India Hate Lab report suggests Anti-Muslim hate speech at an all-time high in India
New Delhi: The report documented 668 hate speech incidents targeting Muslims in 2023 alone; 498 of those incidents took place in states governed by the BJP.
India Hate Lab documented 668 hate speech incidents targeting Muslims in 2023, 255 of which occurred in the first half of the year while 413 took place in the last six months of 2023, the research group said in a report released Monday.
Anti-Muslim hate speech in India rose by 62 per cent in the second half of 2023 compared to the first six months of the year, adding the Israel-Gaza war played a key role in the last three months.
As per the report states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh accounted for the most hate speech. The Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states accounted for 75 per cent, or 498, of those incidents. The report added that, between October 7 - when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, sparking the conflict in the Gaza Strip as Israel retaliated - and December 31, there were 41 incidents of hate speech against Indian Muslims that mentioned the war. It accounted for about 20 percent of hate speech in the last three months of 2023.
The United Nations' definition of hate speech - prejudiced or discriminatory language towards an individual or group based on attributes including religion, ethnicity, nationality, race or gender, was used by the research group.
Rights groups have alleged mistreatment of Muslims under Modi, who became prime minister in 2014 and is widely expected to retain power after the 2024 elections.
They point to a 2019 citizenship law that the UN human rights office called "fundamentally discriminatory;" an anti-conversion legislation that challenges the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief; and the 2019 revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir's special status.
The report mentions the demolition of Muslim properties in the name of removing illegal construction and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP was in power in that state.
Modi's government denies the presence of minority abuse and says its policies aim to benefit all Indians. There has been no comment on this yet from the Indian embassy in Washington and India's foreign ministry.
India Hate Lab said it tracked online activity of Hindu nationalist groups, verified videos of hate speech posted on social media and compiled data of isolated incidents reported by Indian media.
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Our relationship with both India and Pakistan is 'good': US
New York/Washington (PTI): America’s relationship with both India and Pakistan is “good”, the US State Department has said, asserting that the diplomats are "committed to both nations".
Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US working with both nations is good news for the region and the world, and will promote a beneficial future.
“I would say that our relationship with both nations is as it has been, which is good. And that is the benefit of having a President who knows everyone, talks to everyone, and that is how we can bring differences together in this case. So it's clear that the diplomats here are committed to both nations,” Bruce said.
She was responding to a question on the possibility of increased US assistance to Islamabad in terms of arms sales following Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s meeting with Trump, and whether this was coming at the cost of Trump's relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the May conflict between India and Pakistan, Bruce added, “Obviously, we had an experience with Pakistan and India when there was a conflict, one that could have developed into something quite horrible.”
She said that there was "immediate concern and immediate movement" with Vice President J D Vance, President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in “addressing the nature of what was happening….we described the nature of the phone calls, the work that we did to stop the attacks and to then bring the parties together so we could have something that was enduring."
She also claimed that top leaders in the US were involved in “stopping that potential catastrophe.”
New Delhi has been maintaining that India and Pakistan halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
Bruce added that the recent peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan “follows negotiated peace arrangements between Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia and Serbia and Kosovo.”
Meanwhile, in an interview on Tuesday, Rubio said that “credit goes to” Trump for helping bring several conflicts around the world to an end.
Trump says he wants “to be the President of peace. And so any time we see a conflict where we think we can make a difference, we get involved, and we’ve had good success in that regard. India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia, the peace deal with Azerbaijan and Armenia, just a few days ago,” he said in an interview with ‘Sid and Friends in the Morning’.
