Rays of Hope Amid Rising Hate!

Communal hate is the most divisive tool. Roughly the degree of violence is proportional to the prevalence and accentuation of ‘hate’. This in turn leads to polarisation and a situation where ghettoisation and the accompanying phenomenon become the norm. We have witnessed the rise of this phenomenon at a rapid pace during the past few decades. The religious minorities, in particular, feel intimidated leading them to a sense of helplessness and marginalisation. The hate has been constructed through issues of cow, ‘love jihad’, and demonisation of Muslim kings, among others.

A recent study by the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, presented by Irfan Engineer, Neha Dabhade and Diya Padalkar, goes into details and type of hate speeches. As per this study, the number of hate speeches declined from 2024 to 2025. They point out that though the total number of these speeches may have come down, as per the data base they have used, there may be other sources of data, which cannot be accessed easily.

That hate speech begins from the top is amply demonstrated by this meticulous report. It says, “The highest number of hate speeches was made by Nitesh Rane, Minister of Fisheries and Port Development in the Maharashtra Government (10), followed by Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (6), and Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah made five. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made three hate speeches.”

In the backdrop of hate speech starting from the top and percolating down, while assuming a more aggressive form, there are few incidents, which can indicate that despite such an intense atmosphere of hate, a series of incidents in the recent past indicate that though the dominant element is to abuse the religious minorities, there are many in the society who are sticking to love and amity.

Read Also: Mohd Deepak: Upholding Fraternity Amid Worsening Amity

Though there is a prevalence of demonising religious minorities, there are many individuals who are still sticking to the values of love and amity, upholding the values of harmony in a multi-religious society. For them, the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb and respect of all religious communities still matters as the core values of their life.

We had discussed an incident in the last article, but now we have a better understanding of it. In Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, Deepak Kumar is a shining example of this. He manages a gymnasium. When he heard that some Bajrang Dal activists were harassing Vakil Ahmad, he intervened. Ahmad, a 70-year-old man, has been running a shop, “Baba School Dress”, for the past 30 years. The hooligans confronted him saying how dare he, a Muslim, use the word ‘Baba’ for his shop as this word was for Hindus. Their level of ignorance is such that they do not know that the word ‘baba’ has its origin in Persian, used both for Hindus and Muslim seers.

Deepak Kumar retaliated by saying that it was the owner's choice as to what he named his shop. When the Bajrang Dal men asked him for his name, Deepak Kumar said “Mohammad Deepak”, in the deeper traditions of Indian syncretism. After news spread about his good deeds, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met him and congratulated him. Deepak Kumar is now planning an ‘Insaniyat Yatra’ (humanity march) to spread the message of peace.

The other major incident giving some hope is from Lucknow University. Within its campus is the Lal Baradari Mosque where Muslim residents used to offer namaz. Since it is very old and not in a good condition, it has been locked and the residents offer namaz outside the mosque. When some Muslim students during the ongoing month of Ramzan went to offer namaz there, they were prevented by some Right-wing students from doing so. Remarkably again,  other students from National Students’ Union of India or NSUI and All India Students’ Association or AISA guarded them and they could offer their prayers.

Yet another such incident took place in Jalalpur village under Bommalaramaram Mandal in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana on February 15, when unknown persons entered the Jama Masjid and damaged parts of the structure. Worshippers discovered the incident the next morning when they arrived for prayers. Members of the mosque committee saw the damaged part of the mosque, washroom doors that were destroyed and also the microphone system. Beer bottles were found inside the premises. Several copies of the Holy Qur’an were reportedly scattered in the compound. When this came to be known, many Hindu traders reached there and undertook to get the mosque repaired at their expense!

Another disturbing event was blanket distribution in Kareda village in Tonk district of Rajasthan: A former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament, Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria, while distributing blankets, asked an elderly woman her name. As it turned out that she was a Muslim, he took away the blanket and said “we don’t give this to those who abuse Modi.” Three other Muslim women also returned their blankets. This insulting act infuriated others. Later, workers from other parties not only condemned the BJP leader but also gave blankets to the Muslim women.

A Hindu woman who calls herself ‘Hindu Sherani’ (Hindu lioness), Riddhima Sharma, visited the Gogavir Temple (also called Gogamedi) in Rajasthan. When she saw a priest there whose name was Hussain, she shouted and asked him how he dared to enter the temple to do ‘Jihad’. Other devotees present there objected to this telling the woman that the temple had a tradition of having a Muslim priest!

With so many incidents of love and amity, the dominant atmosphere of hate is very heartening. What does this show? It seems that hate spreaders are dominant but get away due to State patronage. The Indian ethos of love and harmony is still very much alive, though not as visible. In the prevalent atmosphere, where hate mongers have state patronage to the extent that the Central government recently funded a meeting of Sanatan Rashtra Shankhnaad, in Bharat Mandapam, which was given Rs 63 lakh. In this event, speeches against Muslims were made, where the theme was demand for a Hindu Rashtra! All this shows the resilience of the Indian ethos which still survives despite the hate campaigns!

The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.