RISING TIDE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN INDIA

Mon 24 March 2025:

In a country that prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy, India’s Muslim population faces growing marginalisation and discrimination, according to multiple reports documenting a sharp rise in Islamophobic rhetoric and incidents across the nation.

A recent report by the Washington-based research group India Hate Lab revealed that instances of hate speech against minorities in India jumped by 74% in 2024, with Muslims being the primary target. According to the report, 98.5% of recorded hate speech instances were directed against Muslims, with such incidents peaking during the country’s national elections.

The report documented 1 165 instances of hate speech in 2024 alone, noting that politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were among the most frequent purveyors of such rhetoric.

“Hate speech patterns in 2024 also revealed a deeply alarming surge in dangerous speech compared to 2023, with both political leaders and religious figures openly inciting violence against Muslims,” the India Hate Lab report stated. “This included calls for outright violence, calls to arms, the economic boycott of Muslim businesses, the destruction of Muslim residential properties and the seizing or demolition of Muslim religious structures.”

BJP-Governed States as Hotbeds

The report highlighted that 79.9% of hate speech events occurred in states governed by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its coalition partners. Three BJP-ruled states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh — accounted for nearly half of all recorded hate speech events in 2024.

This pattern was also observed in earlier years. According to a 2023 report by the same organization, 75% of anti-Muslim hate speech events took place in BJP-ruled states, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh being the top three states for such incidents.

Kashmir Observer head journalist Nazir Ganaie points to the political marginalisation of Muslims as a significant concern: “The current government, headed by Prime Minister Modi, doesn’t have any member from the Muslim community. This is supposed to be the world’s largest democracy and you don’t have a single Muslim leader part of the government. This tells you about the current status”.

This exclusion is particularly striking given that Muslims constitute approximately 14% of India’s population, making them the country’s largest minority group.

The roots of anti-Muslim sentiment in India run deep. Al Jazeera reports that in 1992, Hindu nationalists destroyed the 16th-century Babri Mosque, triggering nationwide riots that killed about 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

In 2002, when Modi was chief minister of Gujarat state, communal violence erupted after 59 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire that was blamed on Muslims. Modi was accused of doing little to stop the subsequent violence against Muslims.

More recently, the BJP’s 2019 citizenship law was widely seen as discriminatory toward Muslims. Human Rights Watch reported that riots in New Delhi following the law’s enactment killed 53 people, mostly Muslims, and injured over 200.

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Normalisation of Hate Speech

“We have seen in all these years the rise of these incidents. This has posed a serious challenge in society as well as in political circles,” notes Ganaie. “You have certain things on record from known figures who go on the record speaking against Muslims and Islam. This actually strengthens Islamophobia in this country, which is very diverse otherwise.”

The India Hate Lab report supports this observation, noting that anti-Muslim hate speech has been normalized and become part of India’s socio-political sphere. The report documented that 63% of hate speech events in 2023 referenced Islamophobic conspiracy theories, including notions of “love jihad,” “land jihad,” “halal jihad,” and “population jihad” — all of which have been debunked by government data.

The spread of Islamophobia extends beyond political rhetoric into cultural domains. Propaganda films like “The Kashmir Files,” which has been criticised for demonising Muslims, received endorsement from Prime Minister Modi.

Additionally, there have been numerous reports of attacks on mosques, including the demolition of a 300-year-old mosque in Uttar Pradesh to make way for a highway.

Freedom House, which rates countries on political rights and civil liberties, has classified India as “Partly Free” with a score of 63/100. In its country profile, Freedom House notes: “While India is a multiparty democracy, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting the Muslim population”.

Government Response

The BJP has consistently rejected allegations of Islamophobia and hate speech. Following the release of the India Hate Lab report, BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill told CNN that India has a “very strong legal system which is structured to maintain peace, order and ensure non-violence at any cost”.

“Today’s India does not need any certification from any ‘anti-India reports industry’ which is run by vested interests to prejudice and dent India’s image,” Shergill added.

However, rights groups maintain that minorities, especially Muslims, have faced increased discrimination and attacks since Modi’s government came to power in 2014.

As India continues to navigate its complex social and political landscape, the rising tide of Islamophobia presents a significant challenge to the country’s democratic values and secular constitution. The pattern of increasing hate speech, particularly during election periods, raises concerns about the future of religious harmony in one of the world’s most diverse nations.