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Narendra Modi made Islamophobic remarks in more than 100 campaign speeches during India’s general election in his desperate bid to return to power for a rare third term, a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
Out of a total of 173 campaign speeches, the Indian prime minister allegedly made inflammatory remarks targeting Muslims and other minorities in at least 110, the international human rights group claimed following a survey of Mr Modi’s campaign speeches released on Wednesday.
“The hate speech rhetoric by the Indian leader has real world consequences for people who have had their homes demolished, who have been physically attacked in some cases, and have actually been killed,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW, told The Independent.
India’s estimated 200 million-strong minority represents the world’s third-largest population of Muslims, roughly one seventh of its 1.42 billion people.
The claims by Mr Modi against Muslims and other minorities were “blatantly false” and his “inflammatory speeches have further normalised abuses against Muslims, Christians, and others” amid a decade of discrimination against these groups under his administration, HRW said.
“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,” it said.
The non-profit specifically referred to a vitriolic speech made by Mr Modi in May 2024 in which he accused the primary opposition party Indian National Congress of “snatching away” and redistributing the country’s wealth among Muslims without citing evidence to back his claim.
“He repeatedly described Muslims as ‘infiltrators’ and claimed Muslims had ‘more children’ than other communities, raising the spectre that Hindus – about 80 per cent of the population – will become a minority in India,” the HRW said.
Mr Modi, in his bid to make a return to power, went on to falsely claim that the Congress party’s manifesto declared they would “take stock of the gold mothers and daughters India have and will distribute that wealth”, it said.
His comments sparked nationwide condemnation from leaders and political commentators, seeking a ban on his campaign activities. He eventually returned to power for a third term but his Hindu nationalist party lost its outright, and is now forced to rely on coalition partners to rule.
In his 14 May speech in the state of Jharkhand the prime minister claimed “the idols of our gods are being destroyed” and that “these infiltrators (Muslims) have threatened the security of our sisters and daughters”.
In a separate speech on 7 May, he again hit out at Congress by stating that the 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”, HRW said.
Hate speech used to stir up voters along religious lines during elections in India is not a new phenomenon, Ms Pearson said, but she argues that a line was crossed this year under Mr Modi’s governance.
“What’s new and different this time is the fact that it is the prime minister himself who has made these inflammatory speeches. It is really dangerous when you have someone who is in such a position of power and authority normalising hate speech as well as making very blatantly false claims as part of an effort to smear Muslims and other minority groups,” she said.
This could be a disturbing trend set by Mr Modi in Asia and beyond, Ms Pearson said.
“We see politicians around the world scapegoating minorities but it does not rise to the level of spreading falsehoods and hate speech from the country’s leader,” she said.
“In India, what is striking is both the hypocrisy and also the real world implications of that hate speech. On one hand, in places like the US, Mr Modi proudly touts India as the mother of democracy where there is no space for discrimination. But at home on the election campaign he made fiery speeches with blatant falsehoods about Muslims,” she said.
The Modi administration and the leader himself have categorically denied making divisive remarks against Muslims and other minorities, while Mr Modi says that his policies are designed to advance the interests of the country as a whole rather than any one religious group. The Independent approached the BJP for comment on the HRW findings but did not receive a response.
Responding to Mr Modi’s previous denials that his remarks were Islamophobic, Ms Pearson said: “It is wrong to reject these allegations. Many of these speeches are publicly available on Mr Modi’s website. To categorically simply deny that there has been any effort to stoke religious tensions is blatantly untrue.
“Those words have consequences. Minorities have been attacked, people killed, homes bulldozed. So we are calling on the Indian government to take steps to protect religious minorities and hold perpetrators to account and end the use of inflammatory hate speech by politicians,” she said.
