In 2024, the India Hate Lab documented 1,165 instances of hate speech at in-person events, a 74.4% increase from 2023. The majority (98.5%) targeted religious minorities, primarily Muslims (1,147 incidents), while 115 targeted Christians. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of incidents (242), significantly increasing due to the influence of political leaders like Yogi Adityanath during election periods. Maharashtra followed with 210 events. Smaller states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand also saw spikes in anti-Muslim rhetoric, driven by far-right organizations. Overall, hate speech events were noted across 20 states, emphasizing growing communal tensions in India.
Hate Speech Trends in 2024
Targets of Hate Speech
In 2024, the India Hate Lab (IHL) documented 1,165 instances of hate speech delivered at in-person events. Religious minorities, in particular, were the target of these speeches, with 1,147 (98.5%) targeting Muslims—either explicitly (1,050) or alongside Christians (97)—while 115 (9.9%) targeted Christians, either explicitly (18) or alongside Muslims (97). There is some overlap, as these numbers indicate, as many events and gatherings feature hate speech directed at both Muslims and Christians.
FIGURE 1: BREAKDOWN OF HATE SPEECH BY TARGETED COMMUNITIES
Additionally, 118 hate speech events also targeted Rohingya refugees, while 182 speeches invoked the “Bangladeshi infiltrator” bogey. These speeches ranged from conspiracy theories such as “love jihad,” “land jihad,” and “population jihad,” to outright calls for violence.
In 2024, hate speech events and gatherings remained geographically dispersed across India, even as most incidents remained concentrated in the country’s northern, central, and western regions.
Overall, 1,165 documented instances of hate speech at in-person events occurred across 20 states, two union territories, and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, reflecting a staggering 74.4% increase from the 668 events recorded in 2023.
FIGURE 2: HATE SPEECH TRENDS ACROSS STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES
Among 20 states, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of hate speech events in 2024, with 242 events (20.8% of the total). This marked a stunning 132.7% increase from 2023, when the state saw 104 hate speech events. The prevalence of hate speech in Uttar Pradesh is not surprising, as the state is governed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who ranked number one among all political and far-right leaders in delivering hate speeches in 2024. The state saw a significant surge in hate speech during the 2024 general election between April and June 2024, as the BJP sought to use anti-Muslim hate, fear, bigotry, and conspiracy theories to polarize voters along religious lines in this electorally crucial region. In just the month of May 2024, Uttar Pradesh recorded 78 hate speeches, which made up 32% of the total hate speech
events for the entire year in the state. Adityanath led this surge, delivering 45 hate speech events in May, while Prime Minister Modi contributed 14. The state also saw a spike in hate speech events in December, when the VHP-Bajrang Dal organized a series of Shaurya Yatras, or ‘victory rallies,’ to commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, in 1992.
Out of 242 hate speeches in Uttar Pradesh, 223 were explicitly anti-Muslim, 17 targeted both Christians and Muslims, and two were explicitly anti-Christian.
Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, recorded the second highest number of hate speeches, with 210 events, making up about 18% of our dataset. This marked a 78% increase in hate speech events in 2024 compared to the previous year, when the state recorded 118 incidents. Out of 210 hate speeches, 195 were explicitly anti-Muslim, and 14 targeted both Christians and Muslims, while one was explicitly anti-Christian.
The monthly data on hate speech in Maharashtra for 2024 indicates clear spikes corresponding to major political events, particularly the general elections in May and the state elections in November. Hate speech incidents first peaked in May, with 32 recorded events, as political leaders and Hindu nationalist groups leveraged communal rhetoric for electoral polarization. Following a brief decline, hate speech resurged in August and remained consistently high until the state elections in November. Between August and November, Maharashtra recorded 90 hate speech events, accounting for 42.9% of the total incidents throughout the year.
While Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, India’s two most populous states, recorded the highest number of hate speech events, several smaller states also witnessed a disproportionately high volume of such incidents. Himachal Pradesh, a state governed by the Indian National Congress (INC), saw a dramatic surge in anti-Muslim hate speech events, with 48 recorded incidents in 2024, compared to 13 in 2023—marking a 269% increase. In 2024, Himachal Pradesh accounted for 4.1% of all hate speech events nationwide. This disproportionate spike appears to be the result of deliberate mobilization efforts by far-right organizations, including the BJP, the VHP, Bajrang Dal, and the Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM), all of whom have actively worked to inflame anti-minority sentiments in the state.
A similar trend was observed in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh’s neighboring state, which recorded 65 hate speech events in 2024. This represented a 58.5% increase from 2023, when the state recorded 41 incidents. Uttarakhand was responsible for
5.6% of all hate speech events in 2024. As documented in our 2023 report, the state has become a focal point for Hindu nationalism.13 The small state has witnessed numerous incidents targeting Muslims, including the installation of signboards14 banning Muslims from entering several villages and organized campaigns advocating ethnic cleansing of Muslims.15 Out of 65 hate speeches, 59 were explicitly anti-Muslim and four targeted both Christians and Muslims, while two were explicitly anti-Christian.
We also recorded hate speech events in 16 other states with varying frequency of occurrences, including Madhya Pradesh (98), Jharkhand (85), Rajasthan (74), Bihar (52), Gujarat (41), Karnataka (32), Haryana (32), West Bengal (30), Chhattisgarh (21), Telangana (25), Odisha (18), Goa (13), Assam (13), Kerala (7), Punjab (7) and Tripura (2). The union territories of Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir recorded 2 and 3 hate speech events, respectively, while the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi witnessed 45 events.
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