INDIA
‘Politicians Account for 56% Hate Speeches, Religious Leaders Only 22%’
A recent report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, a non-profit and non-governmental organisation, has confirmed 72 reported incidents of hate crimes (55) and hate speech (17) against religious minorities in the first quarter of 2024 in India.
The Union government is empowered to notify religious minorities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. As per it, Muslims (14.2 percent), Christians (2.3 percent), Sikhs (1.7 percent), Buddhists (0.7 percent), Jains (0.4 percent) and Zoroastrians (0.006 percent) have been notified as religious minorities.
As per the report, the violence against religious minorities in India has now attained an “institutional character”. This is because it is carried out by State actors frequently, and where non-State actors are the perpetrators, they do so with the open and tacit support of State officials and agencies.
As per the report, the alleged primary factor behind the incidents was the religious identity of the victim, provocations during religious processions and celebrations of festivals.
What is the framework for hate speech?
The report does not use the word ‘hate speech’ which is defined by the UN Strategy and Plan of Action as “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender and other identify factors”.
It should be noted that there is no universal definition of hate speech under international human rights law.
Hate speech is carried out by State actors frequently, and where non-State actors are the perpetrators, they do so with the open and tacit support of State officials and agencies.
The report rather uses the term ‘hate crime’ which encompasses hate speech as well. As per the report, hate crime is a criminal act committed against individuals because of their race, religion, colour, national origin, sexual orientation or other personal traits.
Calls to violence are outlawed under various statutes in India, including the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860. Hate speech incidents could be tackled Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc) and 295A (outraging religious feelings) of the IPC and under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Reasons behind the incidents
As per the report, the religious identity of the victim is a major reason behind the incidents. The report finds that 83.3 percent reported victims of hate speech violence are male, while only 16.7 are female.
In one reported incident, a 13-year-old Muslim boy was attacked with a knife because of his religious identity in the Muravpura area of Jaipur. In the first information report (FIR) registered by the local police, it was stated that religious slurs had been used against him by a group of boys.
Since December 2021, Muslim girls have been barred from entering their pre-university in Udupi, Karnataka. On February 5, 2022, the Karnataka government issued a Government Order stating that all government schools will follow a prescribed dress code.
The hijab ban eventually led to the closure of many educational institutions indefinitely and in some cases created serious safety concerns for Muslim female students who were attacked for wearing hijabs.
When the aggrieved Muslim girl students approached the Karnataka High Court, the court upheld the ban. When it was challenged before the Supreme Court, they gave a split verdict on October 13, 2022.
Eventually, the new government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah last year indicated his willingness to withdraw the ban. While the status of the ban remains unknown, a report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties has found that more than 400 Muslim female students were denied entry or were suspended as a consequence of the hijab ban.
While many female students changed their schools, or dropped out, some of them lost their academic year while waiting for the Supreme Court to form a larger Bench to hear their grievances.
In January 2023, the Hindu College in the Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh denied entry to Muslim female students cladded in the hijab and burqa. The students alleged that the college administration had compelled them to remove their headscarves at the university entrance.
The report also finds that there is a growing phenomenon where religious festivals are increasingly becoming weaponised by Hindutva groups to target religious minorities. In a growing number of cases, the identity of the victim is grouped along with the celebrations of festivals and religious processions taken out during festivals.
For instance, during the consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, there were nine incidents of violence reported on January 22, 2024 as per the report. The consecration was followed by large-scale processions and celebrations across the country. Six incidents of violence were reported after the consecration.
The alleged primary factor behind the incidents of hate speech is the religious identity of the victim, provocations during religious processions and celebrations of festivals.
Similarly, around the Holi festival in March, seven incidents of violence were reported. In Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man along with his sister and mother were returning from a doctor’s visit when they were harassed by a mob of men celebrating Holi.
In a video that went viral on social media, the mob was heard saying: “This is a 70-year old tradition. Don’t you know by now that this will happen if you come to Badi Bazar?”
It has been reported that the Hindu mob tried to beat the man when he resisted the attack. The men also tried touching his mother and sister inappropriately and raised Hindu religious chants such as “Har Har Mahadev” and “Jai Shree Ram”.
