Yeh Jo India Hai Na, It Weaponises Popular Culture To Spread Hate and Bigotry

The weaponising of films with communal hate is proving as effective if not more, in dividing Indians, than any riot.

Image: Namita Chauhan/The Quint

Yeh Jo India Hai Na… yahan ab no danga, all is changa… Why? Because now movies, cricket, food, clothes, even romance, and religious processions are being well used to spread hate and divide us. Why hire professional goons, peshewar dangaiyon ki ab kya zaroorat? Why push your local corporator or MLA into provoking or leading a mob when you can pack the same hate into a film, and then sit back as the damage is done?

Here are the latest examples — At the Government Medical College, Jammu — an argument on WhatsApp over 'The Kerala Story’s’ disturbing Islamophobia, led to a clash injuring five students, both Muslim and Hindu. One student, Haseeb, suffered a serious head injury. In Akola, Maharashtra, a social media hate-filled chat about 'The Kerala Story’, went viral, leading to violence in which one person was killed. In March 2022 too, when ‘The Kashmir Files’ was released, viral videos from cinema halls in India showed audience members calling for violence against Muslims. 

While some BJP-ruled states have declared 'The Kerala Story’ tax-free, some non-BJP states have ensured that the film is not screened, both sides politicising the issue. 'The Kashmir Files’ too saw several BJP-ruled states declaring the film tax-free. 'The Kerala Story’ talks about three women lured to join the ISIS, and ‘The Kashmir Files’ is about the violence against Kashmiri Pandits in the early 1990s— both valid subjects, but both films are also full of blatant Islamophobia. And, both films had top BJP leaders— the PM, central ministers, chief ministers—fully approving them, calling for all Indians to watch them, with not a word about their divisive nature.

Yeh Jo India Hai Na… yahan, be it on social media, on tv channel debates or viral videos, be it in lakhs of homes, office spaces, buses, trains, Nana-Nani parks, RWAs, college, and school campuses… films like ‘The Kerala Story’ and 'The Kashmir Files’ have succeeded in dividing us. And this weaponising of films with communal hate is proving as effective, if not more effective, in dividing Indians, than any communal riot.

Some of the Highest Grossers Fuel the Hate Machinery

Look at these box office numbers— ‘The Kashmir Files’ earned an estimated Rs 340 Crores, second highest in Bollywood in 2022. 'The Kerala Story’ has earned Rs 150 Crores in 12 days since its release. Coming next, the same formula may be applied to films like 'Tipu’ — about the life of Tipu Sultan of Mysore.

The film’s teaser is overtly Islamophobic, calling Tipu Sultan a ‘destroyer of temples and churches’, who killed and converted thousands of Hindus— it ends with Tipu’s face being smeared black. But I remember how my Amar Chitra Katha comic called Tipu 'the Lion of Mysore', who spent his whole life taking on the British and even died fighting them. Imagine, a film teaser about Tipu Sultan skipping such basic facts! How the Censor Board is even certifying such content is baffling, and saddening too.

Even more worrying is the return of weaponising religious processions. Ram Navami processions in India, do have a history of being linked to violence. The bloodiest and earliest were the Ram Navami riots of April 1979, in Jamshedpur, which left 108 dead people, 79 Muslims, 25 Hindus. The Jitendra Narain Commission appointed by the Janata Party Government, held an RSS-affiliated local MLA Dinanath Pandey, responsible for the hostile climate that led to the rioting. Back then too, the provocation was choosing to take the procession through a Muslim-dominated area, and even halting in front of a masjid.

The template has been rediscovered over the last two years. 2022 and 2023 have seen Ram Navami procession-related violence in multiple states. And following these processions without fail, are viral videos of provocative slogans and chants taking place in front of local masjids, in some, even of arson being committed at masjids by Hindutva rowdies.

As most of us know, from our social media feeds, these videos are viewed by millions on social media, and across thousands of bigoted WhatsApp groups— with one simple message each time— we are the majority, we call the shots, and so, it will be our slogans, where we want, when we want. Accept it. Deal with it. Once again, the haters get the job done, no riot required.

Cricket Too Gets a Communal Spin

Over the years we have weaponised cricket too. From targeting Kashmiri students for allegedly cheering for Pakistan at Indo-Pak matches, we have graduated to targeting members of Team India itself— at an India-Australia test match in Ahmedabad, India’s top bowler Mohammed Shami was heckled by spectators who stood behind him chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’. Even young Arshdeep Singh was trolled and labeled a 'Khalistani’, for dropping a catch during an Indo-Pak match in 2022.

We have seen the targeting of inter-faith romance and marriages, even the passing of so-called anti-'love jihad’ laws. We’ve seen the targeting of clothing, with Karnataka’s hijab ban on college and school students. Calls for the economic boycott of Muslim shops and businesses are heard. Performing namaz in the open is targeted. Eating biryani has been mocked. It’s a 360-degree targeting of Muslims—with ministers, local leaders, social media influencers, and sadly, even thousands of ordinary folks taking part.

A physical riot ropes in a few hundred fanatics. But this weaponising of popular culture, where the bludgeoning of Muslims is virtual, and on a mass scale, is attracting many more to participate in vicious bigotry without being required to throw a single stone.

We are 12 months away from the 2024 General Elections, and Yeh Jo India Hai Na… it needs to shut out the hate which is invading some of India’s most secular spaces… be it films, cricket, or our favorite festivals.