India: Demonization of Religious Minorities
The RSS, BJP and their affiliates take every opportunity to deepen the demonization of religious minorities, and despite legal provisions to punish them mostly they go unpunished
The RSS, BJP and their affiliates take every opportunity to deepen the demonization of religious minorities. Though there are legal provisions to punish hate speeches mostly they go unpunished. Last decade as the communal party is in power, the phenomenon has seen a dangerous downslide, which is leading to negative social perceptions about the religious minorities.
As reflected in the community WhatsApp groups and social attitudes, hating the minorities has become a sort of normal discourse among the large sections of society.
The increasing intensity of spewing hate is the root due to which negative social perceptions are constructed which inturn leads to severe blow to the concept of fraternity and communal amity - one of the three legs of the tripod of the Indian Constitution.
There are newer dog whistles. In fact no more just dog whistles, they are more a call to action. They are built on the existing misconceptions and are add-on to the process of divisiveness.
The perceptions like Mughal kings were outsiders and brought injustice to Hindus, they were temple destroyers, they imposed Islam by force have rapidly been added on to slogans like, ‘Hum Do Hamare do, who Panch unke Pacchis’, (We [Hindus] are two, and they [Muslim] are twenty five), refugee camps housing Muslims were called ‘child production factories’.
The new add-ons are ‘they can be recognized by their clothes, they are killers of our holy mother - the cow, they are luring our girls and women through "love jihad". Now, the "love jihad" is followed by jihad series, the latest being "land jihad" and "vote jihad".
In the wake of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Modi came out with hate speeches by the dozen. As per Human Rights Watch, Modi had made 110 hate speeches in the election period. The report says:
“Modi made Islamophobic remarks intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation.”
Another sample is equally horrifying. Referring to reservations to Muslims as “appeasement” by the Congress, he said:
"This is a part of despicable attempts at Islamisation of India and pushing it towards divisions. When the UPA govt came to power, it made such attempts at that time too. BJP had carried out a massive agitation. So, be it Justice Verma committee report or the Sachar committee report, they were all attempts by Congress to loot the reservation of OBCs, SCs and STs.” (The Times of India, 2024).
The assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra saw the peak of this phenomenon yet again. In Jharkhand, Himant Biswa Sarma of the BJP focused on propaganda of Muslim infiltrators in the state. The BJP issued a very demeaning advertisement, which showed a large Muslim family invading a Hindu household and taking it over.
One knows Jharkhand has no international border, so who are these Muslims taking over the Hindu household?
For a change, the Election Commission got it pulled down but its source and already circulated video may be available at places.
Another hate provoking propaganda was that Muslims marry Adivasi women and take over the Adivasi land. No data is needed to support this kite flying so far it serves the purpose of divisive politics. The slogan given was that the Muslim infiltrators were taking away your Roti, Beti, Mati (Livelihood, daughter, land). This statement was from the Prime Minister of the country!
The core slogan this time was from Yogi Aditya Nath. Batenge to Katenge… (If we are divided we will be butchered). He meant Hindu unity. Backing him up the father organization of BJP, RSSs’ Dattatray Hosabale made it clear:
“The important point is that when Hindus are united, it will be beneficial for all. Unity of Hindus is the Sangh’s lifetime pledge..,”.
Modifying a bit on Adityanath’s ‘Batenge to Katenge’ PM Modi Came up with ‘Ek hain to safe hain’ (If Hindus are united they will be safe) putting forward that the Hindu unity is foundation for keeping them safe from apparently the minorities, because of whom ‘Hindu Khatre mein hai’ (Hindu in Danger).
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis not only focused on "land jihad" and "vote jihad", he went on to call the Bharat Jodo Yatra as the one which had participation of Urban Naxals and ultra left, apart from the other slogans.
The impact of this is shown not only on the polarization and thereby the voting pattern but also on social perceptions, as reflected in the thousands of whatsapp groups and drawing room chats of Hindu Households.
Christophe Jaffrelot, the outstanding scholar focusing on Hindu Nationalism’s rise in particular, quotes from a study conducted by CSDS from March 28 to April 2024 by scholars. The study tried to elicit the opinions of Hindus about how they see Muslims. In an immaculate study, they solicited answers to questions like are Muslims not as trustworthy as anyone else, are they being appeased etc. The study shows the empirical presence of negative perceptions in society overall.
Scholars should also be able to help us how these negative sentiments are worsening over the years and decades. To cap it all, the BJP and Modi are trying to say, as reflected in Modi’s speeches, that they will not indulge in communal rhetoric.
In interviews with journalists, when asked about anti-Muslim speeches during the campaign, Modi responded:
“The day I start talking about Hindu-Muslim [in politics], I will be unfit for public life. I will not do Hindu-Muslim. That is my resolve.”
The gross difference between what one says and what one's actions is so apparent here!
It is these perceptions among Hindus that leads to an atmosphere of hate in the country. The spiral of Hate is worsening by the day, and it leads to ghettoisation on one hand and pushing the Muslim community towards ‘second class citizenship’ on the other.
How to combat this divisiveness?
There is a need to inculcate among the people the alternative narrative which was the base of India’s freedom movement, the narrative which talks of the syncretic traditions of India, the narrative which led to unity of people of all religions to participate in freedom movement, the values of which are enshrined in our Constitution.
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