Decoding Hate: Amid the Kamlesh Tiwari murder investigation, Twitter spews hate against the entire Muslim community

On October 18, 2019, Kamlesh Tiwari, a key leader of a right wing supremacist group, was found dead in his Lucknow home with a slit throat and multiple gunshot wounds. Since the news broke, a flurry of hateful anti-Muslim hashtags has been seen trending on Twitter.

On October 18, 2019, BJP leader Kamlesh Tiwari was found dead in his Lucknow home with a slit throat and multiple gunshot wounds. Since the news broke, a flurry of hateful anti-Muslim hashtags have been seen trending on Twitter.

The saffron leader shot into the national limelight in 2015 as a member of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, when he called Prophet Muhammed “the first ******* (homosexual slur) of the World”. His incendiary comment resulted in protests by the Muslim community in all over the country, and he was arrested and put in jail under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings)

Since his death, Twitter has been flooded with vitriolic and offensive hashtags in reference to this deplorable incident, such as #KamleshTiwariWasRight, #YourProphetIs***, #पैगंबर_*******_है, and #पैगम्बर_*****_है.

Here are a few extremely offensive and expletive laden examples. We have chosen not to make them visible. However, should you wish to see the tweets, please click on the links to the tweets here:
“Islam is not a religion, it’s a way to spread terror.”
“Today, A truth is trending!”

A surge of tweets also seem to equate Tiwari’s death to mean that the entire Hindu community is in danger and needs to “wake up” from their stupor and take action against Muslims, lest you are next in line.

[मुसलमानों का लक्ष्य है हिन्दुओं का सर्वनाश हिन्दुओं का लक्ष्य है – “दाल_ रोटी” सस्ती मिले तो वो ओवैसी को भी वोट दे देंगे अब सुधर जाओ
#JusticeForKamleshTiwari
@Real_Anuj
@myogiadityanath]

[If they want “Violence”, we will show what is “Violence” by means of Blood. If we aren’t still able to unite all Hindus to withstand for our Dharma, then Muslims will dominate in the future Pls, #WakeUpHindus.They have crossed their limits! #KamleshTiwariMurder #KamleshTiwari] [Picture attached – Wake Up Hindus]
On a similar note, other fundamentalists are found imploring their followers to stop availing goods and services of Muslims.

[Boycott and stop buying any goods and services from these converted #मुस्लिमो_का_संपूर्ण_बहिष्कार]

[YOU eat at Karim’s YOU hire Aslam Plumber YOU go to Ali Barber YOU Uber with Momin YOUR maid is Ruksana YOUR welder is Naseer YOU love Tunde ke kabab YOUR tailor is Rehman bhai YOU are giving every penny of your money to them . But you want Modi to teach them a lesson???]

Gross violation of Twitter policy
Twitter’s hateful conduct policy clearly states that a user may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of their religious affiliation. The company states that it would take action against accounts that participate in behavior including violent threats, wishing, hoping or calling for serious harm and repeated and/or non-consensual slurs, and hateful imagery. Salman Soz called out Twitter India on the anti-Muslim hashtags trending in India despite this policy.

From these blatantly hateful tweets, one catches a glimpse into the extremist Hindutva narrative. Going by the online support that this venom seems to garner, the hope for a secular and peaceful future looks rather bleak.