A major rise in hate speech incidents throughout India has been documented in 2024, with a Washington-based analysis organisation reporting a 74.4% enhance in comparison with the earlier yr. The India Hate Lab’s newest report reveals 1,165 verified cases of hate speech, up from 668 in 2023, with a notable surge throughout the nation’s normal election interval.
The analysis signifies that Muslims had been the first targets, accounting for 98.5% of all recorded hate speech incidents. Whereas Muslims had been the first targets, the report paperwork a pointy enhance in anti-Christian rhetoric as effectively, with 115 hate speech occasions concentrating on Christians. This enhance correlates straight with an increase in assaults on church buildings and Christian establishments.
The VHP, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Bajrang Dal (RBD) have aggressively promoted narratives about Christian missionaries allegedly partaking in mass conversions. In a single notable incident at a VHP occasion in Siliguri, West Bengal, in November 2024, a speaker urged activists to “resort to violence if needed” to cease Christian pastors from coming into villages.
Christian faculties and church buildings confronted sustained stress all year long. In March 2024, Hindu nationalist teams in Assam posted threats throughout Christian-run faculties, demanding the elimination of crosses and spiritual symbols. In December 2024, a Hindu monk in Rajasthan claimed to have shut down “10-15 church buildings” and secured the imprisonment of 80 Christian clergymen. At a Rashtriya Bajrang Dal occasion in Uttar Pradesh, leaders referred to as for assaults on Catholic faculties, labelling them as “centres of spiritual conversion.”
Chatting with Christian At the moment India, A.C. Michael, Nationwide Coordinator of United Christian Discussion board, mentioned, “The documented rise in anti-Christian hate speech, with 115 incidents concentrating on our neighborhood, is deeply regarding. When Hindu nationalist teams overtly threaten Christian faculties and rejoice church closures, it reveals this isn’t nearly rhetoric – it’s a direct assault on non secular freedom. The truth that audio system at political rallies can overtly name for violence in opposition to pastors with out penalties signifies a harmful normalization of hate.”
Based on the report, practically 80% of those incidents occurred in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) or its allies. Three BJP-ruled states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh – accounted for nearly half of all documented hate speech occasions throughout the nation.
The BJP emerged as the most important organiser of hate speech occasions, straight facilitating 340 gatherings – a putting 580% enhance from the 50 occasions they organised in 2023. The celebration’s allied organisations, together with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its militant youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, had been accountable for an extra 279 occasions.
Two key components formed the trajectory of hate speech in 2024: the overall elections held between April and June, and the state elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand later within the yr. Moreover, the autumn of the Sheikh Hasina authorities in Bangladesh in August 2024 and subsequent violence in opposition to Hindus in that nation had been reportedly exaggerated and weaponised by Hindu nationalist teams to justify anti-Muslim sentiment in India.
A major spike in incidents was noticed throughout the normal election marketing campaign, with Might 2024 recording the very best quantity at 269 instances. The report identifies Prime Minister Modi’s April 21 speech in Banswara, Rajasthan, as a turning level. Following his remarks, the place he allegedly referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” and referenced “these with extra kids,” hate speech incidents elevated dramatically, with over 300 such incidents recorded within the subsequent 43 days.
“Readers and listeners of Herr Goebbels on Radio Berlin knew that the ugly phrases had been to not educate them however had been a component of state coverage of future pogroms,” mentioned Dr. John Dayal, veteran human rights activist and editor, whereas chatting with Christian At the moment India.
“The hate speeches, then as now in India or elsewhere are, in a way, to groom the widespread individuals, particularly the youth, to be prepared for motion. Hate speech inevitably results in focused violence. When hate speech surges 74% in a single yr, with 995 movies nonetheless freely circulating on social media, we’re witnessing the normalization of violence in opposition to minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims, however not sparing Sikhs,” Dayal expressed.
The report famous that Modi later tried to make clear his feedback in an interview, claiming they weren’t aimed toward Muslims however in direction of all poor households. He additionally acknowledged that he can be “unworthy of public life” the day he introduced up Hindu-Muslim divisions. Nonetheless, the report factors out that simply days after this declare, Modi accused the opposition INDIA bloc led by Congress of attempting to remove reservation advantages from OBC communities to present them to Muslims.
Senior BJP leaders had been among the many most frequent purveyors of hate speech. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led with 86 speeches, adopted by Prime Minister Modi with 67, and Residence Minister Amit Shah with 58 cases. Shah was famous to have claimed throughout one election speech that when the Samajwadi Occasion ruled Uttar Pradesh, energy provide was uninterrupted throughout Ramzan however not throughout Janmashtami.
The report highlights the function of social media in amplifying these messages. Of the 1,165 documented occasions, 995 had been both shared or reside streamed on platforms akin to Fb, YouTube, Instagram, and X (previously Twitter). Fb hosted the bulk with 495 hate speech movies, whereas YouTube carried 211. As of February 6, 2025, solely three of the reported movies had been eliminated by Fb, whereas 98.4% remained accessible regardless of clear violations of neighborhood requirements.
The BJP has strongly rejected the findings. Occasion spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill advised CNN: “At the moment’s India doesn’t want any certification from any ‘anti-India studies business’ which is run by vested pursuits to prejudice and dent India’s picture.”
The analysis additionally revealed regarding patterns within the content material of those speeches, with practically half together with conspiracy theories akin to “love jihad” and “land jihad” – claims about Muslims allegedly making an attempt to take over Hindu land or manipulate Hindu girls into marriage. The report documented 259 speeches advocating armed mobilisation and 274 particularly concentrating on non secular websites, primarily mosques.
The Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS), led by Dhananjay Desai—a person accused within the 2014 homicide of a Muslim tech skilled—expanded its operations, coordinating 19 hate speech occasions. Smaller teams such because the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), Rashtriya Hindu Sher Sena, Shiv Shakti Akhada, and Shri Ram Sena additionally contributed to spreading anti-Muslim and anti-Christian propaganda.
“This is not random bigotry – it’s orchestrated fearmongering that has already led to assaults on mosques, church buildings, and communities. The silence of our establishments, together with the Presidency and the Courts, within the face of such blatant requires violence marks a harmful departure from our constitutional values,” mentioned Dayal
The report highlighted the Election Fee of India’s response to communal campaigning throughout the elections. Slightly than straight addressing candidates making offensive feedback, the Fee despatched notices to celebration presidents – in BJP’s case to J.P. Nadda, and in Congress’s case to Mallikarjun Kharge.
One notable exception to the nationwide development was Karnataka, which noticed a 20% decline in hate speech incidents following the Congress celebration’s victory within the state elections, changing the earlier BJP authorities. Nonetheless, even opposition-ruled states weren’t totally immune, with Himachal Pradesh witnessing a 269% spike in hate speech incidents, principally pushed by far-right teams.
The India Hate Lab, a challenge below the Washington DC-based Heart for the Research of Organized Hate, defines hate speech in line with the United Nations framework, which considers any communication that assaults or makes use of discriminatory language based mostly on an individual’s faith. Regardless of India’s authorized prohibitions in opposition to hate speech below a number of sections of its penal code, consultants recommend that the judiciary’s reluctance to recognise hate speech offences has contributed to its proliferation.
Anas Tanwir, a lawyer and founding father of the Indian Civil Liberties Union, famous that the judiciary has didn’t take concrete motion in opposition to hate speech “regardless of clear prohibitions below varied legal guidelines in India.”
