Who are the ‘Hindutva pop’ singers behind rising Islamophobia in India?
Cultural products such as music, poetry and cinema have become the tools by which this politics of hatred is sustained.
Hyderabad: Since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, an unprecedented polarisation of Indian society has been witnessed. Hate attacks on India’s minorities, mainly Muslims, became a near-daily affair. Cultural products such as music, poetry and cinema have become the tools by which this politics of hatred is sustained.
Several music videos can be found on YouTube and other social media platforms, which are shared by the supporters of the Hindu far-right members. They share those anti-Muslim songs to promote their messages of hate, abuse and even threats of genocide targeted at the Muslim minority.
During the past few months, India witnessed religious violence in several states during Hindu festivals. While playing loud music laced with Islamophobic lyrics, right-wing groups held marches mainly in Muslim neighbourhoods outside mosques.
In this article we will introduce singers of those anti-Muslim songs.
“Insaan nahi ho saalo, ho tum kasaayi; Bahut ho chuka Hindu-Muslim bhai bhai” – You are not human, you are butchers; it’s enough of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. This song was sung by singer Prem Krishnavanshi posted on YouTube three years ago. Since then it has been viewed thousands of times.
As reported by Al-Jazeera, Krishnavanshi, an engineering graduate from Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state, wanted to be a Bollywood singer. But it was too competitive. So he turned to live shows and events to make a living. Krishnavanshi recently received an award by the Uttar Pradesh government for his song praising chief minister, Adityanath.
Another such singer is Laxmi Dubey who was born in a middle-class family in Bhopal. She used to sing songs of Muslim-Hindu brotherhood and religious coexistence in school events. But things changed for her with Modi’s rise as prime minister in 2014. Now she sings “Hindutva pop” songs. “Agar Hindustan mein rehna hoga, To vande mataram kehna hoga” (If you want to stay in India, praise the motherland), is one of Dubey’s more popular songs. Dubey’s YouTube channel has nearly 300,000 followers, and her songs were viewed millions of times and hundreds of provocative comments against India’s Muslims. BJP members often invite her to perform in their cities.
Another anti-Muslim singer and songwriter is Upendra Rana, from Uttar Pradesh. He has more than 370,000 subscribers on YouTube. One of Rana’s songs says: “Dharm ke naam zameen gayi, Islami mulk banaye” (In the name of their religion, we lost our land; they made it an Islamic nation).
