Be it a religious procession, a festive occasion like Ram Navami, a political rally, or a song in praise of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, the singers inciting mass hysteria fill the air space with hatred. file | Photo credit: The Hindu
HIt is being sold on the streets of Uttar Pradesh on the pretext of popular music, and is being devoured by millions.
Popular advocates including Upendra Rana, Sandeep Acharya and Prem Krishnavanshi spread mass hysteria with Hindutva. Whether for a religious procession, a festive occasion like Ram Navami, a political rally, or a song in praise of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, these singers fill the air space with hatred. songs like “Go ahead and take up arms for the sake of religion (Take up arms for righteousness)” and “You are not a human, you are a butcher, enough Hindu-Muslim brotherhood (You are not a human being, you are a butcher, this is Hindu-Muslim brotherhood too much)” often bordered on calls for genocide. Some like Acharya go a step further, as “There is no street where Hindus do not walk (There is no such street where Hindus have not fired). The songs have no melody, the visuals are gaudy, and the singers appear untrained. These are divisive, even genocidal song lyrics that have their finger on the pulse.
The YouTube channels of these singers, who claim to be advocates of Hindu nationalism and admirers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, have millions of subscribers. Upendra Rana is handling the command of Western Uttar Pradesh. He lives in Dadri’s Rasulpur village, where 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was brutally killed by a mob in September 2015 on suspicion of killing a calf. Rana sings songs that call upon the youth to take up arms to protect their religion. An admirer of the chief minister, Rana is hugely popular among local politicians, who often invite him to functions and rallies.
A folk singer in his early years, Rana realized after the lynching in Dadri that an easy way to popularity was to belt out Hindutva pop, weaving together messages of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in songs and portraying Muslims as eternal outsiders. was to be presented as As of the mid-2010s, she primarily sang to Rajput/Kshatriya audiences,”Thakur community is very masculine (Thakur community consists of real men)”. As they progressed through time, their Rajput fascination became the basis of Muslim animosity. Now, he considers Yeti Narasimhananda, the head priest of the Dasna Devi temple, as his guru, and is often seen performing in front of Narasimhananda’s public addresses. His frequent calls for violence and social boycott of Muslims have garnered him over 4.78 lakh subscribers on his YouTube channel. Interestingly, Narasimhananda was among the first to call for a social boycott of Muslims in the region and ensured that the Dasna temple was off-limits to the minorities. In 2021, a teenage Muslim boy was beaten up for entering the local temple premises to drink water from the tap.
Rana has to let the hatred flow, as they have a lot of competition. Every singer in this genre is competing to outdo each other. For example, when Krishnavanshi sang “Hindustan belongs to Hindus, Muslims go to Pakistan (India is for Hindus, Muslims go to Pakistan)” His popularity reached a new height. Once an aspiring Hindi playback singer, Krishnavanshi found the path of Hindutva pop to be a sure guarantee of instant fame. His “we are lions with saffron (We are lions in saffron colour)” has over 4.6 lakh views on YouTube. Krishnavanshi, who often dedicates his music to the chief minister, also composed a special song for him on his birthday. The message isn’t subtle anymore.
Acharya is even more forthright. He openly challenged the minorities by singing, “Ayodhya does not belong to anyone’s father (Ayodhya does not belong to anyone’s father).” One crore people have seen this song on YouTube so far. In the last few years, especially during Ram Navami, his songs have created a lot of buzz in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Lakshmi Dubey started her career as a journalist with a local Hindi newspaper before changing tracks. Now she sings songs which she claims promote Hindu nationalism. Dubey provides the complete package. Dressed in saffron robes, she sings aggressively, striking poses to go along with the lyrics, and delights in displaying swords, batons and guns in the background. If music can divide, Dubey can create an irreparable rift. His channel has 3.59 lakh subscribers.
With people consuming hateful lyrics without remorse, the government’s silence sends a signal of recognition. Hindutva pop comes at a cost.