Following the circulation of the video, the local police registered a case under various sections of the IPC. One of the assailants was identified as Aniruddha while the three others were minors. They were eventually arrested.
In another reported case, a Muslim auto-rickshaw driver was brutally assaulted and beaten and colour was forcefully applied on him by a group of Hindus celebrating Holi in a gated colony ‘Champaner Society’ in Ahmedabad. The group after learning the identity of the rickshaw driver allegedly set his auto-rickshaw on fire and shouted Islamaphobic slurs.
Apart from these factors, other alleged motivations that continue to be a driving force behind violence and hate speech are religious conversions, cow slaughter and disputes over places of worship.
On February 8, Haldwani Municipal Corporation demolished Maryam Masjid and Abdul Razzaq Zakariya Madrasa in Banbhoolpura locality in an anti-enroachment drive. As a consequence, clashes broke out between police officials and locals following which a curfew and shoot-at-sight orders were imposed by the government.
Reportedly, seven people were killed, 31 were arrested and over 90 were detained. The local police registered an unnamed FIR against 5,000 individuals. However, the estimates of those killed and injured are much higher than the State’s estimate, the report suggests.
The fact-finding report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights has found that the demolitions were carried out in the backdrop of the “land jihad” propaganda in Uttarakhand.
The state government led by Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami and radical right-wing groups have constantly created divisive discourse in the name of protecting Uttarakhand’s “devibhoomi” (land of the gods).
Last year, on May 26, two youths, one Hindu and another Muslim, were involved in the abduction of a minor Hindu girl in Purola block of Uttarkashi district. Although the police registered an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, 2012, the incident was given a communal makeover by the Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan (DRA), a right-wing Hindu group. It circulated posters across the district asking Muslims to leave the town.
The DRA even called a Hindu mahapanchayat for the protection of “sisters, daughters and ancestral heritage” against Muslims. As a consequence, 44 shops belonging to Muslims were closed. Posters threatening “love jihadis” with dire consequences if they do not vacate their shops were found in Purola block and Barkot.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliated Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its young-wing Bajrang Dal, and Bhairav Sena supported these anti-Muslim protests. Reportedly, they sent a letter to the Tehri district magistrate giving an ultimatum to the ‘people of a particular community’ to leave Jaunpur Ghati (valley) and certain towns of Uttarakhand.
The report finds that 83.3 percent reported victims of hate speech violence are male, while only 16.7 are female.
According to the letter, “members of a particular community are continuously roaming around the villages in the garb of ragpickers, ice cream sellers etc. Due to which, the threat to our beti, choti, and roti as well as the heritage of our ancestors is constantly rising.”
Previously, Hindu Yuva Vahini had organised a dharam sansad on December 19, 2021 in Delhi where hate speeches calling for organised violence against Muslims were made.
A similar event was organised from December 17–19, 2021 by Yati Narsinghanand in Haridwar. However, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy in Shaheen Abdulla versus Union of India & Ors (2022) directed police and authorities to immediately and suo moto register cases against hate speech even if a complaint is not filed.
The Order highlighted that Sections 153A, 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 505 (statement inducing to public mischief) and 295A of the IPC can be invoked to book hate mongers.
Any violation of these directions will attract contempt, the court’s Order stated. In furtherance of this, an FIR against the organiser was registered and a chargesheet has been filed. In many of the states including Uttarakhand, anti-religious conversion laws have been introduced.
Since 2014, instances of cow lynching have increased exponentially in BJP-ruled states as per the statistics by IndiaSpent database, which records cow vigilantism violence. The data indicates that about 97 percent of such incidents have been reported since the BJP came to power in 2014.
These attacks are often carried out by far-right groups such as the VHP, Bajrang Dal and local gau rakshak samitis (cow protection committees). A significant number of victims involve Dalit and Muslim men.
In 2018, Tehseen Poonawalla and Tushar Gandhi filed public interest litigations seeking directions from the Supreme Court for the Union and state governments to deal with the issue of cow violence. One of the issues raised before the court was that many cow protection legislations allowed individuals to take action in case of violation of any provisions.
