US watchdog documents India election rallies targeting Muslims

US Watchdog Reveals Divisive Campaign Targeting Indian Muslims

Photo : ANI

A US watchdog has documented hundreds of election rallies in India targeting Muslim communities, describing the campaign as hateful at the national level. Despite repeated email requests for comment, spokespeople for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi and the Indian Embassy in Washington have remained silent. Voice of America (VOA) has reached out to the BJP's U.S. lobbying arm for comment.

In response to controversy over his remarks about "infiltrators," Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied making statements about Muslims having more children in a recent interview with a local broadcaster. He emphasized, "I won't do Hindu Muslim. This is my pledge." However, critics remain skeptical of Modi's pledge, especially given his warnings to supporters about alleged plans by the opposition Congress party to redistribute national wealth among Muslims and implement minority quotas, as well as shut down a Hindu temple built during his tenure.

Hindutva Watch, a watchdog organization, has documented at least 10 rallies where Modi and other BJP leaders warned voters about these alleged plans. While not all statements documented by Hindutva Watch amount to hate speech, some are classified as inflammatory, dangerous, or communal. Hate speech is not a crime in India, where communal tensions have long influenced electoral politics in the diverse nation of 1.4 billion people, encompassing eight major religions and 22 official languages.

Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, noted that anti-Muslim rhetoric is integral to the BJP's voter mobilization strategy. Rutgers University Professor Kiran Garimella described the campaign rhetoric as "fear speech," which is echoed in both Indian and US contexts.

However, the concern extends beyond rhetoric for veteran Indian journalist and civil rights activist Ajit Sahi, now advocacy director for the Indian American Muslim Council. Sahi emphasized that in India, such rhetoric is part of a larger organized and financed movement with significant influence. He stated, "If there was just rhetoric, that would be possibly tolerable, but the rhetoric is combined with an organized and deeply financed and widely penetrated movement."

Source: Voice of America