New Delhi: Hate-related incidents have reportedly increased sharply in the first year of the BJP's third term at the Centre. At least 947 related incidents were reported in India between June 2024 and June 2025. Out of these, 602 were hate crimes and, 345 were instances of hate speech, and most of these targeted the Muslim and Christian communities.
The alarming data was compiled by the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and the Quill Foundation.
Of the 602 hate crimes recorded, 173 involved physical violence and 25 deaths were reported. All of these victims were Muslims. Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of hate crimes (217), Madhya Pradesh (84), Maharashtra (68), Jharkhand (52) and Uttarakhand (36) followed closely. Of the 25 states that reported hate crimes, 12 are ruled by the BJP.
Some of the hate crimes are the following. On September 17, Mohammed Irfan from Thane, Maharashtra, was attacked by unidentified members of a far-right organization, making false allegations related to love jihad. On September 20, a Muslim family in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, was physically attacked by locals for buying property in a Hindu-majority area. In Panna, Madhya Pradesh, when Hindu processions were taking place during Ganesh Chaturthi, members of extremist organizations vandalized Muslim houses. In October 2024, in Kanpur, 19-year-old Faizan Khan was attacked for participating in a Navratri event. In multiple cities in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, economic boycotts against Muslim-owned shops were openly encouraged.
The report also said that out of 345 hate speech incidents, 178 came from BJP leaders. This includes speeches by five Union ministers and the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sharma tops the list with the most number of hate speeches.
Hate speeches triggered communal violence, and such incidents broke out in multiple states following the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on April 23, 2025.