Anti-Muslim videos: Modi’s BJP resorting to blatant Islamophobia
New Delhi: Following complaint by the Congress, police in India have opened a case against senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over an animated video demonizing Muslims and posted on social media. The video, which depicts Congress party leaders favoring Muslims over marginalized castes and tribespeople, has been widely criticized as blatant Islamophobia.
According to Kashmir Media Service, this is the second such video posted by the BJP in the past two weeks. Opposition leaders and political commentators say PM Modi and other BJP leaders are fanning anti-Muslim hatred.
Hours after the police case opened, the Election Commission also asked X for the video to be removed, citing a violation of Indian law.
The case against the BJP leaders comes amid a surge in anti-Muslim hate speech in India since the party came to power in 2014.
The video, posted on the BJP’s social media page in Karnataka shows caricatures of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka CM K Siddaramaiah, who belongs to the same party, placing an egg marked “Muslims” in a nest next to three eggs marked “SC” and “OBC” (referring to marginalised castes) and “ST” (referring to marginalised tribes). When the eggs hatch, Gandhi is seen feeding “funds” to the chick which is wearing a skullcap and has a menacing expression. The chick then grows bigger and edges out the others from the nest.
The Congress lodged a complaint against the video with the EC on Sunday, following which the Karnataka police registered a case against BJP President JP Nadda, its party chief in Karnataka, BY Vijayendra and the party’s IT department head, Amit Malviya.
In a post on X, Congress party MP Manickam Tagore criticised the video, saying that the blatant demonisation of minorities by BJP is unacceptable.
Despite criticism, PM Modi has continued to make remarks offensive to Muslims, including referring to them as “infiltrators” and “those who have many children” in a recent campaign speech. On Tuesday, Modi himself shared a video clip from his election speech in Madhya Pradesh state where he spoke of “vote jihad”. He also claimed the Congress’s interests were aligned with those of Pakistan.
Opposition leaders and civil society groups have flagged campaign videos and speeches by BJP leaders as “unacceptable” and “divisive”.
Professor Nitasha Kaul, a British academic of Indian origin who teaches politics at the University of Westminster, described the video on X as “a straightforward 1930s Germany-style cartoon” and called it a violation of election rules.
“Shame is an understatement. This election officially has no rules left anymore for BJP or Modi,” Saket Gokhale, an MP from the Trinamool Congress party, wrote on X.
Congress leader Salman Anees Soz said the BJP’s “hatred of us Muslims has never been more blatant”. KMS-16S
