The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in India in 2014 and is currently serving its third term under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, propagating Hindu nationalism. In 2018, India was downgraded to an “electoral autocracy” and, by 2024, it was categorized as “one of the worst autocratizers” according to V-Dem’s Democracy Report. The rise of the BJP has coincided with a disturbing increase in lynchings of religious minorities, primarily Muslims, across the country. This phenomenon came to be known as ‘Beef Lynching’: Hindus regard cows as sacred animals, while Muslims consume cow meat, also known as beef.
The seventh TraCe Policy Brief explores the causes of these lynchings, which have become an instrument of political mobilization for the right-wing government. Based on lynching incidents between 2015 and 2023, Suparna Banerjee traces the rise of the phenomenon during the BJP government and also sheds light on important factors such as the role of social media platforms and institutions.
The policy brief is available for download (PDF).
Suparna Banerjee completed her doctorate at the University of Bonn and is now a freelance writer at D+C Development and Cooperation. She is a Visiting Fellow at TraCe from July 2024 to January 2025, staying at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF).