Mumbai, India - Less than 24 hours after the news of the April 22 attack broke out, the gunmen killed 25 tourists and a local pony rider in the Indian-managed Kashmir region, a new song that surfaced on Indian YouTube.
Its message is clear:
We allowed you to stay and make a mistake,
You have your own country, so why not leave?
They call us Hindus “kaffirs”,
Their hearts are filled with conspiracies against us.
The song, titled “Pehle Dharam Pocha” (they first asked about religion), aims at Indian Muslims, insists that they are conspiring to conspire with Hindus and demanding them to leave India. In less than a week, the song has received over 140,000 views on YouTube.
This is not the only song. The killings in the picturesque resort of Pahalgam marked the worst attack on Kashmir tourists in a quarter of a century. But even as New Delhi fought back against Pakistan, the allegations were linked to the attack - a charge denied by Islamabad - a wave of burning music tracks produced and circulated within hours, sparking anti-Muslim opposition from India.
The songs are set with pulsating beats and engaging rhymes, part of a genre called Hindutva Pop, calling for violent retribution for the attack. From songs that label Indian Muslims as “traitors” to songs that advocate boycotts, the country’s smartphones are buzzing. Hindutva is the Hindu political ideology of Narendra Modi Prime Minister Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies.
Al Jazeera found at least 20 songs carrying and amplifying such Islamophobic themes as the Indians eagerly scrolled through digital feeds for more information about the post-attack.
The songs have a shocking narrative: Indian Muslims can no longer trust because the attackers are believed to have picked out Hindu tourists - don't forget that a Muslim Kashmir pony rider who tried to stop the gunman was also killed.
Apart from that, other supranational songs have appeared in the past week, bringing enthusiastic remarks into the digital veins of India. Some songs call for Pakistan to be nuclear weapons, or the Indian government "wipe Pakistan", while others advocate "Pakistan's lineage" in exchange for death,
The songs have become part of a wider digital push for the Hindutva group, who are using crypto platforms like social media and WhatsApp to be between fear, hatred and Indians — all at a time when tensions with neighboring Pakistan are in trouble.
The campaign is reflecting real-world violence in several Indian states. In Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, Muslims face cruel attacks and threats. Kashmir Muslims have been expelled from their homes, street vendors have been attacked, and Hindu doctors have rejected medical services for Muslim patients amid the creepy act of retribution.
A Muslim man was shot dead on Friday, and a Hindu supremacist in Agra, Uttar Pradesh claimed responsibility for the shooting and said it was retribution for the attack on Pahargam.
All 20 songs analyzed by Al Jazeera see a common theme: It is reiterated that it is advocated that tourists were killed due to their Hindu identity, and therefore, Hindus across the country must now feel the threat of living around Muslims. Several witnesses and survivors’ claims of the Pahargam attack suggest that the gunmen asked tourists to recite Kalimas (sacred Islamic verses) and those who could not do so were shot.
The day after the attack, the song Pehle Dharm Poocha was released on April 23 (they first asked about religion). Singer Kavi Singh insisted that it was "a mistake" to keep Muslims in India after the country was divided in 1947 and asked them to go to Pakistan.
Another song by singer Chandan Deewana, Ab Ek Nahi Huye Toh Kat Jaaoge (if you don't unite now, you'll be slaughtered) greets the Hindus completely, asking them to get up and “save our religion.” The song insists that Hindus, not Indians, are threatened and warns that if they don’t unite, they will be “slaughtered.” It has received over 60,000 views on YouTube in just two days.
Jaago Hindu Jaago (Hindu Wake) is a song that requires Hindus to identify “traitors within the country”, which is the code for Muslims. The song's video on YouTube contains Pahalgam's attacked AI-Re-Rementment, which has so far exceeded 128,000 views.
Another song, Modi Ji Ab Maha Yudh Ho Jaane Do (Modi Ji, let the war begin), calls Muslims the “snake” living in India. Another song calls the country an incident a “religious war” and another song requires Indian Hindus to carry weapons.
These songs provide background scores for social media posts with similar topics.
From AI-generated videos and meme recreation attacks to Ghibli's images, the social media schedule has seen a lot of content that appears in the attacks. Most of them have a similar background: portraying the attack as an attack on Hindus and Hindu religions while advising Hindus to “unity” against the threat of Muslims.
Some posts liken the Pahargam killing to the attacks on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on October 7, 2023 and urged the Indian government to "take revenge on Israel's path." Since October 2023, Israel has launched a war in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 52,000 Palestinians and injured more than 117,000 people.
Raqib Hameed Naik, executive director of the Center for Hate Research (CSOH), a Washington, DC-based organization, has tracked hate speech in India, saying the center has observed “spikes” of anti-Muslim rhetoric on social media since the Kashmir attack.
"The (Muslim) community is often portrayed as existential threats to memes, AI-generated images, videos and misinformation that are systematically designed to incite passion and justify exclusive remarks," Naik said.
In addition to the 20 songs identified by Al Jazeera, YouTube abused Pakistani songs (one song titled "Pakistan, you M *************") and received over 75,000 views). Videos accompanying some of the songs include military simulation videos of air strikes, soldiers in combat and tanks launching ammunition.
Some of them even featured topcoats of military fatigue and camouflage, with a singer holding a rifle throughout the video.
Since the Kashmir attacks, there have been many violence on the streets targeting Kashmiris and other Muslims across the country.
The Association of Civil Rights Advocacy Group (APCR), a civil rights advocacy group (APCR), composed of lawyers and human rights activists, recorded 21 incidents of anti-Muslim violence, intimidation and hate speech nationwide in the days after April 22.
These include attacks on Kashmir women and students, making hate speeches against Muslims at public gatherings and demanding that the Indian government replicate Israeli actions against Kashmiris in Palestine and expel lessors and hotel Kashmir students.
"The Indians were bombarded by this hateful movement," said APCR Secretary General Nadeem Khan. "The movement brought the country's temperature to a boiling point."
He said APCR is now arranging legal aid for victims of post-attack violence.
Members of the Modi BJP are linked to some hate speech and violence.
A BJP minister in the western state of Maharashtra (Nitesh Rane) called for an economic boycott of Muslims, while speaking to the public events last week. “If they act in this way, why should we buy things from them and make them rich?
Another BJP legislator entered the Jama Masjid in Jaipur city and pasted offensive posters inside the mosque's premises during protests against Pakistan's Kashmir attacks. Police have booked a group of BJP leaders by police for abuse and beating Muslim vendors in central Mumbai.
In addition, the leaders of the BJP and its ideological branches, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu dioceses, have also been organizing protests against Pakistan, often indulging in anti-Muslim hate speech in the process.
Since April 22, the Washington, DC-based CSOH has recorded at least 10 hate speech incidents, with participants threatening Muslims violence, advocating boycotts of Muslims, demanding Hindus arm themselves, and even warning Kashmir Muslims to leave, failing and they will face "face consequences."
Naik from CSOH said online hate campaigns targeting Muslims try to "prove" this violence.
"It is a long-standing model where certain domestic or international events are weaponized to demonize Muslims and promote hatred and violence against them in India," he said.