Election Week in India Sparks Violence and Hate Speech

It is not Election Day in India; rather, it is Election Week. Plural. CNBC reported that voters in “the world’s largest democratic election” began voting last Friday, marking the first of seven phases of voting that will take place over six weeks.

There are unlikely to be many shocks at the end of that marathon: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are predicted to win “another landslide victory,” giving Modi a third five-year term in office.

That does not imply that the campaign has been uneventful. The New York Times reported that “armed men attacked polling stations and captured voting booths” in the state of Manipur, forcing authorities to rerun early voting.

Modi faced accusations of “hate speech” late in the campaign, CNN said, after telling a Hindu audience that Muslim opponents provide “your hard-earned money” to “infiltrators.”

Following the election, there were numerous AI-generated deepfake videos featuring Bollywood actors condemning Modi.

Speaking at a general election rally, India’s prime leader labeled Muslims as ‘infiltrators’ who ‘have the most children.’ He did not name them.

The mask did not take long to fall off. Two days after polling opened for the legislative elections, which will culminate on June 1, Narendra Modi, who is driving the campaign for his party, went on an openly Islamophobic rant.

Muslims in India

On Sunday, April 21, at a rally in Rajasthan’s tribal district of Bhanswara, the Indian prime minister insulted and vilified Muslims without mentioning them.

He accused the Congress, the main opposition party, of attempting to transfer national riches “to those who have the most children, the infiltrators,” adding that his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, had declared that Muslims had “the first right to the nation’s resources.”

“That means they will collect all of your wealth and distribute it to who? – To those with the most children. They will spread it among the infiltrators.

Do you think your hard-earned money should go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of that?” He challenged the audience to applaud.

His comments recalled an ancient cry of Hindu nationalists and a doctrine they established, the Great Replacement doctrine, also known as “love jihad.”

His party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claims that Muslims, who number over 200 million people in India, constitute a demographic threat to Hindus by producing children and overtaking Hindus demographically.

They seduce Hindu ladies with the sole purpose of converting them.

Muslims and Christians

Since Modi took office in 2014, numerous BJP-ruled states have introduced anti-conversion laws, stigmatizing and threatening religious minorities such as Muslims and Christians, whose members can face imprisonment for just wanting to convert Hindus.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s largest far-right organization, has declared Muslims to be national foes. From 1940 onwards, it was directed by Golwalkar, who was inspired by Adolf Hitler and saw Nazi Germany as an example of racial pride.

Modi praised this important individual, who stated that minorities should be handled in the same way that the Nazis treated Jews. Christians and Muslims posed internal threats to this supporter of a Hindu India.

The prime minister’s statements, which are typically more cautious, triggered a surge of outrage.

On Monday, the Congress referred the case to the electoral commission, seeking for sanctions against “blatant targeting,” “divisive, reprehensible, and malicious,” of “a particular religious community.” The electoral code prohibits inciting communitarian attitudes.

However, the government now controls this independent organization, which is in charge of ensuring that elections go smoothly and that the code of conduct is followed. In March, the administration selected two election commissioners with ties to the BJP.