Anti-Hindu hate speech: Muslim man makes derogatory remarks against Hindus, threatens them with dire consequences
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 
3 November, 2023
Case Summary
Hindus were subjected to abuse and threats by a Muslim man named Ayaan Qureshi. The accused called Hindus "insects" and threatened them with dire consequences if a 'pro-Muslim government' came to power. The incident came to light on 4 November 2023, when a video by the YouTube news channel News Gallery stirred controversy as it featured Ayaan Qureshi. After the video sparked controversy on social media, Ghaziabad Police took cognisance of the matter and detained Ayaan Qureshi for questioning. In a statement, Assistant Superintendent of Police Naresh Kumar said, “A video has been brought to our notice of Ayaan Qureshi, who lives in Masoori, Ghaziabad. He used derogatory language against a specific religion. A First Information Report is being registered against the accused. Qureshi was detained and questioned. Further investigation is underway.” Qureshi, who lived in Rafiqabad, a small locality in Ghaziabad, said he ran a meat shop. Using derogatory language about Hindus, he said, “You keep saying Hindu-Hindu, tell me where are Hindus?? The real fight is between Jews and Muslims. What are Hindus? They will get crushed like insects when the time comes.” Here, he was referring to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. He continued, “You can change the names of the places like Prayagraj and keep doing that. However, when our government comes, it will all be reversed.” He added, “Inshallah Islam zinda tha zinda hi rahega (Islam is thriving, and it will remain forever).” Qureshi did not stop there. He accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of Hindu appeasement and working against Muslims. He added, “When our government comes, they [Chief Minister Yogi and other Hindu leaders] will be thrown in jails.” Qureshi claimed there had been no development in the past nine years since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power at the centre. Qureshi lashed out at the government for shutting meat shops during Hindu festivals. He claimed that for six months, his shop remained closed due to Hindu festivals. He said, “Why do you shut meat shops in Muslim areas? We don’t ask to shut liquor shops during Ramzan. You should let meat shops run in Muslim areas uninterrupted. If you want to close them, do it in Hindu-dominating areas.” He further stated Hindus and Muslims who ran the abattoirs were unnecessarily named in it. In the YouTube video, the accused, Qureshi, also praised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a promising candidate for the position of Prime Minister.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Hate Speech against Hindus. The subcategory selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. The other subcategory selected is- Violent Threats. Violent threats, explicit, implicit or implied, is the most dangerous form of hate speech since it goes beyond discriminatory and prejudicial language to express the intent of causing harm to an individual or a group of people based on their religious identity and faith. There could be several different kinds of threats that are issued to Hindus based on religious animosity. An explicit threat would mean the direct threat of violence towards an individual Hindu, a group of Hindus or Hindus at large. Physical violence, death threats, threats of destruction of property belonging to Hindus and threats of genocide would mean explicit threats against Hindus for their religious identity. Implicit threats may not be a direct threat but implied through the use of symbols of actions – for example – in the Nupur Sharma case, other than explicit threats, there were also implicit threats when Islamists took to the streets to burn and beat her effigies. It implies that they want to do the same to Nupur Sharma – thereby is considered an implicit threat. Violent threats can be delivered in person, through letters, phone calls, graffiti, or increasingly through social media and other online platforms. It would be important to understand that a threat – explicit or implicit, online or offline – to an individual who happens to be a Hindu does not qualify as a religiously motivated threat. Such a threat, while vile and dangerous, could be owing to non-religious reasons and/or personal animosity. To qualify as a religiously motivated threat, it would need to exhibit an indication that the individual is being targeted for religious reasons and/or owing to his/her religious identity as a Hindu. This case stands as a stark instance of anti-Hindu hate speech driven by profound religious animosity towards the Hindu community and their faith. The accused Muslim man, Ayaan Qureshi, dehumanised Hindus by calling them "insects" and declaring, "The real fight is between Jews and Muslims. What are Hindus? They will get crushed like insects when the time comes," positioning Hindus as insignificant pests to be exterminated at the Muslim whim. This vicious rhetoric, laced with threats of slaughter, exposed his deep-seated hostility rooted in Islamist supremacy, reducing an entire faith community to vermin unworthy of existence. Qureshi further revealed his animosity by denigrating the restoration of Hindu names to places stripped of their heritage during Islamic rule, such as Allahabad reverted to Prayagraj. He sneered that Muslims would reverse these changes entirely when their favourable government seized power, clinging fiercely to imperialistic Islamic legacies imposed on Hindu lands. Such defiance against Hindu reclamation of their sacred geography underscored his religiously motivated crusade to erase Hindu identity and reinstate Islamic dominance, marking this as a blatant hate crime steeped in Islamist conquest mentality. Qureshi escalated his threats by vowing that under a Muslim-favourable government, Hindu leaders, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, would be hurled into jails, targeting the community's guardians with imprisonment and retribution. This overt call for political vengeance against Hindu figures cemented the religious bigotry fuelling his outburst, transforming personal venom into a blueprint for communal subjugation. Such acts and speeches are a result of deep-rooted hostility against the Hindu community and their faith, making it a clear instance of anti-Hindu hate speech. Since this case meets the parameters of religiously motivated hate speech, it is being added to the Hate Crime Database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
