The Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign in the first half of the 18th Lok Sabha election was marked by communal and hate speech, initiated by the Prime Minister, Home Minister and State Chief Ministers and taken forward by national leaders to booth leaders. The Prime Minister claimed that the Congress is of the view that Muslims are the first inheritors of the country's wealth, and if the people have two buffaloes, they will seize one of them and give it to the Muslims, and they will take away the mangalsutra of the mothers, sisters, and all the granaries filled with grain. There are central leaders who have done more substandard practices. During the campaign, the Sangh Parivar Centres enthusiastically shared the video footage of the candidate making a gesture of shooting arrows at mosques and her supporters cheering after seeing it. Without discussing or finding solutions to the problems of common people, the Modi army calculated that it would be able to seize power for the third time under the cover of the intoxicating smoke of communalism by sending the message that Muslims will be taught a lesson as soon as the elections are over. However, the election results released on June 4 revealed that India does not want such a regime. Not only did they not get the huge victory they expected, but BJP candidates suffered heavy defeats in many of the constituencies where widespread hate propaganda was unleashed.
If the people thought that at least in the light of this verdict, the hate-communal propaganda might be abated, the saffron army is once again serving poison by disregarding that verdict. One of the main messages spread by Hindutva hate groups, including in Kerala, for the past two days, is that the defeat in UP is because none of the Muslims who were awarded houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana voted for the BJP. The number of houses is not written here as it is certain that the numbers given by the Sangh Parivar WhatsApp universities are fake. Even if the claim that the houses were given is true, there is no obligation on the part of the Muslims to vote for the BJP. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is not a scheme of any political party. Tax money paid by common people to the public treasury of the country is spent on all welfare schemes like Awas Yojana, ration, agricultural subsidy, and pension. No thinking voter would want to see a government that imposes heavy tax burdens on ordinary people and gifts billionaire businessmen with huge tax breaks and loan concessions. Also remember that twice as many houses as those built through welfare schemes have been destroyed by creating communal riots, false accusations and labelling them as illegal. The BJP Chief Minister of Assam has accused the Congress candidate from the Muslim community of winning by a majority of over ten lakh votes as a dangerous trend. The Christian community was blamed for the defeat of BJP candidates in Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. How foolish is it to argue that the community should have cooperated with the Prime Minister who did not look back at Manipur for more than a year after the lives of more than 220 people were lost!
Apart from the speeches and statements, there are many propaganda films in the genre of 'Kerala Story' which were circulated during the elections to spread the hate agenda. The Supreme Court, which issued a strong verdict against hate speeches months ago, has taken the approach that the Election Commission should stop the hate speech during elections. The Election Commission, which looked like an ally of the BJP, encouraged hate speech with silence. It was only because the people were not mobilized that the agenda of the hatemongers was not completely successful. Political observers are saying that after the election result, there is a big change in the Prime Minister's body language and expressions. We want to know if that change will also happen in terms of hate speech. Even if the Prime Minister changes himself or not, as he lacks the majority to form a government, leaders like Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu have the responsibility to bargain for important portfolios and posts from the BJP, which has sought their help in forming the government, and ensure the demise of the hatred that is tearing the country apart.