The legislation gave immunity from any criminal prosecution if such actions were taken in good faith, for instance, Section 14 of The Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995. The court, however, did not go into the constitutionality of the provisions and focused on implementing preventive measures.
A Bench of former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Mishra and comprising A.M. Khanwilkar and the present CJI Dr D.Y. Chandrachud pronounced its judgment on the matter on July 17, 2018.
It issued extensive preventive and remedial measures to the Union and state governments. State governments are required to designate a senior police officer, not below the rank of superintendent of police, as the nodal officer in each district. The nodal officer shall be assisted by one officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police in the district to take measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.
The police were directed to register a FIR under Section 153A of the IPC along with relevant provisions against persons who disseminate “irresponsible and explosive messages and videos of having content which is likely to incite mob violence and lynching of any kind.”
One of the important directives was for the Union and state governments to broadcast on radio, television and other media platforms including official websites that lynching and mob violence of any kind would invite serious consequences under the law.
The report also finds that there is a growing phenomenon where religious festivals are increasingly becoming weaponised by Hindutva groups to target religious minorities.
For remedial measures, the court directed the police to immediately register an FIR if an incident occurs and provided that the nodal officer must be duly informed.
The court also directed state governments to prepare a lynching or mob violence victim compensation scheme in light of Section 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure within one month from the date of the judgment.
Five years have passed since the judgement was pronounced and there are still legitimate concerns about compliance with the directions. Last year, the Union government informed the Supreme Court that 28 states have appointed nodal officers. Only last year did states such as Madhya Pradesh have approved a victim compensation scheme.
In all these reported incidents, hate crimes could be categorised as physical violence and incidents of harassment that may not give rise to physical violence.
The highest number of incidents reported is that involving physical assault (15) followed by cases of intimidation and harassment (13) and attacks on property (5). Whereas, several incidents involving a combination of the categories were also reported. This showcases the multifaceted nature of hate crimes.
Who contributes to hate speech?
As per the report, political leaders (56 percent) are the primary contributors to hate speeches in India followed by religious leaders (22 percent). The medium used to make hate speeches are public gatherings and rallies, press conferences and assembly sessions.
In a reported incident, BJP Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari called a Sikh police officer in Bengal “Khalistani”.
During the northeast Delhi communal violence in the backdrop of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, (CAA), 2019 and the proposed National Register for Citizens (NRC) on February 23, 2020, it has been reported that the protests coincided with the Delhi assembly elections where alleged hate speeches and divisive narratives were made against anti-CAA protestors by BJP legislators Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma.
In one of the rallies, Thakur instigated the participants to raise incendiary slogans. When he said, “Desh ke gaddaron ko (the traitors of the country), the crowd responded “goli maaro saloon ko (shoot them).” Gaddar was apparently a reference to the anti-CAA protestors.
The crowd’s response was a throwback to the statement first made by Mishra during a pro-CAA march in the city’s Connaught Place on December 20, 2020 when Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was imposed.
On February 23, 2020, Mishra called a pro-CAA rally at Maujpur traffic signal, close to Jafrabad metro station where at least 500 people were staging protest against the CAA and gave a three-day ultimatum to the Delhi police to remove the protestors blocking the traffic at Jafrabad and nearby roads. He warned that he would not let another ‘Shaheen Bagh’ be created in Delhi. In the evening, stone pelting incidents were reported near Maujpur.
BJP leader and member of Parliament from West Delhi, Parvesh Verma used another favourite trope of the Hindu Right, the alleged treatment meted out to Kashmiri Pandits by Kashmiri Muslims to rile up the crowd against the protestors. He said, “They will enter your house … abduct your sisters and mothers, rape them, kill them the way militants had treated Kashmiri Pandits.”
The men also tried touching his mother and sister inappropriately and raised Hindu religious chants such as “Har Har Mahadev” and “Jai Shree Ram”.
He added, “Lakhs of people gather there (Shaheen Bagh) and this fire can anytime reach households of Delhi… People of Delhi need to think about it and decide… That’s why today is the moment.”
