Preparation in India: the Seventh Stage of Genocide
- Genocide Watch
- 17 hours ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 56 minutes ago
In part seven of our Ten Stages of Genocide in India Series, we explain how the seventh process/stage of
genocide, Preparation, is occurring in India.
RSS exercising with their trademark sticks. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/Reuters
Preparation is the stage when group leaders plan massacres and genocide. The Nazi Holocaust
followed meticulous planning. Ambiguous language is usually used to mask the genocidal nature of
these plans. Genocidal plans are often referred to by euphemisms such as the “Final Solution,”
“ethnic cleansing,” or “counterterrorism.”
An integral aspect of this process is building and arming armies and militias and preparing them to
carry out genocide. In India, this process became apparent when popular Hindu religious and
political leaders publicly called for the murder of Muslims. Hindutva extremists call for violence
against Muslims under the pretext of “self-defense” against imaginary Muslim plans for genocide
against Hindus.
As explained in part five of this series, Organization, Hindutva leaders encourage Hindus to arm
themselves. Hindu extremist groups like the Bajrang Dal provide Hindu men with guns and arms
training. They build Hindu militias in “self-defense” camps where young Hindu men are trained to
attack Muslims.
In India, there has been a spike in inflammatory rhetoric and anti-Muslim rallies since 2014, when
Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. Maharashtra witnessed a surge of anti-Muslim hate speech
on social media after the BJP took over the state government in 2022.
Anti-Muslim rallies have multiplied. In these rallies, leaders propagate conspiracy theories like “Love
Jihad” as existential threats to the dominance of Hinduism in India. “Love Jihad,” asserts that
Muslim men intentionally seduce and marry Hindu women, then force them to convert to Islam and
bear Muslim children.
The rallies promote violence against Muslims. In a speech at a rally in 2023, T. Raja Singh, a
suspended BJP legislator from the state of Telangana, threatened to castrate Muslim men. “If any
circumcised [Muslim] indulges in Love Jihad, oh son, you are half-cut, we will cut you completely.”
Such violent rhetoric is pervasive on online media platforms. In the aftermath of the 2025 terrorist
attack in India-administered Kashmir when gunmen killed 25 tourists and a local tourist guide,
videos and songs immediately appeared inciting Hindus to murder Muslims as retribution. They
garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. Videos on media platforms often use Hindu
religious texts to justify murder, a virulent tactic to incite Hindus to commit genocide.
A visible manifestation of preparation can be observed when groups like the Bajrang Dal conduct
events where trishuls, sharpened tridents that hold deep religious value within Hinduism, are
distributed amongst young men. These trishuls are distributed as weapons, and the men accept them
under the oath to “protect Hindu society, women, cows and saints.”
The process of preparation has led to organized, collective destruction of Muslim mosques and attacks
on Muslim gatherings. In 2023, Ram Nawami, a Hindu festival, coincided with the month of
Ramadan, and seven states in India had violent attacks by Hindus against Muslims.
In states with large numbers of Muslims like West-Bengal, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, Hindus rallied
with swords and firearms and set fire to Muslim properties and mosques. Both police and civilians
were wounded in these attacks. Many police supported the attacks by Hindutva mobs. Police
arrested mostly Muslim victims.
Attendees at a Rampurhat Ram Navami rally in 2024 brandish swords. Photo: Joydeep Sarkar
Leaders of Hindu processions openly call for the murders of Muslims, direct public incitements to
genocide. Hindu processions are deliberately routed through Muslim neighborhoods. Such
incitements to genocide have been recurring features of the Ram Nawami Hindu festival.
Genocide Watch recognizes the disturbing rise in Hindutva ideology and anti-Muslim rallies that
promote hate propaganda against Muslims as Stage 7: Preparation.
Genocide Watch recommends:
The Indian government must outlaw, condemn, and dismantle Hindutva arms training
camps.
Indian MPs who support violence against Muslims should be expelled from parliament and
stripped of their parliamentary immunity.
Indian social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp must ban hate
speech and incitements to genocide and crimes against humanity.
The U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) should condemn India’s failure to ban hate speech on social media in India.
The U.S., EU, and OIC should call on Indian states to repeal anti-conversion and anti-cow
slaughter laws and to pass laws to prohibit Hindu festivals that invade Muslim
neighborhoods.
Read Part One of the series here : The Ten Stages of Genocide in India - Classification
Read Part Two of the series here : The Ten Stages of Genocide in India - Symbolization
Read Part Three of the series here : The Ten Stages of Genocide in India - Discrimination
Read Part Four of the series here : The Ten Stages of Genocide in India - Dehumanization
Read Part Five of the series here: The Ten Stages of Genocide in India - Organization
Read Part Six of the series here: The Ten Stages of Genocide in India - Polarization
