India’s Hindu-Muslim hate crimes are being tracked, by self-exiles Modi’s BJP want silenced

From their bases in North America and Europe, Hindutva Watch’s members say they want to remedy India’s ‘clear vacuum’ of reporting on hate crimes

The multicultural group of social-media sleuths are now being targeted by Modi’s Hindu-nationalist BJP – as they warn India faces its ‘darkest days’

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An elderly man walks through an area deserted after communal clashes in Nuh, India’s Haryana state, earlier this month. Photo: AP

Published: 2:00pm, 12 Aug 2023Updated: 9:21am, 14 Aug 2023

Sectarian violence exploded in Haryana this month as Hindu nationalists clashed with local Muslims on the streets of the state that encircles India’s capital on three sides.

In Nuh district, a mere 90-minute drive from the nation’s parliament, cars were set ablaze, shops were ransacked and the crackle of gunfire filled the air. By Sunday last week, six people had been killed – right on New Delhi’s doorstep.

On the other side of the world, a group of 20-somethings scattered across North America and Europe got to work scouring social media for evidence of who or what might have lit the fuse.

Five hours – and incalculable gigabytes of data – later they had found what they were looking for: a speech given moments before the violence erupted by a Hindu-nationalist leader aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), insisting that Muslims had no place in Nuh and calling for the region’s “character” to be changed.

Burnt-out vehicles are seen in Haryana’s Nuh district this month following communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims. Photo: Reuters

They shared their find on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and within 12 hours it had notched up half a million views and been retweeted and shared thousands of times. No other media organisation had reported on the speech before.

The scoop marked another in a long line of hate-crime exposés by the group, which calls itself Hindutva Watch (HW) in reference to the Hindu-nationalist ideology that seeks to make Hindu culture dominant throughout multicultural India.