Conclusion
There are no systematic efforts made to record or document the ever-increasing widespread hate crimes against religious minorities.
While atrocities against Dalits are recorded under the Schedule Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, there is no similar legislative framework for other religious minorities.
The findings of the report have also corroborated the report of Washington-based India Hate Lab. Last year, on May 1, the United States Department of State released an annual report on the status of religious freedom in India, titled India 2022 International Religious Freedom Report. The report extensively tabulated incidents of violence in 2022 against religious minorities in India, including killings, assault and intimidation.
In a reported incident, BJP Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari called a Sikh police officer in Bengal “Khalistani”.
The report found discriminatory practices to which members of religious minority communities are subjected. It quoted the Freedom in the World report that rated India as ‘partly’ free on account of the “discriminatory policies and the rise in persecution affecting the Muslim population”.
The report by India Hate Lab has warned 2024 to be a ‘critical year’ for hate speech in India.
Gursimran Kaur Bakshi is a staff writer at The Leaflet
Did Hate Speech Deliver Victories For BJP?
A Constituency-Wise Analysis
On April 21, 2024, Prime Minister Modi referred to India’s Muslims as “infiltrators”. On June 4, the BJP lost the constituency where he said those words. People of Banswara preferred another leader signalling a refreshing return to people’s politics, the victor was an Adivasi leader from the Bharatiya Adivasi Party who won the seat with over 80,000 votes!
Rajasthan’s Banswara witnessed a high voltage campaign starting third round of electioneering clearly after the outcome of the first two rounds had not gone the regime’s way. On Sunday, April 22, 2024, Modi, delivering a speech that was worse than his own set worst standards slurred and stigmatised Muslims. The nationwide outrage – including 20,000 complaints to the Election Commission of India for violating laws – did not stop the surge of venom that he continued to utter through the campaign.
In the April 22 speech, in a swipe at the much hailed manifesto of the Indian National Congress (INC) Modi said, ‘they’ will take away women’s Mangalsutras. In his campaign, PM Modi seemed to be conveying to voters that Congress-led governments in the past have given Muslims preferential treatment. He even reportedly referred to the community Muslim community disparagingly as those with “more babies”, saying “Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children. It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?” However, it seems the voters in Banswara did not quite get swayed by this rhetoric. BJP saw a resounding defeat in the Banswara with the new and rising Bharatiya Adivasi Party’s Rajkumar Roat seeing a convincing victory with a margin of 820831 votes over BJP’s Mahendrajeetsingh Malviya. The BAP’s Rajkumar Roat defeated the former state cabinet minister and BJP’s incumbent from Banswara, Kanak Lal Katara.
The hate-filled speech also saw a detailed complaint filed with the Election Commission of India by the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) within days of the April 22 speech.
In its complaint, CJP stated that Modi’s speech contained targeted and communal slurs against the Muslim community, which led to a polarised voting environment. The complaint cites the Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of Peoples Act, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code, and urged the ECI to take strict action to ensure free and fair elections and to stop hate-mongering against the Muslim community. A few days after, a notice by the ECI was sent to BJP President JP Nadda and notably not Narendra Modi for his speech.
Also, Sabrang India has been documenting hate speech by BJP leaders and affiliates across the country over the past decade that the party has assumed a brute majority. The BJP set forth an extravagant star campaign across India, unleashing its big leaders including PM Modi, chief ministers such as Yogi Adityanath, Himanta Biswa Sarma, influencers, organisers, and even cynical time-tested tactic of this majoritarian outfit, the voters did not give BJP a victory. Hate speeches did not seem to have achieved the goal.
In our analysis we have noted that it is in the post 2019 BJP’s second term in the centre from 2019 onwards has marked a sharp rise in hate speeches. These hate speeches, targeted towards religious minorities, have been a means of getting votes by polarising the environment on the BJP’s part.
How did this tactic fare for the BJP in 2024 in the 18th Lok Sabha elections? The BJP seems to be struggling to form a government despite having earned the largest number of seats, they have lost significant support in a number of significant seats.
Sabrang India tracks these developments further below to check whether hate speech worked or failed.
