With Hindu nationalism on the rise in India, there has been a spur of anti-Muslim pop songs in the country. From implied contexts to more explicit lyrics. It’s called ‘called Hindutva pop’.
Hindutva supremacist ideals have been causing issues in the problem country for a while now from lynch mobs to ‘canceling companies’. Additionally, these sentiments extend to the government as the new citizenship law citizenship amendment act 2019 was passed.
Now ‘Hindiutva pop’ has emerged. There are many music videos on YouTube and other social media platforms, with messages of hate, abuse, and even threats of genocide against the Muslim minority.
Despite the obvious hate, such music isn’t treated as hate speech even in legal spaces.
In fact one singer, Krishnavanshi used this as a career path in the music industry. The engineering graduate from Lucknow made a mark in the biz with such anti-Muslim music.
With songs in Hindi and Bhojpuri languages, his fanbase is mainly in Uttar Pradesh.
However, Krishnavanshi doesn’t think his Hindutva pop music is Islamophobic.
“I don’t think my music is Islamophobic. My music signifies truth and if someone thinks it’s Islamophobic, I can’t stop them from feeling that way,” he told Al Jazeera.
So do people really resonate with this sentiment or is it being made popular? Let us know what you think.
