Hate Speeches in Indian Politics

During a question-and-answer session, a volunteer asked Yadavrao Joshi, the then head of Sangh workers of South India, “We say RSS is a Hindu organization. We say we are a Hindu nation, and India belongs to Hindus. We also say in the same breath that Muslims and Christians are welcome to follow their faith and that they are welcome to remain as they are so long as they love this country. Why do we have to give this concession? Why don’t we be clear that they have no place if we are a Hindu country?” Joshi replied,  “As of now, RSS and Hindu society are not strong enough to say clearly to Muslims and Christians that if you want to live in India, convert to Hinduism. Either convert or perish. But when the Hindu society and RSS become strong enough, we will tell them that if you want to live in India and love this country, you accept that some generations earlier you were Hindus and come back to the Hindu fold.”

To have differences of opinions is part of the democratic principle. But, unfortunately, there is intolerance of different opinions in secular India. Hindu fundamentalists’ long-awaited aspiration is being asserted with bigger authority, with Modi Sarkar at the center. So, where are we heading is a question that all the citizens must become aware of and stick to what we have gained through the freedom movement epitomized in our Constitution. Our secular democratic principles need to be saved and protected from the sectarian motivated agenda. We need to know that the sentiments of the religious identity of the majority are being manipulated for ulterior goals of power and benefits by fundamentalist-communal groups. Time and again, one comes across statements such as that of Dharm Jagran Manch leader Rajeshwar Singh, of the Aligarh Christmas conversion program fame, who stated in December 2014, “India’s inner voice has spoken. Just wait and watch. 31 December 2021 is the last for Christianity and Islam in this country. We will finish Christianity and Islam in this country by 31 December 2021. This is our aim”. We hear this kind of hate and communal speeches almost every day.

Ram Punyani records in his article, “One Year of Modi Sarkar: Hate Speech Galore,” that Sakshi Maharaj, the man who called Nathuram Godse a patriot, exhorted that Hindu women should produce four children as Muslims are overtaking the population. Likewise, Sadhvi Prachi prescribed eight children for Hindu women. Pravin Togadia has been the leading person in making hate speeches; he has the highest number of cases regarding hate speech against him. Yogi Adityanath has been making derogatory remarks before becoming Chief Minister of UP. He once said that if one Hindu girl is converted to ‘love jihad,’ 100 Muslim girls should be converted to Hinduism. The propaganda around love jihad keeps simmering, and various small and big leaders keep using it to divide society. Yogi Adityanath also has said that Mosques should be converted into a den of pigs and that Muslims should not be allowed to come to Hindu holy places. ‘Hate Speech’, in the case of India, is an accompaniment of politics in the name of religion and language. It often precedes violence or helps in the polarization of communities for electoral benefits.

In some of the textbooks used at the primary level in Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, a highly virulent communal view of Indian history is presented in intolerant and extremely crude style and language. So also, historical ‘facts’ are fabricated in such a way to promote not patriotism, as is claimed, but blind bigotry and fanaticism. For example, it is written on the rise of Islam: “Wherever they went, they had a sword in their hand. Their army went like a storm in all four directions. Any country that came (in) their way was destroyed. Houses of prayer and universities were destroyed. Libraries were burnt. Religious books were destroyed. Mothers and sisters were humiliated. Mercy and justice were unknown to them”. So also about Christians, it is said: “It is because of the conspiratorial policies of the followers of this religion that India was partitioned. Even today, Christian missionaries are engaged in fostering anti-national tendencies in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, and other regions of our country because there is a grave danger to the integrity of present-day India”. Such hate speeches are dividing people, and we have to know that such an ideology of religion-based nationalism is narrow and excludes ‘other’ from its notion of nationhood. India needs liberation from narrow Hinduvta nationalism.