.'
Speaking to The Quint, Kajal Hindustani said, "I have been working on these issues for the past 8 years. What I have directly seen and experienced, I present that truth and those cases in front of the public".
Manufacturing History
On 8 August, Kajal addressed the students of UKA Tarsadia University in Gujarat.
In this video uploaded a month ago on YouTube, within the first few minutes she riled up the crowd with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and said, “Akhand bharat ka sapna hum milkar saakaar karey”. Her speech contained several historical inaccuracies, besides hate comments.
“Qutub Minar, was made by Raja Vikram Aditya and not Qutubuddin Aibak, par naam aur pehchaan badalne se kya hoga, aaj ka jo Abdul hai wo teen peedi pehle Ajay hi tha, uska baap Ramlal hi tha.”
“Sufis didn't bring music, they brought invasion and invaders. They came in with that excuse, told about the routes to the Mughals and then gave them the entry.”
“There is an agenda to make India a systematically Islamic country. They say, ‘we took Pakistan by fighting and will take Hindustan smiling’… How will they make it an Islamic state? Love jihad. Illegal encroachment. Conversions, capturing their temples and consuming cows which are sacred to Hindus, and corrupting the minds of Hindus so much that they can no longer fight for their religion. And if someone like me steps up to fight, they are sent to jail.”
Maharana Pratap did not lose the Haldighati war.
“I told you, we left education in the hands of the Christians, history in the hands of the Leftists and we left our films in the hands of jihadis.”
Kajal has a template narrative wherein she reinforces the notion that she is speaking on behalf of Hindus, for the “common good” of Indians and that the Hindus “must arm themselves and fight.” Now, she also tells the youth to make reels on “real history” hidden from them.
The Quint spoke to Dr Ruchika Sharma, a noted history scholar on the claims made by Kajal. She said:
“The biggest jump of the Muslim population happened under the British and not the Mughals or the Sultanate. The forced conversion is just rhetoric.”
“The mosque and minar construction was clearly practiced even before Aibak. He was following a protocol. The first two storeys were built by Aibak, the next two stories by Sultan Iltutmish and then the last one by Firoz Tughlaq.
"Maharana Pratap lost the Battle of Haldighati, there is no doubt about it. He got injured and left the battlefield. All of this is in primary sources whether it is Abul Fazl's Akbarnama or Badayuni's Muntakhab-Ut-Tawarikh. Also, a significant portion of the Mughal Army was being led by Kachhwaha Rajputs in that battle.
"The 'Sufi point' is hilarious, Khusrau is usually considered the father of Hindustani classical and he could not have possibly revealed any routes because there is a difference of centuries between their existence."
Along with Nupur Sharma, editor-in-chief of OpIndia, she also attended the ‘Arambh 2024’ event recently organised by the Surat Literary Foundation.
Kajal at the Arambh event in Surat.
(Photo Courtesy: @kajal_jaihind/X)
In this video from the event she says, “We were told that Mughals invaded us, no. Muslims invaded us. We were told Britishers invaded us, no, Christians invaded us. Their presence in the country has led to religious conversions of us.”
They spread love Jihad through social media, movies and a climate of fear and drugs. First, they make the girl a drug addict, they get her into prostitution and then make her a courier of drugs. These cases come to us.Kajal Hindustani in the video
Reacting to this, senior Advocate Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi from Allahabad said that this is a false narrative.
"Firstly, they are now manufacturing new facts. Secondly, these are things that are prevalent in society, a common phenomenon, can it be attributed to religion? It's a type of war-mongering, fear psychosis, so that people hate particular type of people."Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi to The Quint
"Only one solution against them: Economic boycott/ostracization)."
(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
'Muslims Grabbing Land', Claims Kajal
Kajal posted a video on Instagram on 11 September, she stated that Muslims have a ‘sinister’ way of grabbing lands, without showing any evidence of reported cases.
Are these claims true? Not really.
