On Friday, April 19, 2024, voters lined up at a polling station in nagar district of Muzafa, Uttar Pradesh. Prakash Singh/Bloomberg/Getty Photo Agency CNN At the time of the police investigation, the world's most populous country is voting in a general election for several weeks, and it is widely expected that Modi's Hindu nationalist party will win a rare third term in this general election.
The party has long denied its opposition to Islam, but opposition politicians and prominent Muslims have warned that its leaders have been using openly divisive remarks to speed up their election campaign.
According to a police report seen by CNN on Tuesday, Karnataka police are investigating whether local BJP leader B. Y. Vijayendra and the anonymous holder of the party's official local X account "encouraged hostility among religious groups" after the video clip was posted online on May 4.
This 17-second animation depicts the welfare of the leaders of India's main opposition party, the Congress Party, to Muslims with local Kannada subtitles: "Be careful ... be careful ... be careful ...!"
It shows the cartoon of Rahul Gandhi, the national leader of the Congress Party, and Siddharma Maya, the chief minister of Karnataka, feeding "money" to a big bird wearing a Muslim cap without giving anything to three birds depicting other marginalized minorities. When the politicians in Congress laughed, the big bird kicked the other birds out of the nest.
On Sunday, March 31st, 2024, when Indian Prime Minister Damodardas Modi delivered a speech at a campaign rally in Milut, India, a huge portrait was displayed behind him. As India's large-scale elections deepened differences, Modi's Muslim remarks triggered accusations of "hate speech". The video was deleted on Wednesday after the Indian Election Commission asked X to delete it.
CNN has contacted Vijayendra, BJP and X to comment on this matter.
Critics said that the Congress Party's manifesto did not mention the redistribution of wealth to Muslims, while Manikam Tagore, a member of Congress Party, said that the video was "the blatant demonization of minority groups by ruling BJP" and urged the Election Commission to solve its "separatist strategy".
Many of India's more than 200 million Muslims are worried about the prospect of Modi's re-election. Critics say that this video conforms to the pattern of publicly expressing Islamophobia during the BJP campaign.
Last month, BJP's Instagram account posted another animation, claiming that the conference plans to give priority to Muslims.
"If you are a non-Muslim, Congress will seize your wealth and distribute it to Muslims," said a voiceover in the clip, which has been deleted from Instagram.
This video echoes Modi's similar remarks. Last month, when Modi was campaigning in BJP-ruled Rajasthan, he caused a quarrel about hate speech. He accused Muslims who had existed in India for hundreds of years of being "infiltrators", and they deliberately formed large families to surpass the majority Hindu population.
Modi's speech aroused widespread anger among Muslim leaders and opposition politicians, and called on the election authorities to investigate. A BJP spokesman later said that Modi was talking about undocumented immigrants.
The Election Commission asked BJP to respond to these allegations.
On Monday, Modi told Times Now, a local broadcaster, that BJP "does not oppose Islam and Muslims".
But many Muslims are skeptical.
In response to the speech, the famous Muslim journalist Rana ayub said: "This is not a whistle, it is a targeted, direct and brazen hate speech against a community."