New Delhi: India saw a 74% increase in hate speech in 2024, with over 1,000 incidents recorded by the India Hate Lab last year, compared to 688 such events in 2023.
Of the 1,165 recorded instances of anti-minority hate speech, 98.5% targeted the Muslim community either explicitly or alongside Christians, while nearly 10% targeted Christians either explicitly or alongside Muslims, the research group said in a report published on Monday (February 10).
Hate speech trends across states and Union Territories. Photo: IHL
Nearly 80% of the hate speech events took place in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), or in Union Territories where the police and public order is under the BJP-led Union government. In contrast, the opposition-ruled states accounted for 20% of hate speech events last year.
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh accounted for 47% of all hate speech events across the country last year – all ruled by the BJP or its allies.
The saffron party alone was responsible for almost 30% or 340 of these events in 2024 – making BJP the largest organiser of hate speech events in the country and marking an increase of 588% form 2023, when it organised 50 such events.
This was followed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal as the second most active organisers of hate speech events, responsible for 279 gatherings last year – a 29.16% increase from 2023.
‘Modi’s Banswara speech marked an inflection point’
The frequency of such events rose sharply around May 2024, coinciding with the peak of the national general election campaign, the report found.
The report noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s particularly disturbing speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara on April 21, where he deployed stereotypes against the Muslim community and called a section of his own citizens ‘infiltrators’ and ‘those who have more children’.
Monthly distribution of hate speech events in 2023 vs. 2024. Photo: IHL
The report found that prior to the Banswara speech, 61 hate speech events had taken place between March 16-April 21. However, there was more than a three-fold increase in such events after Modi’s speech.
“A particularly notable inflection point occurred on April 21, when Modi delivered an anti-Muslim hate speech in Banswara, Rajasthan, where he referred to Indian Muslims as “infiltrators” and invoked dangerous communal tropes.16 Prior to this speech, between the start of the election period on March 16 and April 21, there had been approximately 61 hate speech events, averaging nearly two per day. However, in the 43 days between April 22 and June 1, hate speech surged dramatically, with 312 incidents recorded nationwide, equating to an average of over seven per day—a more than threefold increase,” the report said.
The report highlighted how anti-Muslim hate was used as a political tool during elections.
BJP at the forefront of hate speech events
Nearly 40% or 462 hate speeches were delivered by politicians, with BJP leaders being responsible for 452 of them. Compared to 2023, when BJP politicians delivered 100 hate speeches, this represents an increase of 352%, the report said.
Hate speech events by party in power. Photo: IHL
“Six of the ten most frequent purveyors of hate speech were politicians, including chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Modi and home minister Amit Shah. Adityanath delivered 86 (7.4%) hate speeches, while Modi delivered 63 hate speeches, accounting for 5.7% of all such speeches in 2024,” it added.
Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of hate speech events at 242 – a 132% increase compared to 2023. This was followed by Maharashtra with 210 hate speech events.
Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh too saw a disproportionate increase in hate speech events in 2024, fuelled by the activities of the BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal among others, the report said.
Platforms of hate
Of the 1,165 hate speech events in 2024, 995 were first shared or live streamed on social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and X.
Facebook was the leading social media platform for hate speech with 495 such events posted on it. The report noted that “as of February 6, 2025, only 3 of the reported videos have been removed by Facebook, while the remaining 98.4% continue to stay up across different platforms despite clear violations of community standards.”
The report also found an alarming increase in “dangerous speech” – a subset of hate speech defined by IHL as communication that “can increase the risk that its audience will condone or participate in violence against members of another group.”
Facebook was the primary choice among social media platforms for dangerous speech events as well. “Of the 259 recorded instances of dangerous speech, including explicit calls for violence, 219 were first shared or live streamed on social media. Facebook accounted for 164 (74.9%), YouTube for 49 (22.4%), and Instagram for 6,” the report said.
Karnataka bucks the trend
The report notes that despite a national surge in hates speech, the southern Indian state saw a 20% decline in such events. “This shift is largely attributed to political changes in the state. Until May 2023, Karnataka was governed by the BJP, but following the Congress party’s victory in the state elections, the new administration implemented measures that contributed to a decline in hate speech incidents,” it said.