According to the Waqf Act, 1995, The Waqf Board does not have the power to claim private properties or assets that are not originally designated as waqf properties already. If the board suspects any property to be waqf property, it can conduct an inquiry, which if it holds true, the board can request the trust/society to register it under the Waqf Act or show cause as to why it should not be registered.
Moreover, The Supreme Court last year also stated that Waqf board members are quasi-judicial officers, have a statutory role and religion does not factor into the Board’s decisions. Striking it down would instead benefit the ‘encroachers,’ they said.
A Short-Lived Arrest
So far, there has been no major legal action against Kajal.
On 9 April 2023, she was arrested for delivering hate speeches which allegedly caused communal violence in Gujarat’s Una during Ram Navami. Five days later, she came out on bail.
She posted on X that this only "strengthened her resolve".
These are some snippets from her speech of 30 March. The Quint has the videos.
'Bollywood Poisoning Minds of Hindu Girls'
Her animosity against Muslims also extends to Bollywood as she frequently attacks Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhasker and Richa Chadha — for marrying Muslim men.
In this video she posted on Instagram. Kajal said:
Taking a dig at Bollywood, in another video, she refers to the film Kedarnath where a Hindu' character falls in love with a 'Muslim' character to show how Bollywood poisons the minds of young Hindu girls.
"Pahadi ilaako mein generally, Khajjar tattu chalane wale Jihadi hi hote hain. Kya humari bacchiyan pooja karne jaati hai ya ye puncturechaapo se nain-matakka karne jaati hai?" (In hilly areas, the ones who ride these donkeys are usually Jihadis. Our daughter go there to pray or to romance with these punchur-chaap? i.e. Muslims).
Interestingly, in the past, she urged the students to watch, ‘Kashmir Files’, ‘The Kerala Story’ and ‘Ajmer 92,’ while talking about ‘Love Jihad.’ It has been conclusively proved that the basic premise of 'The Kerala Story,' and the filmmaker’s repeated claim that 32,000 Kerala women had joined ISIS were inaccurate.
Besides Bollywood, she also blames OTT platforms for manipulating the minds of Hindu girls. She also said, “Our fight is against ideology and narrative of communism, Left and Islam.” She throws jabs against BBC, NYT and AlJazeera for “defaming Hindus.”
In this video posted nine months ago on YouTube, she addressed a gathering and said:
“When I try to convince our Hindu daughters, they say 'My Abdul is not like that. I tell them, ‘Abdul or Aftab, they have read only one book."
Kajal with Sadhvi Prachi and Neha Patel.
(Photo Courtesy: Neha Patel/Facebook)
'Echo-Chamber Tactics'
Raqib Hameed Naik, founder of HindutvaWatch told The Quint that their extreme language and imagery in their posts provokes strong emotional reactions from their audience, which “subsequently increases the visibility and virality of their content."
Their strategy exploits the algorithms of social media platforms that prioritize content with high engagement, such as likes, shares, and comments. They employ echo chamber tactics, where they engage with like-minded individuals, fostering an environment that reinforces their extremist views. This not only helps retain their existing followers but also attracts new ones who are exposed to their content through the network effect.Raqib Hameed Naik, founder of HindutaWatch
The importance of Kajal Hindustani is her success in spreading her brand of Hindutva among women.
"My 6-7 religious meetings happen every month in different parts of the country. People are joining us, and this is because of increasing awareness on these topics in the society," she says, speaking to The Quint.
She says that initially, more men used to attend her events but now this is changing.
"In the past few years, I noticed that in our religious meetings, women were lesser in number than men but this has changed and now there is a 50-50 proportion. I am happy to say that in the past few religious meetings, more women have come than men".
Claiming to be a 'role model' for Hindu women, she says, "They (women) come to meet me and tell me that they want to be like me and want to work for their 'dharma' and society."
(The Quint has reached out to Kajal, some of her followers who often comment on her posts. Their response will be updated when once received).
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