IN the run-up to the electoral battle in Bihar, yet another calculated eruption of communal tensions and divisive rhetoric is being witnessed since early September in India. As Muslims celebrated Eid-i-Miladun Nabi, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh became a flashpoint of religious fault lines over an illuminated ‘I love Muhammad [PBUH]’ signboard. The Hindu majority saw it as a ‘new tradition’, sparking hate-fuelled riots, police brutality, FIRs, arrests, internet blackouts and protests in UP, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Unexpectedly, the posters and graffiti proliferated on the roads and social media with support from secular sections. As a result, frictions escalated with nearly 2,000 protesters clashing with police outside a Bareilly mosque after Friday prayers; 81 people were detained. Under hardliner UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s watch, India’s largest province is a laboratory of hate. This time too, he targeted Muslims with “denting painting” of Bareilly’s ‘miscreants’.

After last year’s polls, such diversionary tactics seem to have lost some steam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political playbook has long relied on inflammatory agendas that divert attention from socioeconomic pressures and policy fiascos for electoral gains. While the BJP’s divisive politics did overshadow India’s Gandhian code and Nehruvian social justice, commentators say that the delusion of majoritarianism is on the wane due to economic strains, and failure in the war with Pakistan in May — an attempt to resurrect Mr Modi’s muscular Hindutva narrative. But the ultra-right regime refuses to mend its ways. As per the India Hate Lab report, incidents of hate speech in the country surged in 2024 — to suit the Hindu nationalist ideology — from 668 in 2023 to 1,165 in 2024, with 98.5pc directed at Muslims. Indeed, the last decade has witnessed a drastic shift in the Indian sociopolitical landscape: textbooks, culture, religious festivals, history and monuments have been restructured to align with the Hindutva supremacy pitch. The explosive mix of Hindu-led hegemony and fascism have tremendously strained the social fabric. As Eid, Diwali, Holi and Christmas continue to be communalised with attempts to rebrand Mughal edifices, India’s image of a diverse, multicultural land has eroded. At a time when brazen calls for carnage and historical erasure rise again, the opposition parties must fight for the oppressed, pluralism and social harmony more aggressively. Or bigotry will devour every community.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2025