Use of political violence: Political actors inflame communal violence in India

While secularism is enshrined in India’s constitution and political participation is generally free, it is increasingly hampered by communal violence that political actors inflame around elections and religious observances to rally supporters and intimidate opponents.^*

Violence against minorities in India draws on a network of Hindu nationalist organisations — the Sangh Parivar — whose political front, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has governed India nationally since 2014. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its youth militia, the Bajrang Dal, have been among the most frequently implicated organisers of communal violence against Muslim and Christian minorities.^*

In 2024, the India Hate Lab documented 1,165 in-person hate speech events targeting religious minorities — a 74% increase over the previous year — with the VHP and Bajrang Dal linked to 279 of them.^* Senior BJP leaders have shared platforms with these groups, amplified their rhetoric in official campaign speeches, and in several documented cases made inflammatory statements immediately preceding outbreaks of communal violence.^*

This violence has also been driven by conspiracy theories and disinformation circulated online via social media and WhatsApp messaging, particularly targeting Muslims and other minority groups. False rumours about cow slaughters have led to incidents of vigilantism and lynchings. Disinformation and hate speech targeting minorities accused them of increasing the spread of Covid during the pandemic. The “love jihad” conspiracy theory, which alleges Muslim men are engaged in a coordinated campaign to seduce Hindu women into marriage for the purpose of converting them to Islam, has not only instigated violence but served as a vehicle for political mobilisation. BJP leaders and ministers have invoked it in election rallies and it is amplified by Hindu nationalist organisations through social media.^*

This type of politically motivated and instigated communal violence excludes targeted communities from civic participation through fear and dispossession. It normalises communal intimidation as a routine feature of political life, and converts institutions, police, courts, and anti-terror laws into instruments of the majoritarian project they are meant to constrain. When authorities routinely fail to hold accountable, and even encourage their supporters who are responsible for violence, this violates the core principles of democracy and erodes equality before the law.