Hindutva pop, the anthems of Hindu extremists are taking over online platforms
A report by Center for the Study of Organised Hate, a US-based think tank, documents how YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and Meta are profiting from hundreds of songs that incite violence against religious minorities in India, violating their own guidelines.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Death threats, racist insults, songs calling for the demolition of mosques are but some of the content of an increasingly popular music genre in India. Known as H-Pop or Hindutva pop, it has earned tens of millions of views on major social media and streaming platforms, this according to a report titled Profiting from Hate Music released yesterday by the Washington-based Center for the Study of Organised Hate (CSOH).
The think tank vetted 210 songs on YouTube, 109 on Spotify, 103 on Apple Music, and the same number in the Meta Music Library, all filled with content inciting violence or hatred against religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in clear violation of the platforms' guidelines.
What the lyrics say
CSOH identified four, often overlapping, categories of content: threats of violence against Muslims, mobilising Hindus in a “religious war”, threats to demolish Islamic places of worship, and incitement to hatred through the use of conspiracy theories.
The song Bharat Ka Bacha Spotify Jai Shri Ram Bolega (Every Child in India Will Glorify Lord Ram) by singer Pooja Golhani had the most views with one of the most popular YouTube versions topping 43 million views. The lyrics warn Muslim enemies that they will be “shot” if they oppose Hindus.
Topi Wala Sar Jhuka Ke Jai Shri Ram Bolega uses the term Topiwala as a dog whistle to mock Muslims who wear traditional headgears, telling them to accept Hindu supremacy. It had nearly a million views on YouTube.
Gau Mata (Sacred Cow) by Biru Kataria is one of the songs with the most explicit lyrics, using offensive slang to threaten to burn Muslims alive or chop them to pieces if they kill Hindu sacred cows.
Before the video was removed from YouTube last year it reached 142,000 views, but it was uploaded again in January of this year, and by March it had already racked up nearly 11,000 new views.
The same song was uploaded by other channels, for more 200,000 additional views, plus 40,000 Instagram reels in which it was used.
Mobilising Hindus for war
A second category of H-Pop not only threatens Muslims, but directly calls Hindus to arms. Singer Kavi Singh, with over 1.15 million YouTube subscribers, has released songs explicitly calling for violent conflict between the two communities. These anthems remain available on all four platforms despite violating guidelines.
Another song, Jaago Neend Se Hindu Veeron (Wake Up, Brave Hindus) by Nisha Pandey, claims that Islam and Christianity are forcibly converting Hindus. It has 747,000 views on YouTube.
The CSOH report notes that this type of rhetoric falls into a broader context. According to data from the India Hate Lab, incidents of hate speech against Christians jumped by 41 per cent between 2024 and 2025, from 115 to 162 documented incidents.
Exploiting the Pahalgam attack
The report devotes a special section to songs released in the wake of the attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on 22 April 2025 in which 26 civilians, mostly Indian tourists, were killed.
In just a few hours, several hip-pop artists released songs equating the entire Muslim community with terrorists. Five of these songs garnered more than 1.1 million views on YouTube.
The song Pehle Dharm Pucha (First They Asked Our Religion) by Kavi Singh, released the day after the attack, surpassed 355,000 views. It refers to the fact that survivors of the attack reported being targeted after being identified as Hindus.
The lyrics state that "allowing Muslims to stay" after the 1947 partition (still an open wound for thousands of Indian and Pakistani families today) was "a mistake”.
Jaago Hindu Jaago (Wake Up, Hindus) by Gulshan Music, released two days after the attack, was seen more than 613,000 times. The lyrics declare that “the time has come for revenge”.
According to the India Hate Lab, in the ten days following the Pahalgam attack, 64 anti-Muslim demonstrations were held with about 113 incidents of violence and hate speech recorded in the weeks that followed, coinciding with the war between India and Pakistan in early May 2025.
This conflict marked an escalation of violence, one that neither government considers over.
Platforms' profits
According to the CSOH, a particularly worrying aspect concerns how the platforms' automatic moderation systems are circumvented. Some songs use montages of scenes from Hollywood films, both to attract clicks and to confuse the algorithms.
Others are uploaded by different channels after the original video has been removed, making them available again quickly. Some use coded language or metaphors instead of explicit references to minorities.
Meanwhile, the platforms profit from advertising associated with this content.
Although all four have very clear guidelines banning content that promotes violence or religious hatred, the rules are applied partially and inconsistently, according to the CSOH report.
Hindu extremism: a growing phenomenon
The report views H-Pop as part and parcel of the Hindu ultranationalism promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
Many songs refer to political figures, like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, viewed as the one who will "free" India from Muslims; others focus on old religious disputes, like the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, which was replaced by the Ram temple after it was demolished in 1992.
Some anthems call for similar action in Mathura and Varanasi, cities where Hindu extremist movements are calling for the "liberation" of sacred sites.
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20/05/2024 17:01
