Narendra Modi’s 2024 electoral campaign frequently used hate speech against Muslims and other minorities, said international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch.
“The leadership of Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) repeatedly made statements inciting discrimination, hostility, and violence against marginalized groups during his campaign to win his third consecutive term of office, which began on June 9,” said HRW on Wednesday.
“Indian Prime Minister Modi and BJP leaders made blatantly false claims in their campaign speeches against Muslims and other minority groups,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These inflammatory speeches, amid a decade of attacks and discrimination against minorities under the Modi administration, have further normalized abuses against Muslims, Christians, and others,” she added.
Human Rights Watch said it analysed all 173 campaign speeches by Modi after the election code of conduct took effect on March 16. The code forbids appealing to “communal feelings for securing votes.” In at least 110 speeches, Modi made Islamophobic remarks apparently intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said only promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation.
“…during the campaign, Modi regularly raised fears among Hindus through false claims that their faith, their places of worship, their wealth, their land, and the safety of girls and women in their community would be under threat from Muslims if the opposition parties came to power,” read the HRW press release.
In a widely condemned speech, Modi had described Muslims as “infiltrators” and claimed Muslims had “more children” than other communities, raising the specter that Hindus—about 80 percent of the population—will become a minority in India.
In a speech on 14 May in Koderma, Jharkhand, Modi said that “the idols of our gods are being destroyed” and that “these infiltrators [Muslims] have threatened the security of our sisters and daughters.”
In a May 17 speech in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, he made false claims that the political opposition would harm the newly opened Ram Temple, controversially built atop a razed historical Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. He said that if the opposition alliance came to power, “they will again send Ram Lalla [the Hindu deity Lord Ram] to the tent and they will run a bulldozer over the temple.”
On 7 May, in a speech in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, he falsely said that the opposition Congress Party “intends to give priority to Muslims even in sports. So, Congress will decide who will make the Indian cricket team on the basis of religion.”
“Several other BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and the former minister for information and broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, made speeches pitting Hindus against Muslims, fueling hatred and insecurity among the Hindu population,” the rights watchdog said.
The Election Commission of India failed to take adequate action to respond to these violations, Human Rights Watch alleged.
The Modi government’s actions have violated India’s obligations under international human rights law that prohibit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or religion and require the government to ensure equal protection of the law to everyone, accused the HRW. The government is also obligated to protect religious and other minority populations and to fully and fairly prosecute those responsible for discrimination and violence against them, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Indian government’s claims of plurality and being the ‘mother of democracy’ ring hollow in the face of its abusive anti-minority actions,” Pearson said. “The new Modi government needs to reverse its discriminatory policies, act on violence against minorities, and ensure justice for those affected.”
The HRW also noted that the attacks by Hindu mobs and others against Muslims and other religious minorities have continued since the election campaign period.
