As many as 27 BJP parliamentarians and state legislators have been accused of inciting hate through their public address, giving saffron party the top spot in the latest report on hate speech.
According to a report by Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), the saffron party was followed by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) with six cases each.
Among the state legislators, Telangana fared the worst in hate speeches, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. In total, 58 current MPs and MLAs have declared cases related to hate speech, of them 15 are sitting Lok Sabha MPs. None of the Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to hate speech," says the ADR report. There are 43 sitting MLAs who have declared hate speech cases.
Ten sitting Lok Sabha MPs, including Union minister Uma Bharti, with such declared cases are from the BJP. One each from TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), PMK (Paattali Makkall Katchi), AIMIM, AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) and SHS (Shiv Sena) have declared that they have such cases, it said.
Besides, three MLAs each are from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, two each from Uttarakhand and West Bengal and one MLA each from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
"Political party leaders such as Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) and Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF) have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves," ADR said. Among party-wise distribution of MLAs, 17 sitting MLAs with such declared cases are from BJP, five each are from TRS and AIMIM, three from TDP, two each from INC, AITC, JD(U) and SHS, one each from DMK, BSP, SP and two Independent MLAs, the report added.
ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all sitting MPs and MLAs. The analysis reveals that many of them have declared cases related to hate speech. The analysis is based on the affidavits submitted by the candidates and MPs/MLAs prior to the last election they contested.
