Modi Stokes Anti-Muslim Rhetoric In Bid To Boost BJP’s Poll Fortunes

Amid India's national election it's Prime Minister Narendra Modi falls back on anti-Muslim rhetoric in bid to boost ruling BJP’s poll fortunes. 

At an election rally, India’s prime minister called Muslims ‘infiltrators’ and claimed they would be drain on society if the opposition won. 

The ‘open and brazen’ display of hate speech triggered a raft of complaints – even as observers say it will do little to win the BJP more votes. 

With voting under way in the world’s longest election, Narendra Modi's verbal attacks on India’s Muslims has sparked criticism that he is once again turning to religion to rally support, amid claims that his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party isn’t doing quite as well as he’d hoped.

His apparent reversion to sectarian politics has raised concerns about a breach of election standards, even as observers say the move is unlikely to add to the Hindu-nationalist BJP’s existing vote bank.

"When you are continuously targeting a community and they are not responding, not showing any aggression then there is a fatigue that comes in," said Ajay Gudavarthy, a political theorist and associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for Political Studies. 

On Sunday evening, social media platform X became flooded with a video clip of Modi, at an election rally in western Rajasthan, calling Muslims "infiltrators” and “those who have more children".

"When they [the opposition Congress party] were in power, they said Muslims have first right over resources," Modi was filmed saying to a thunderous roar from supporters. "They will gather all your wealth and distribute it among those who have more children. They will distribute it among infiltrators."

The clip caused an uproar on social media, with Modi accused of resorting to “communal hatred” by opponents, who claimed the first phase of the polls had not gone in the BJP’s favour – even though no statistics are yet available to confirm if this is true.

The BJP has long invoked divisive language to speak of Muslims, referring to refugees from countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar, in particular, as infiltrators. Another common trope among party leaders is accusing Muslim men of taking Hindu wives to convert them, a conspiracy theory labelled "Love Jihad".