BJP leader calls Muslims “snakes”

Nitesh Rane, a vocal Hindu supremacist and elected official of the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party, referred to Muslims as “snakes” at an event organized to commemorate the consecration of the Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. Rane also falsely claimed that Hindus are being killed in India for chanting the Hindu supremacist war cry “Jai Shri Ram.” 

Supreme Court advocate pushes anti-Muslim conspiracies 

At an event in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh, Supreme Court advocate Ashwini Upadhyay propagated several anti-Muslim conspiracies, including ‘love jihad,’ which claims that Muslim men have an agenda to convert Hindu women through seduction; ‘population jihad,’ which falsely claims that the Muslim population is growing at a pace faster than Hindus; and ‘infiltration jihad,’ which claims that Muslims aim to alter India’s demographics. He further claimed, falsely, that Bangladeshi nationals enter India disguised as Hindus, later converting to Islam as part of a plot to transform the country into an Islamic state.

India saw 84% rise in communal riots in 2024: Report

India recorded 59 communal riots in 2024, an 84% rise from 32 incidents in 2023, according to the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.

The report notes that 26 riots occurred during religious festivals or processions, including four tied to the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya. Six incidents involved disputes over places of worship, with Hindu supremacist groups claiming mosques and dargahs were built on demolished Hindu sites.

The authors criticized the government for “disproportionately targeting the Muslim community” and stated that the surge in riots contradicts official claims of communal harmony.