NEW DELHI (Kashmir English): Hate crimes against religious minorities in India have recorded a surge in terms of number and intensity during the first year of Modi’s third term as prime minister.
The violence is generally directed at Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, and Christians amongst other minorities in ways that are systematic and vengeful, a report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has found.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the report titled ‘Hate Crime Report: Mapping First Year of Modi’s Third Government’ comes at the end of a year of systematic research on communal violence and inflammatory speech targeting religious minorities in India.
The study, spanning Modi’s third stint as prime minister – June 7, 2024 to June 7, 2025 – maps and analyses hate crimes during this period.
Targeted attacks on religious minorities
New Delhi-based APCR points out that despite the rising intensity and frequency of targeted attacks on religious minorities, there remains “no systematic or institutional effort to record or document hate crimes.”
The report said that a total of 947 hate crime incidents took place in the time period considered. Of these 345 were hate speeches and 602 were hate crimes.
It analysed that out of the 602 hate crimes, 173 involved physical violence targeted at minorities. In 25 of these, the victim died. All victims were Muslims.
Out of the 345 hate speeches made in the year, 178 were made by individuals associated with the BJP, the report found. It said that BJP-ruled states are more prone to incidents of hate crime.
The report found a pattern in the rise in hate crimes after the Pahalgam attack. Multiple Muslims were targeted in its aftermath across India, it said.
The report further said that the police response remained largely passive or complicit. Of 602 hate crimes documented in the year, only 13% resulted in first information reports.
The study said that right-wing media played a catalytic role. It also provides a correlation between elections of any kind and a spike in hate crimes and hate speeches.
It echoes what political scientists and rights activists have long argued – that religion-based violence has accompanied the BJP’s rise to power.
Another major finding this report presents is the complicity of senior BJP leaders, including chief ministers, central ministers and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself in justifying hate speech and hate crime offenders and also actively taking recourse of hate speech themselves.
Another finding was that two judges and a governor gave hate speeches this year. Violence and xenophobic agendas, the report shows, is not the work of fringe elements but stems directly from the top BJP leadership.