In Maharashtra, in at least 8 seats where hate speech was made, the BJP saw a resounding loss. UP too saw a loss in four such seats, and Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar saw seats which didn’t respond to communal speech as well.
Rajasthan
Apart from Banswara, one more district in the state saw a resounding defeat where star campaigners were involved. In Barmer, INC’s Umeda Ram Beniwal won against BJP’s Kailash Choudhary by a substantial margin of 417,943 votes. In Barmer, religious preacher Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, and supporter of the call for ‘Akhand Bharat’, had given a speech invoking the bogey of ‘love jihad.’ He urged Hindu brothers to remain ‘vigilant’ against conversion attempts and told Hindu sisters to be alert, regarding people doing ‘love jihad.’ Shastri, who has been accused of assaulting a Dalit person. Had also called for the demolition of mosques in Kashi and Mathura.
Uttar Pradesh
In Ballia, the results also showed a similar rejection of divisive rhetoric as the Samajwadi Party’s Sanatan Pandey defeated BJP’s Neeraj Shekhar by 43,384 votes. The district in UP had seen communal speeches, with the district’s BJP MLA Surendra Narayan Singh asserting that those who refuse to chant Vande Mataram have no right to live in India and should be sent to Pakistan.
“Chanting Vande Mataram may be an emotion. But if you are living in India, then Vande Mataram is a must. It is in Sanskrit and can be translated into Urdu too. Those who do not want to chant it by heart have no right to live in India. If it were up to me, I would send such people to Pakistan within a week after making their passports.”
Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal too had seen a starry campaign by the state’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath himself, who tried to rouse sentiments of the voters by saying that the Congress will distribute their wealth and give it to ‘Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators’ and that the Congress will allow cow slaughter for Muslims.
Sambhal had also seen instances of horrifying narratives of voter suppression against people of the Muslim community. However, the results spelled a disaster for the BJP whose candidate lost to Samajwadi Party’s Zia ur Rehman by 121494 votes. Jaunpur and Barabanki too had witnessed charged speech in both places by Narendra Modi, however they both saw the defeat of BJP as Samajwadi Party and the INC won in these respective constituencies.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra witnessed over eight districts which saw a strong campaign which communally charged speech which witnessed the fall of BJP in the election results.
In Maharashtra’s Nanded, despite a campaign marked by hate speech in June, INC candidate Chavan Basantrao Valwan defeated BJP’s Chikhalikar Prataprao Govindrao by 59,442 votes. Nanded had seen a charged communal speech by serial hate offender Kajal Hindustani, a social media influencer notorious and popular for her communal speech, having seen various cases filed against her earlier. On May 4, she joined a rally where she spoke against secularism encouraging the Hindu community to do ‘love and land jihad.’
“In the name of secularism, you are being played. Your brother is sitting like a butcher and is chopping you. In nine states and in many districts, Hindus have become a minority. After the railway and the defence, Muslims own the most land. Our women, temples, land and gau mata are not safe. Nor is the Hindu safe in this country. You have only one nation. Other Hindus are running to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The Indian government has promised them citizenship. But where will you go? The Hindu is running from here, from Assam, Bengal etc. Till when and where will you run? How much will you run? Our jihadi brother, he is dreaming of Ghazwa e Hind. What is Ghazwa e Hind? Making India an Islamic nation. They are working according to a terrorist, Talibani ideology. What are we doing? We are only raising slogans. Till when will you stay like this, watching your sister get targeted by ‘love-jihad?’ You get prepared, you too do ‘love-land jihad’, do religious conversions.”
Solapur in Maharashtra experienced a high voltage and shrill campaign by the BJP aimed at stirring communal sentiments. Yet INC candidate Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde won by over 74,197 votes against BJP’s Ram Vitthal Satpute. Solapur had also seen BJP’s “star campaigner” and MLA from Telangana’s Ghoshamahal constituency T Raja Singh give an anti-Muslim speech on. In the speech he was seen urging the state’s Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, to avoid seeking votes from Muslims and instead focus on those who “save Gaumata.” He further called for a boycott of halal-certified goods and demanded the use of bulldozers for demolitions in Maharashtra. “We had heard of land jihad and love jihad. Now we hear of vote jihad,” the MLA stated, referencing Salman Khurshid’s comment encouraging voters to commit to ‘vote jihad.’ He warned against continuing such practices, asserting, “There was a time when ‘you’ did a lot of jihad. Now is not that time anymore because if you do jihad now, Modiji will hammer you (thok denge).”
