BJP

• The BJP claims India as a Hindu nation.
• The use of Indian popular cinema for political ends has a long history – one that predates Indian independence.
• Since the 1980s, it also set in motion a nationwide trend of using cinematic means to capture the attention of voters.

Mobilizing film fans for electoral campaigns

• She discusses case studies of film fans who even worship their favorite celebrities as deities by creating temples to these stars within residential and commercial spaces.
• Srinivas found that film fans can make or destroy the careers and lives of stars.
• If a star decides to venture into politics, these film fans can become active participants in the star’s political campaigns.
• But if the star does something that the fans disapprove of, they will as easily boycott his films and even destroy the star’s career.

An alignment of cinema and politics

The cinema industry in Tamil Nadu, more than any other in India, has evolved closely with political and social developments in the region since the 1940s. The ideals of Tamil nationalism, a political movement that changed the course of history in Tamil Nadu, were powerfully communicated through the medium of entertainment films. Often, the personalities associated with these films were physically present alongside politicians at party meetings.

• In my research, I found that the alignment of cinema and politics in Tamil Nadu was helped by the use of identical advertising media.
• A favored publicity medium of both the cinema industry and party members was the hand-painted plywood cutout.
• In this way, they helped to transfer the power of the cinematic star image to the image of the leader.
• I argued that these advertisements played an important role in visualizing, and shaping, the identity politics of Tamil nationalism.

Cinema’s role in divisive politics

• Another series of films in the biopic genre showcases the historical legacy of right-wing Hindu nationalist organizations and their leaders.
• “PM Narendra Modi,” which reminded voters of the prime minister’s rise from poverty, was scheduled for release just before the 2019 elections.
• The film, which demonizes Muslims and shows them committing extremely barbaric and cruel acts, is among those publicly endorsed by the prime minister himself.

Preminda Jacob does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The word “India” is, after all, an exonym – a placename given by outsiders.
• Alongside English, Hindi is one of two languages used in the Indian Constitution, with versions written in each language.
• But the use of “Bharat” has elicited outcry from the political opposition, some Muslims, and Hindu conservatives in the south, reflecting ongoing tensions in India between language, religion and politics.

Two different language families

• My book with fellow linguist Julie Tetel Andresen, “Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language,” covers the language history and politics of India.
• Hindi is the most-spoken language in India, but its use is largely relegated to a part of the country that linguists refer to as “the Hindi belt,” a massive region in northern, central and eastern India where Hindi is the official or primary language.
• Around 1500 B.C.E., a group of outsiders from Central Asia – known now as the Indo-Aryans – began migrating and settling in what is now northern India.
• They spoke a language that would eventually become Sanskrit.

Dravidians spurn Hindi

• But after independence, opposition to Hindi grew in the Dravidian-speaking south, where English was the favored lingua franca.
• For Tamils and other Dravidian groups, Hindi was associated with the Brahmin caste, whom many felt marginalized Dravidian languages and culture.
• For many people in the south, Hindi came to be seen as a language as foreign as English.

Nationalists push for one official language

• In India, Hindus make up about 80% of the population, while Muslims make up about 14% – more than 200 million people.
• One such policy is the promotion of Hindi as the sole official language of India.
• Speaking in 2022 at a Parliamentary Official Language Committee meeting, BJP Home Minister Amit Shah said, “When citizens of states speak other languages, communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India.” To Shah, the “language of India” and Hindi were one and the same.

Suppressing Urdu

• Although Urdu and Hindi are remarkably similar, their differences take on outsized religious and national significance.
• Whereas Hindi draws on Sanskrit for new words, Urdu draws on Persian and Arabic, again emphasizing associations to Islam.
• And whereas Hindi predominates in India, Urdu is the official language of Pakistan, along with English.

• They are seeking the arrest of the Wrestling Federation of India’s president, Brij Bhushan Singh, who is facing allegations that he sexually harassed athletes.
• However, far-right Hindu nationalists loyal to the government and its Hindutva ideology have attempted to bully and discredit the protesters.

Digital propaganda

• A big part of that effort involves using digital propaganda like memes, disinformation campaigns and digitally altered content.
• Similarly to the 2020-2021 farmers’ movement, the wrestlers’ protest is facing rampant demonization on social media.
• The wrestlers have even been accused of being linked to the Khalistanis, a banned Sikh separatist movement in India.

Online counter-speech

• It usually involves polite and non-aggressive responses, sharing fact-checked information and exposing the logical inconsistencies of messages shared online.
• Social movements face online propaganda campaigns, use of political bots, monitoring through spyware like Pegasus and even internet shutdowns.
• But most protest movements do not have this marginal advantage in online spaces.

Challenging propaganda

• To support counter-speech that can challenge the propaganda of governments, experts and academics need to rethink how efforts like digital media literacy programs and fact-checking can effectively respond.
• A proposed amendment to the country’s internet rules would give the government more power to police online content.
• In order to combat propaganda and disinformation, it is crucial to support democratically owned businesses like platform co-operatives, independent journalism and develop public service media and internet platforms that value truth and transparency and treat people like citizens, not consumers.

• He allegedly yelled slurs, tore up a Qu'ran, and attempted to run down worshippers in his vehicle.
• Some people on Twitter have raised the idea that the attacker was connected to Hindu extremist groups; however, the investigation is still ongoing.

Legal discrimination and violence

• From the United States’ Muslim ban, to India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, to Québec’s Bill 21, Muslims face legal discrimination globally.
• Read more:
  Niqab bans boost hate crimes against Muslims and legalize Islamophobia — Podcast

  Alongside these laws, Muslims face physical violence.

Hindutva-based terrorism in Canada

• A recent published report by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the World Sikh Organization documents how this organization has gained ground in Canada.
• Jasmin Zine is a Canadian scholar whose recent report also outlines a network of Hindu nationalists that aids in the circulation of ideologies that promote Islamophobia.

Governments spreading misinformation

• Like the RSS, the BJP and other Hindu nationalist parties believe that India belongs only to Hindus.
• Since elected, the BJP has actively spread misinformation and conspiracies about Muslims through social and mainstream media, intensifying hostilities between Muslims and Hindus.

The Love Jihad conspiracy

• One of the conspiracy theories shared by these groups is called Love Jihad.
• Originating in India by Hindu nationalists in 2013, this conspiracy alleges Muslim men actively seduce non-Muslim women to marry and convert them to Islam.
• Groups I monitor on Twitter from India constantly talk about the perceived threat of Love Jihad.

#LoveJihad travels to North America

• The #LoveJihad conspiracy was quickly taken up by Islamophobic groups in North America.
• Love Jihad has been proven a farce.

Transnational alignment of hate

• This alignment is produced through the demonization of Muslim men and extremists’ shared hate and fear of them across borders.
• Through transnational responses and retweets, extremists forge a layered and cumulatively condensed affective message: Muslim men are dangerous.
• While it remains to be seen whether or not the recent mosque attackers were directly influenced by online, transnational and affective Islamophobia, recurring incidences such as this should remind us that hate does not abide by international borders.