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Madhya Pradesh: The graph of hate speech spirals as polling day draws close

CJP Team

The push to remain in power is at the heart of political campaigns. In this poll merry-go-round—as dominance at the national level shifted to a party that does not balk from using hate-filled rhetoric— polling day, December 3 will reveal whether this ploy still works.

Two major national parties –the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a diminished Indian National Congress (INC) clash here. The 230 assembly seats are divided into Chambal, Bhopal, Baghelkhand, Mahakoshal, Malwa and other regions. The issue is whether any change in this large, central Indian state will herald some shift in the upcoming, 2024 parliamentary elections. 

CJP is dedicated to finding and bringing to light instances of Hate Speech, so that the bigots propagating these venomous ideas can be unmasked and brought to justice. To learn more about our campaign against hate speech, please become a member. To support our initiatives, please donate now!

Indore, November 2023

This is an incident from November 5. The person, Malini Gaur is also  among  a string of Hindutva hate-offenders. She has been Indore Mayor for 4 times. Recently, in a press- conference a reporter asked her some questions about her responsibilities and role, when she made a hateful statement against the minority sect. The reporter asked why the ‘Nigam’ (municipality) is not allowed in the Muslim areas and why the Muslims are so scared of her family? And why no Muslim wants to put remarks on her liability as a mayor?  

In response, the mayor Malini, who was sharing the stage with other leaders gave a biased explanation. She said ‘I do not require vote of those, who don’t chant ‘Vande Matram’ or ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ while it’s neither a mandatory term nor a fundamental duty of any Indian citizen.  

Balaghat, November 5, 2023

Apparently both the Congress and BJP are fierce political competitive, but just like the tales of harmony, no one has a monopoly over the propaganda to support a propaganda. It takes a certain murky amount of hate to support hate. A congress leader has been reported showed appreciation for an RSS-led march in Balaghat. As reported the leader Madhu Bhagat hailed the RSS volunteers with flowers on a street. The former MP Munjare has accused him of having connections with BJP.

Later, he also gave validations of this to the ‘Punjab Kesari’ publication. 

Chattarpur, November 2, 2023

The “monk” ofBhageshwar Dham, Dhirendra Shastri addressed the Hindu youth and took oath to achieve the target of Hindu-Nation. He also greeted another controversialcompanion T. Raja who took oath to dedicate himself for the forged great resolution of founding a Hindu-Nation. While addressing the throng he said– ‘Do you want your temples to get devastated? Do you want Muslims to eat filthy food and do vulgar activities in your temples and devout destinations? Do you want to suffer like Kashmiri Pandits?’ 

The public shouted, “No’”.

‘Then I request you to support the Sanatani Hindu leaders, who are fighting for you and me.’ He asserted.

He also provoked the public to join their hate-mission in Telangana and instigated them through the sheer fake narrative of ‘Love-Jihad’.   

  1. Raja. assissted him, in a similar vein, “The upcoming war will be the war to establish a Hindu- nation and I will keep raising my voice for it’, he said, while the public intoned the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’

Betul, November 2, 2023

Hindutva-watch has also posted a 20 second video on ‘X’ (Previously Twitter), on November 2, where cow-vigilantes are harassing two Muslim truck drivers in Betul. These persons are linked with the Rashtriya Hindu Sena and they are vehemently pushing the drivers into a car. Hate-speeches are systematically organised to promote such abhorrent incidents.

Betul, October 2023

In Bhaisdehi, Betul, (reported by Hate Detector on October 24) the Vishwa Hindu Parishad organised an event to promote Hindutva conspiracy theories. A right-wing leader delivered a speech laced with distortions.  He even incited the gathering to arm themselves and by imputation be prepared for violence, ‘There should be a weapon in each household! Power-display is crucial! It’s important for the sake of life!’ 

Referring to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, he said, ‘Israel is counted among one of the most powerful countries of the world, then how does Hamas attack Israel? …. When the police break-in their (Muslims) houses, they get swords, guns and pistols but we don’t even keep a baton to kill a snake!’ 

He also incited the love-jihad propaganda to provoke them to purchase weapons – ‘Within 5 to 10 years, there will be a war in India! They (Muslims) are targeting our mothers and sisters to convert their religion.’ 

Such communal claims seek to divine the ordinary voter. Citizens arming themselves are offences under the Indian Arms Act but unfortunately Indian police authorities are loth to prosecute hate speech. 

Vidisha, October 4, 2023

On October 4, 2023, Kajal Shingala again addressed a group of Hindu girls in Vidisha and made controversial remarks about the banned Progressive Front of India (PFI). She said, “They have a roadmap to turn India into an Islamic state. The declaration letter of PFI will give you goosebumps! Muslim boys get official training to work on their agenda.’ 

Sagar, September 22, 2023

On September 22, 2023 the right-wing leader Kajal Shingala addressed young Hindu girls in the Sagar district to rouse hate and mislead them through a fake narrative of “Love-Jihad”. The congregation accumulated students from several schools and colleges of the city, where Kajal incited the crowd through her sensational use of language. After a brief oath-session to save “religion and culture from Muslim minorities”, she raised more conspiracy theories. She also made problematic statement about Prophet Muhammad and his wife Hazrat Ayesha. She stated – ‘We feed the first bread to Gau-ma (mother cow) and they eat the first bread with beef, Are we similar? In our religion we worship 6- and 9-year-old girls in Navratri, but in their religion, they get married at 6 and physically molested at 9, Are we similar?’ 

Further, she asserted,” ‘They are doing business behind the veil of love! But this is not love, this is ‘Love jihad’!  This is a part of their international conspiracy! The Muslim boys get funded by foreign countries to trap our girls. They get 50,000 per month for their contribution!’ She also requested these girls to watch ‘The Kerala story’ which is just another controversial film, criticised for  its communal agenda.

She also stated that India is known for this culture and enriched tradition and they (Muslims) want to abolish our values.  They are converting the Hindu girls through Love-Jihad to establish their autonomy.

As can be observed, from this Madhya Pradesh monitof on hate, over the past few days alone, the state has witnessed an outburst of hate, meant to provoke a population going to vote. These hate-speeches are directly and indirectly destroying the collective ethos of love and harmony. 

Here are some simple tips on how to test news, speeches and social media forwards:

  1. Reliable news does not motivate to anger and reaction 
  2. Truth can pain but not incite. 
  3. During elections, such speeches violate the Representation of People Act (unfair practice during elections) 
  4. Misuse of religion (any religion) and religious symbols during an election campaign violates the Indian Constitution and is a “corrupt practice” under the RPA. 
  5. Citizens must always check on such “news,” facts and photographs before either believing them or sharing them.

Hate-offenders, backed by a powerful network of supremacist organisations, have created such false narratives to deepen existing social and caste prejudices, fester communal division and thereafter result in physical segregation and even out and out targeted violence.

  1. A hate-speech lacks data or any rational sense of fundamental accountability. 
  2. It creates hysteria 
  3. It is supported by prejudice, complexes and supremacist politics. 
  4. It is particularly manufactured and systematically spread to deepen community, gender and caste divisions. 
  5. It is designed to mislead 
  6. It generates a chain of decisive narratives and is against the law of inclusion, non-discrimination and transparency. 

 Under the Hate-Hatao mission, CJP has been systematically monitoring, tackling and countering hate speech in myriad forms.

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