Maharashtra’s Kolhapur which had witnessed a fiery speech by VHP leader, too was lost by the BJP as Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji of the Indian National Congress emerged victorious, clinching the win with a substantial margin of 154,964 votes against Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik of the Shiv Sena. On May 20, Surendra Jain, General Secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), delivered a provocative speech in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, rife with conspiracy theories aimed at Muslims. Jain asserted, “Wherever Hindus are a minority, they are in danger,” and stoked fears about Muslims and Christians allegedly funnelling money from abroad to convert Hindus. He claimed that Hindus were being deceitfully converted to Christianity, portraying both Muslim and Christian communities as aggressors against Hindus.
The 2024 elections too saw communally charged speeches by candidate Navneet Rana in Maharashtra as well as for the campaign of BJP’s Madhavi Latha Kompella in Hyderabad. However, not did Navneet Rana’s speeches result in little effect, she also lost her constituency in Amaravati that she was contesting for, as the BJP candidate from the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency faced defeat and Balwant Baswant Wankhade of the Indian National Congress won the seat, beating the BJP candidate noted for stirring communal sentiments, Navneet Rana, by a margin of 19,731 votes.
Sangli, which saw virulent hate speech by BJP’s star campaigner who has been noted to have over a 100 FIRs against him, T Raja Singh, saw the victory of an independent candidate named Vishal Prakashbapu Patil over the BJP’s Sanjay Kaka Patil. Patil, a Congressman had fought as an Independent after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Udhav Thackeray had refused the Sangli seat to the Indian National Congress (INC). On June 6, two days after the results he became the 100th winner for the grand old party as he re-joined the Congress after his victory. Patil won by a margin of 100053 votes. In Sangli, T Raja Singh has again given an extremely inflammatory speech against Muslims, where he said, “Shoot in the chest of people who do ‘love-jihad’.” He had even reportedly encouraged Hindus to pick up arms at an event in the Maharashtra district reportedly organised by Sakal Hindu Samaj. Yet, as seen in the results these theatrical attempts did little to sway the voters.
Despite seeing a rally by PM Modi, Maharashtra’s Nashik was claimed by Rajabhau (Parag) Prakash Waje of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) with a margin of 162,001 votes, surpassing Shiv Sena’s Godse Hemant Tukaram. On May 15, Nashik saw a high-profile rally by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that Congress plans to divide the union budget into separate allocations for Hindus and Muslims. Modi asserted that during a previous regime, Congress intended to allocate 15% of the union budget exclusively for Muslims, a plan that he said was halted due to his opposition as the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. “The Congress regime at that time had wanted to spend 15% of the entire budget of India on Muslims only. They had to shelve the plan after strong opposition from me in my role as the Gujarat Chief Minister. But now they are bent on reintroducing their previous agendas,” Modi stated. He further warned that if Congress is elected, it would create two budgets based on religion, a move he vowed to prevent. “If Congress is elected, it will make two budgets on the basis of religion. I will not allow the Budget to be divided as a ‘Hindu budget’ and ‘Muslim budget’ and will not allow quotas based on religion.”
The state’s capital also saw UP CM Adityanath come to Mumbai to campaign for BJP’s Sudhakar Tukaram Sudhawale. He spoke about the how the ‘temple is built, and the BJP will move towards Mathura as well and urged voters to vote for ‘Kamal.’ However, BJP’s candidate lost to INC’s Varsha Gaekwad by 16514 votes. Similarly, Latur had witnessed a rally by PM Modi and it was there that he had claimed Congress had a ‘stamp of Muslim league.’ The BJP lost to INC’s Kalge Shivaji Bandappa by 609021 votes.
