Hate speech against Muslims in India rose 62 percent in the second half of 2023 compared to the first six months of that year, a Washington-based research group said on Monday, adding that the war in Gaza played a key role in the past three months, reports Reuters.
The “Indian Hate Lab” documented 668 incidents of hate speech targeting Muslims in 2023, of which 255 occurred in the first half of the year, while 413 occurred in the last six months of 2023, the research group said in a report released on Monday.
About 75 percent, or 498, of those incidents occurred in states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the report said.
The states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh recorded the most hate speech.
