Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire for comments made during his election campaign that critics have described as hate speech against Muslims, sparking anger and fear among the minority.
The 73-year-old leader addressed a rally in the northwestern state of Rajasthan on Sunday, just days after India kicked off a six-week election process in which Modi is seeking a rare third term.
Modi told the crowd that the Congress, the country’s main opposition party, would redistribute India’s wealth among “migrants” if it came to power, in provocative remarks thought to be aimed at winning support from his majority Hindu voter base.
“When they (Congress) were in power, they said that Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the country. They will take all your wealth and distribute it among those who have more children… among migrants,” Modi warned his audience. “Do you think your hard-earned money should be given to immigrants? Would you accept that?” he added.
Modi’s Hindu nationalist activities
Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its supporters have previously referred to Muslims as immigrants and criticised them for their high birth rate. Such comments have fuelled fears among BJP supporters that Muslims will overtake India’s majority Hindu population. Muslims make up about 200 million of India’s 1.4 billion people.
Muslims are worried and angry about these reactions
India has been plagued for years by violence and sectarian conflict between Hindus and Muslims.
During his ten years in office, Modi has been criticised for undermining India’s tradition of secularism. Since coming to power, he has abolished the semi-autonomous status of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. In January, Modi inaugurated the great Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya in the northeast, once a flashpoint of Hindu-Muslim conflict.
His government also passed a citizenship law granting citizenship to Hindus and people of some other faiths fleeing neighbouring countries, a rule critics say is designed to keep Muslims out.
Opposition calls for probe
India’s opposition said Modi’s weekend remarks were hate speech and accused him of violating election rules that prohibit candidates from trying to influence voters through religion, community or religious symbols.
The Congress described the remarks as ‘highly objectionable’ and asked India’s Election Commission to investigate. An Election Commission official told India’s The Economic Times newspaper that the complaints were ‘under consideration’.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on social media platform X that “no prime minister in the history of India has lowered the dignity of his office like Modi”.
BJP national spokesman Tom Vadakkan insisted that the Congress had previously promised to redistribute wealth and that Modi’s remarks had been “taken out of context”.
Vadakkan told Nikkei that Modi was “talking about illegal immigrants, not Muslims in the country”. “If you look at the US, Europe or any other country, illegal immigrants are a big problem,” he added.
Modi and the BJP have repeatedly rejected accusations of discrimination, saying the party works for the benefit of all Indian citizens.
But Modi’s comments on Sunday also drew the ire of Muslim politicians.
Asaduddin Owaisi, a Muslim MP and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Muslimin party, also took to social media to criticise Modi: “Modi’s only guarantee was to exploit Muslims and get votes.”
