A recent report by two non-governmental organizations working for electoral and political reforms in India, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW), has exposed that 107 MPs and MLAs currently in office have hate speech cases against them.
The report, which analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of all the incumbent lawmakers and the unsuccessful candidates in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls held in the country in the last five years, found that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had the highest number of MPs and MLAs with hate speech cases.
According to the report, 33 MPs have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves, out of which 22 are from the BJP, followed by two from the Congress and one each from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), AIMIM, AIUDF, DMK, MDMK, PMK, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the VCK, besides one Independent MP.
As per the ADR list, ministers and MPs like Amit Shah, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Shobha Karanlaje, Nityanand Rai, Dilip Ghosh, Pragya Thakur, Nishikant Dubey, Anantkumar Hegde, Asaduddin Owaisi, Badrudin Ajmal, Shashi Tharoor, Kanimozhi, Sanjay Raut, and Raghav Chaddha, have cases against them.
The states with the most MPs with hate speech cases are Uttar Pradesh (7), Tamil Nadu (4), Bihar (3), Karnataka (3) and Telangana (3).
The report also stated that in the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Many of these candidates were repeat offenders who had contested multiple elections despite having pending cases against them.
Hate speech is defined as any statement that is intended to incite discrimination, hostility or violence against a person or a group on the basis of their identity or beliefs. The report asserted that such utterances contravened the constitutional values of equality, dignity and fraternity, as well as various legislations such as the Indian Penal Code, the Representation of People Act and the Model Code of Conduct.
The report also urged more awareness and education among citizens about their rights and duties regarding hate speech. The report further advised that political parties should avoid giving tickets to candidates with hate speech cases against them, and that voters should spurn such candidates at the polls.
The ADR is a non-governmental organisation that works for electoral and political reforms in India. The NEW is a nationwide campaign comprising more than 1,200 NGOs and other citizen-led organisations working for electoral reforms. The ADR and NEW have been publishing periodic reports on various aspects of elections and governance in India since 1999.
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