Hours after the Hamas attack on Israeli territory on Oct. 7, 2023, India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) posted on its official X (formerly Twitter) account: “What Israel is facing today, India suffered between 2004-14. Never forgive, never forget…” with a video that juxtaposed visuals of terror attacks in India with footage of Palestinian fighters. The video, shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, was widely seen as a “dog whistle” and the insinuation of a larger Islamophobic campaign couched within anti-Palestine disinformation.
Shortly after the video was posted, right-wing groups and social media accounts in the country used the Israel-Hamas war to stoke Islamophobia. The posts included the assertion of numerous “Gazas” in India and the proclamation that only Modi possessed the capability to safeguard Indian Hindus from a hypothetical Hamas-style attack.
“Israel is in danger from traitors sitting outside the country, and India is in danger from traitors sitting inside the country. Hence the danger for us is more,” posted Ashwini Upadhiya, a Delhi-based Hindutva leader and Supreme Court lawyer with over half a million followers on X.
He urged Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah to use the country’s terror laws, such as the National Security Act of 1980, The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967, and The Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.
Disinformation in India
The disinformation was “on expected lines,” according to award-winning Indian fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who told Inkstick he was “shocked” by the scale of anti-Palestinian disinformation and the “amount of hatred” that is being directed at Indian Muslims in view of the conflict.
“It has anything and everything to do with demonizing [Indian] Muslims,” claims the co-founder of Alt News, a leading fact-checking portal in India. “To target Muslims [in India], they accuse all people supporting Palestine as being supporters of Hamas and label them as terrorists.”
Repeating similar trends from 2021, hashtags such as #ISupportIsrael, and #IndiaWithIsrael, have resurfaced on Indian social media over the past few weeks. Right-wing accounts have also used #PalestineTerrorists in their posts.
One account, Mr Sinha_, followed by India’s ministers among other leaders of the BJP, shared multiple false videos misrepresenting Palestinians. In one post, the account said the body of a child killed in Gaza was an “injured doll.” Zubair debunked the allegation, but the post was never taken down, and garnered over 887,000 views.
Aditya Raj Kaul, Executive Editor of TV9 Network, tweeted that a pregnant woman was mutilated by Hamas, killing the unborn child. The post has been viewed 10.3 million times despite no evidence to back his claims.
Kaul is joined by Indian channels that have displayed support for Israel’s bombing of Gaza. While India has not designated Hamas as a terrorist group, a majority of channels have labeled it so.
“They are using the issue for their own Islamophobic content,” said Aishe Ghosh, the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union, told Inkstick. The student leader said even “liberal” media has joined in “dehumanizing Palestinians.”
“Communalizing everything, especially making it anti-Muslim, has become a culture of this country. They don’t speak about Palestine and the genocide happening.”
Ghosh was “manhandled” and briefly detained by Indian Police for protesting against Israel’s war crimes in New Delhi. She claims India has not been tolerant of the issue, citing cases in Indian cities against pro-Palestine actions.
Cheering for “Muslim Genocide”
Zubair expressed his anguish at seeing people mocking the death of children “even after they know these were 100% real.” About 3,000 children are among over 7,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza due to Israel’s military air strike since Oct. 7, 2023.
He estimates that “If you look at any pro-Israel account on social media, over 70% of the comments are from India.”
