NEW DELHI: At least 20 hate-filled songs inciting violence against Muslims in India are circulating on social media platforms, produced in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam incident in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The song, titled “Pehle Dharam Pocha” (They Asked About Religion First), targets Indian Muslims with inflammatory claims, accusing them of plotting against Hindus and urging them to leave the country.
Within a week of its release, the song has amassed over 140,000 views on YouTube, Al Jazeera reported.
Tensions between Pakistan and India heightened after gunmen attacked tourists in the Pahalgam area of IIOJK on 22 April, killing 26 people and injuring 17.
India swiftly blamed Pakistan for the attack without presenting any credible evidence. Pakistan condemned the attack and strongly rejected the Indian government’s baseless accusations.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said Islamabad was open to any “neutral and transparent” investigation into the Pahalgam attack.
According to Al-Jazeera, a wave of incendiary music tracks, crafted and circulated within hours of the Pahalgam incident, has set off an anti-Muslim backlash in India.
Driven by pulsing beats and catchy rhymes, these tracks—part of a growing genre known as Hindutva Pop—are calling for violent retaliation in response to the attack.
Ranging from songs that brand Indian Muslims as “traitors” to others that promote their social and economic boycotts, this music is rapidly spreading through smartphones across the country.
Hindutva refers to the Hindu nationalist ideology associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allied groups.
These songs insisted that the gunmen targeted Hindu tourists, so Indian Muslims could no longer be trusted.
In addition to these, a surge of hyper-nationalist songs has surfaced over the past week, injecting aggressive, war-driven rhetoric further into India’s digital space.
Some tracks call for nuclear strikes on Pakistan or urge the Indian government to “wipe Pakistan off the map,” while others demand “Pakistani blood” in retaliation for recent deaths, the report said.
These songs have become a part of a broader digital push by Hindutva groups, who are using social media and encrypted platforms like WhatsApp to spread fear and hatred against Muslims.
The report said this campaign is mirroring real-world violence, across multiple Indian states.
In Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand, Muslims have faced brutal attacks and threats while Kashmiri Muslims have been evicted from their homes, street vendors assaulted, and in chilling acts of retribution, Muslim patients have been denied medical care by Hindu doctors.
