Date: 2^nd March 2019

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ryxoX5NAc&t=311s

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a gathering at India Today Conclave, said that a fear had been instilled in enemies both within and outside the country, and that this fear was good. “Aur main bheetar aur bahar donon keh raha hoon” (“and I am referring both to internal and external”), he underlined. In the address, Modi spoke of how people were questioning government’s policies, adding: “Yeh log Modi virodh karte karte desh virodh pe utar aaein hain” (“these people have turned from anti-Modi to anti-India”).

In right-wing speak, ‘internal enemies” is a dog-whistle phrase for religious minorities, progressive and pluralist sections, and human rights defenders, among others. 

Date: 16-03-2019

Source: https://scroll.in/latest/916854/appoint-special-observers-at-mosques-to-prevent-attempts-to-influence-muslims-delhi-bjp-urges-ec

Delhi unit of BJP has written to ECI to appoint observers in mosques to monitor “hate speech” and to prevent what it calls attempts by Aam Aadmi Party to polarise the Muslim vote in the name of religion”. The letter, which has been shared by the party on its Twitter handle, further claims, “during the holy month of Ramazan, there is a high possibility of politics of religion being indulged to provoke the Muslims and minority community”. The letter requests ECI to appoint Special Observers in mosques especially in Muslim dominated areas, “so that political and religious leaders cannot spread hate among people to influence elections on lines of religion, and Model Code of Conduct is not violated by this political party or any other religious leader”.

No such observers are proposed for religious places of other communities. 

The BJP Delhi unit posted the letter to ECI on their official twitter handle. Until last checked, the post had received 131 likes and 36 people had shared it.

Date: 18-03-2019

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pakistan-to-be-part-of-india-after-2025-rss-leader-indresh-kumar-5630165/

RSS leader Indresh Kumar was reported asking for a new law to identify ‘traitors’ in the country.  Speaking at a meeting on “Kashmir: The Way Ahead” organised by the Maharashtra chapter of the Forum for Awareness of National Security, headed by former state DGP, Pravin Dixit, along with the Savarkar Strategic Centre of the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak, Kumar who is also the patron of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS-affiliated organisation, claimed how people who oppose Modi, ‘start to praise Pakistan”. He proposed “a new law for traitors such as this, whether they are studying in JNU or are in Maharashtra. Then there won’t be a Naseerudddin, Hamid Ansari or Sidhu.” JNU is Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, known for its progressive student politics. Naseeruddin Shah is a famous Bollywood film actor. Hamid Ansari was the Vice President of India from 2007-2017, and a former career diplomat. Navjyot Sidhu, is a sitting MP and a former ace cricketer. 

‘Traitors’ and ‘anti-nationals’ are codes often used by Hindu Right against religious minorities and secular and progressive sections.

Hate Watch 2019 is a blog that monitors hate speech by senior politicians and those holding high office, as well as their supporters, during the ongoing campaigning to Parliamentary elections. The period we are focusing on is March-May 2019, just before ECI announced the calendar for the elections on 11^th March (and the model code of conduct kicked in) to just after the completion of the process and announcement of results, 26^th May 2019. 

The objectiveis to identify hate speech by those in positions of authority and track

how hate messages are constructed and amplified through network of hate sites; and how they influence recipients. The purpose is to build a body evidence on hate speech in this period of heightened political campaigning; and to act as ‘early warning system’, passing on findings to authorities to take appropriate action.

Outputs we plan are blogposts, being our findings and analysis, updated weekly, and sharing actionable information with the authorities for them to take action – Election Commission of India, Press Council of India, as well as the Internet intermediaries (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, among others), also tracking their actions.

By hate speech we mean statements that are clearly communal, casteist, or are calls to violence. Some of these will qualify for action under laws that cover hate speech – Section 295A (outraging religious feeling), Section 153 (promoting enmity between groups) or Section 505 (making statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 123 (3A) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, (promotion of hatred on grounds of religion, caste, during campaigning), as well as Sections 69A and Sections 79 Sec (3) (b) of Information Technology Act. 2000 and Sections 79 of Information Technology Rules 2011 (relating to duties of Internet intermediaries to prevent the spread of hate content from the Internet). We also include comments that may not directly be communal but are clearly “dog whistling” – loaded against a community or religion in an indirect or coded way.

The methodology we use is:We identify, through crowdsourcing, reported cases of hate speech (on TV, online, print/newspapers) by senior politicians (MPs, MLAs, chief ministers and others contesting elections, as well as those holding high offices, like party leaders and governors), documenting and referencing each incident. We then factcheck these for authenticity, using existing fact checking tools and facilities. Finally, we monitor social media platforms and TV channels to see how hate speech by the public figures is picked up and amplified by their supporters through media channels. We will also track actions by Authorities to our alerting them to hate speech, and what the trend there is.