Jharkhand
In Lohardaga, INC candidate Sikhdeo Bhagat secured a victory, defeating BJP’s Samer Oraon. Just a month ago, Loharadaga had seen a similar rally by Modi on May 4 spewing hate. The BJP leader there made several controversial and reportedly inflammatory statements against opposition parties. He accused them of encouraging “infiltrators” to settle on Adivasi land, claiming that these actions threaten the rights and resources of indigenous people. “Infiltrators are being encouraged to settle here; they are being allowed to grab the land of Adivasi people.” He further raised the bogey of love-jihad and spoke about how these people target women and introduced charged terms like ‘land jihad’ and ‘love jihad,’ as well as ‘vote-jihad’, and claimed that the Congress party had aimed to provide religion-based reservations to Muslims, “They want to go against the Constitution of India and give reservation to the Muslims.” However, it seems that this could not get the intended results for the NDA with the BJP losing a solid defeat with 139,138 votes in Lohardaga. In Jharkhand’s Singhbhum too the PM Modi had taken out a rally, discussing how ‘they’ will give people’s wealth to ‘their’ (Congress’) vote bank. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Joba Majhi defeated the BJP candidate by 168402 votes.
Bihar
It seems the communal rhetoric of the BJP or its allies could not work in Bihar’s Gaya either as, Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) emerged victorious with 101,812 votes over RJD’s Kumar Sarvjeet in Bihar’s Gaya. Just a month before voting, Gaya had seen Pravin Togadia, the leader and president of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad, deliver a highly charged speech in Gaya, Bihar, on April 3. In his speech, Togadia invoked tropes against Muslims, saying that Islamic forces have historically remained undefeated globally and India is the sole exception for them. He claimed, “For 500 years, the flag of Islam flew over India’s heart, and India stands as the only example in the world where Islamic rule was overthrown and replaced with saffron flags. This was not achieved through charity, donation, or treaty, but through our forefathers’ blood and swords.”
This is not to say that hate has been entirely overcome as the BJP, with its formidable RSS cadres still won 239 seats. However it does mean that a successful focussed campaign by the people supporting a credible opposition can ensure that issues that dominate an election campaign and results reflect the needs and aspirations of wide sections of the people.
Broken Dreams, Shattered Hearts Made BJP Lose 'Prestigious' Ayodhya
Over 1,100 shops and houses have been demolished on the 13-km stretch of Ram Path in Ayodhya.
Lucknow: Raju Nishad and Sumit at Guptar Ghat, a favourite hangout point for locals and tourists in Ayodhya, are busy with post-election result conversations with friends. They are upset as a section of people from across the country have accused them of 'Betraying Lord Ram' and defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the election from the Faizabad (Ayodhya) seat, despite the grand Ram Mandir being established under BJP’s rule. But both have not forgotten the mental trauma they went through when their houses, and shops were demolished. No fair compensation was given, and their land was not acquired at par with the market price then, nobody raised voices for them.
"Thousands of people were rendered homeless and are now living on rent and tents on the road. Our shops and houses. in which we had been living for generations, were bulldozed. Our dreams were snatched. We were happy that Ram had come but not at the cost of our livelihood and houses," an emotional Raju told NewsClick.
Savita, 50, now runs a beauty product shop on the footpath with her ailing husband because the place where she used to sell ayurvedic medicines has now been converted into Ram Janmabhoomi Path. Her house was near Sugriva Fort, just 200 metres from Ram Janmabhoomi, but it fell under the purview of road-widening and was demolished by the authorities. She says she is still in shock and cries till late at night whenever the scene of her house being destroyed flashes before her eyes.
"Today, BJP is facing the result of the atrocities committed against people here in the name of Ram. How can anyone expect that we will still vote for a government that demolished our houses and shops, which was our only source of income? The people who are cursing the people of Ayodhya will realise our pain only when they become homeless," a distraught Savita, who did not get fair compensation for her house, told NewsClick.
Another shopkeeper Anil Mishra, whose decade-old stationary shop was demolished during the Ram Path construction, told NewsClick said that Lallu Singh (the BJP candidate and incumbent MP) never listened to their plight, saying this is a matter for the government and he cannot help them.
