Ghuspaithiyon (infiltrators), ‘those with more children’, katwa (circumcised), terrorist — these are just a few of the many terms which politicians have used in reference to Muslims in India — the first two terms have been used by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a controversial election campaign speech in April.

This communal rhetoric is not new. In fact, it’s almost expected during campaigning now. However, things seem to have become worse since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. That incident has been used to justify a wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric across India, with some right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders conflating support for Palestine with support for Hamas and painting all Muslims as “terrorists” or “terror sympathisers”. 

Hate-inciting messages are circulated widely on WhatsApp, with hundreds of messages related to the Israel-Hamas conflict being shared across more than a hundred groups. This reporter has documented hundreds of such WhatsApp messages and observed similar content being circulated on X, shared by right-wing ideologues.

Misinformation and fake news

Reports indicate that a substantial amount of misinformation about the Israel-Palestine conflict has originated from India.

These false narratives often aim to instil fear among the Hindu population. For example, one widely circulated Hindi newspaper article on WhatsApp claimed that American journalist Janet Levy warned of a “Hindu genocide” if Modi is ousted from office. However, upon investigation, it was found that this statement was derived from an old 2015 article published on a propaganda website called ‘American Thinker,’ titled “The Muslim Takeover of West Bengal”. This article was earlier shared by the former governor of West Bengal, Tathagata Roy, in 2015.

Since October 7, there have been several videos in circulation that portray Muslims as barbaric and willing to harm women and children. The message going out is that what happened in Israel — targeting even dead women and babies — could very well happen in India.