In India, hate-filled songs are a weapon to target Muslims

By SHEIKH SAALIQ
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s hardline Hindu nationalists have long espoused an anti-Muslim stance, but attacks against the minority community have recently occurred more frequently. In many cases, hate-filled and provocative songs that are blared through speakers during Hindu festivals have become a precursor to this violence. Some songs openly call for the killing of Muslims and those who do not endorse “Hindutva,” a Hindu nationalist movement that strives to make officially secular India into an avowedly Hindu nation. They mark another example of rising sentiment against Muslims across India, where religious polarization has grown under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.