Hindutva activist Kajal Hindusthani, notorious for her speeches targeting Muslims, delivered another hate-filled address at a New York event, using slurs like “Abdul,” “zombies,” and “enemies of Hindus,” and comparing Muslims to demons from Hindu mythology.
Speaking at an event organised by a right-wing Hindutva group in New York, Kajal Shingala used pejorative terms like “Abdul” and “zombies” to refer to Muslims, labeling them as “enemies of Hindus” and comparing them to demons from Hindu mythology, specifically invoking the term “Mahishasura” to further dehumanise the community.
Earlier, a diverse coalition of religious and civil rights organisations, including Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) NC chapter, Indian American Muslim Council, the Sikh Coalition, and Muslims for Social Justice, called for the cancellation of Kajal Hindusthani’s events in the U.S.
Responding to opposition to her visit to the U.S., Kajal Hindusthani said, “It’s everyone’s America, Mullo ki baap ka America thodi hai” (America doesn’t belong to the fathers of ‘Mullahs’), a remark that uses “Mullo,” a term often deployed as a pejorative to stereotype and demean Muslims as backward, oppressive, or alien.
Calling Muslims “zombies,” she said, “Is zombie se ladega to milke karna padega” (If we have to fight this zombie, we must do it together), dehumanising Muslims and inciting collective hatred and violence against an entire religious community.
She claimed that only “Chhatrapati Shivaji’s ideology could establish a Hindu Rashtra in Bharat where Hindus would be truly safe.”
“Muslim population is growing, so where will Hindus go?” she asked.
She attempted to instill fear by claiming that “the bungalows you build in India will be occupied by Abduls,” stereotyping Muslim men as hyper-reproductive and invasive, alleging they “father multiple children like soldiers produce an army.”
She further targeted Muslim actors like Salman Khan, accusing him of “trapping Hindu women,” and Saif Ali Khan, pointing to his marriages to Hindu women and the names of his children “Taimur and Jehangir, Sara and Ibrahim,” to suggest a conspiracy of religious conversion.
She alleged that Muslim men are receiving “funding from oil-producing countries and from within India” to lure and convert Hindu women, an inflammatory narrative aimed at provoking fear and communal division.
Her speech reflects a continuation of her earlier rhetoric, in which she has claimed to be jailed for “fighting for Hindutva,” while promoting conspiracy theories such as “love jihad” and “land jihad.”
She repeatedly called on Hindus to remain vigilant against what she portrays as existential threats from Muslims, reinforcing a narrative of fear and communal hostility.
Alarmingly, her hate-filled speeches were met with applause from a large Indian-American crowd at the event, reflecting a growing normalisation of anti-Muslim rhetoric among sections of the diaspora.
Earlier, New York Mayor Eric Adams abruptly canceled his scheduled appearance at a Queens event featuring Kajal Hindusthani, after her participation sparked outrage across religious communities in both the United States and India.
Kajal Hindusthani, who also goes by the name Kajal Shingala according to her personal website, has emerged as one of the most controversial figures in contemporary Hindu nationalism.
Widely described as a symbol of “hate politics,” Kajal Shingala is known for delivering inflammatory speeches targeting Indian Christians and Muslims, often laced with slurs and calls for violence, economic boycotts, and the social exclusion of religious minorities.
She was arrested in April 2023 for a particularly vitriolic hate speech that sparked anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat state.
One D.C.-based research organization, India Hate Lab, found that she gave more hate speeches in 2023 than any other Hindu nationalist figure.
Out of her 35 total speeches, nine explicitly incited violence against Christians and Muslims.
Kajal identifies herself as an entrepreneur, research analyst, debater, social activist, nationalist, and a “proud Indian” on her Twitter bio.
She has more than 2 lakh followers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is a regular at events organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