"We knocked Lallu Singh's door hundreds of times, pleading that he address our issue and ensure a fair compensation at least, but he never paid attention. Then how do we vote for them? His arrogance is also responsible for his defeat," Mishra told NewsClick.
Over 1,100 shops and houses have been demolished on the 13-km stretch of Ram Path in Ayodhya.
There are half-broken shops on the 13-km stretch of what is now called Ram Path—many had been running for generations by the same family. The shop owners have two complaints: first, the compensation given to them is far below the prevailing market rate and second, they worry about having to repay the loans they have taken from relatives to extend their shops after demolition. While the compensation stands at six times the circle rate, after the Supreme Court of India’s verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi Title suit in 2019, the market rate has gone up by more than 10 times the circle rate.
The incumbent Faizabad MP, Lallu Singh, of the BJP was defeated by Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Awadhesh Prasad in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad in the recent Lok Sabha elections– the constituency in which the Ram Mandir has been built. This has left many shocked, including Singh.
Singh got 499,722 votes compared with SP’s Prasad, who bagged 554,289 votes. The margin of defeat was 54,567.
Singh was previously elected to Parliament in 2014 and 2019 when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance DA bagged 71 and 62, respectively, out of the total 80 seats in UP.
This is significant because Ayodhya is part of the Faizabad constituency, and the Ram Temple was a key electoral pitch for the BJP this time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his first election road show in Ayodhya after offering prayers at the Ram Temple on his first visit to the pilgrim city since the January 22 Pran Pratishtha (consecration ceremony) of Ram Lalla.
While addressing a rally, Modi appealed to voters that he wanted a 400-seat (400 paar) mandate for BJP-led NDA to ensure that Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a "Babri lock" on the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
According to local residents, several senior BJP leaders were allegedly involved in purchasing land in and around Ayodhya through unlawful means, whereas the government was acquiring land from farmers at throwaway prices.
The affected farmers had held several protests and demanded that when farmers of Noida and other places receive hefty amounts for their land acquired by the government for development purposes, in Ayodhya, they received only a meagre amount.
DECODING BJP’S LOSS
SP leader Akhilesh Yadav’s new experiment of fielding a Dalit candidate in a general seat like Faizabad, where Ayodhya is located, has resulted in a major setback to BJP, the reverberations of which will be felt across Uttar Pradesh as well as the entire country, as the saffron party has invested heavily in the temple project since its inception and considers it one of its major electoral achievements.
The reason SP gave a ticket to a Pasi candidate is because the Pasi community has the largest Dalit population in Ayodhya. Prasad, a Pasi, has been a six-time MLA, minister and one of the founding members of SP. In terms of numbers, the Pasi community is considered to be the largest in Ayodhya.
On the other side, the BJP gave Lallu Singh a third chance to become an MP. Singh created controversy, when in a speech he spoke about changing the Constitution, which gave a chance to the opposition to make it a poll issue.
Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi extensively pitched in their rallies that BJP would change the Constitution if it came back to power. They also raised issues like land acquisition, fair compensation to those houses were demolished, and jobs for youth.
With the SP fielding a Dalit face in Faizabad, a slogan coined, 'Na Mathura, na Kashi, abki baar Awadhesh Pashi'. It is believed that not only Dalits but also Other Backward Classes or OBCs, such as Kurmis, got united behind the Dalit candidate.
The success of the SP-Congress alliance in dividing BJP's vote bank is another crucial factor in Prasad's victory. By forming an alliance, the SP and Congress effectively consolidated their support base and attracted voters who might have otherwise leaned towards BJP. The significant presence of approximately five lakh Muslim voters in the constituency, who also rallied behind the INDIA bloc, played a pivotal role in securing the win for the SP candidate.
The victory of Prasad, a Dalit candidate, highlights the support he garnered from over 2.5 lakh Pasis in the constituency, overshadowing BJP's Ram temple narrative in Ayodhya.
Meanwhile, rumours are doing the rounds that devotees visiting Ayodhya should not stay there or purchase prasadam from locals, as a “punishment” for defeating BJP.
