Ideology-driven hate crimes have reached frightening levels since the advent of the BJP-led government at the centre and in several states of the country. Despite calls from 21 nations and international human rights organisations for India to improve its protection of freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities, there seems to be no let-up in hate crimes. When these lines are being written, news broke that a Muslim youth named Saddam Husain had been lynched to death in Assam’s Morigaon district. The terrible thing about this is that such heinous crimes against humanity do not elicit mass outrage and protest against the perpetrators.
Hate crimes are not confined to India alone; there are other parts of the world where such crimes take place, but unlike India, they have robust and impartial policing systems.
In its recent report, Religious Minorities in India, the Council on Minority Rights in India (CMRI), says thatbased on both primary and secondary data, 294 cases of hate crimes against Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs were recorded in India in 2021. Of these, the majority of crimes (192) were recorded against Muslims, 95 against Christians, and seven against Sikhs.
The current degree of hatred in Indian culture is fuelling such virulent division that it is negatively impacting the country and also eroding our sense of humanity. It appears that hatred has become a political advancement tool for the ruling party and its cohorts. The different socio-political, economic, or historical elements that contribute to this complicated emotion are taken into consideration in research on the psychological dimensions of hatred. However, each of these is ultimately processed in the hateful person’s mind, which highlights the significance of psychological study.
According to a dictionary, hatred is distinct from short-lived feelings such as anger and disgust. While some forms of animosity may only manifest briefly and mildly, hatred is a form of active, ongoing hostility that often uses up significant emotional energy.
Another definition of hatred is a hostile emotion combining intense feelings of detestation, anger, and often a desire to do harm.
Radiance talked to US-based noted psychiatrist Dr.QutubUddin Abu-Shuja on the subject.He is MD, PhD, Director of Star Psychiatric Services, and Professor of Psychology in Chicago.
Dr.QutubUddin described hatred as the cancer of society and said it needed to be dealt with severely without any partiality. According to him, hatred means animosity or hostility towards a particular person, group, or community.
Psychologically speaking, he said hatred is an intense emotional response towards certain individuals, groups, religious entities, etc. It is associated with contempt, anger, and disgust. It is the opposite of love, tolerance, and understanding. He also underlined that it is a negative emotional and intellectual energy that can create lots of behavioural problems like anger, rage, as well as cardiac and neurological breakdowns.
Psychologists agree that hatred can cause damage at the individual and collective levels.
Quoting noted social scientist Sigmund Freud, Dr.QutubUddin said Freud described it as “a basic instinct that wishes to destroy the source of threat or happiness. Neurologists who studied the MRI of the brains of people with intense hatred have noticed increased activity of the middle frontal gyrus and insular cortex”.
He said the researchers argue that hate is inextricably linked to morality through negative moral appraisals. Similarly, the Duplex Theory of Hate argues that hate as an emotion may be composed of other more basic moral emotions – contempt, anger, and disgust – which are triggered by moral transgressions.
In the context of the current climate of hatred in India, how is societal hate psychology being nurtured? He said collective hatred is based on political, religious, social, ideological, or other issues. It can identify a particular group or section as a scapegoat and blame all the ills and chaos on them, as Hitler did in the case of the Jews. It is mostly common with minorities, different cultures, races, ethnicities, etc.
“Experimental psychologists suggest that people who hold collective hatred towards a group, or sect foster a false sense of pride and achievement. This is because it is a lot easier to unite people with hatred than with love and tolerance. What we are seeing in India today is the creation of false superiority and polarisation by identifying Muslims and other minorities as culprits, like in Nazi Germany,” he added.
He also emphasised that hatred is never a positive phenomenon; rather, it is very destructive and divisive, leading to anarchy, civil wars, the breakdown of societies, etc. It has also had fallouts on an individual level as it creates anxiety, depression, nervous breakdown, post-traumatic stress disorder, explosive disorder, etc.
Referring to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, the US-based noted psychiatrist said that to do all this hate mongering for political gains and power, sometimes religion is used as a facade to justify the criminal activities, such as violence, threats, lynching, intimidation, etc.
Talking about the United States and India situation, he said hate crimes prevail in both countries, but there is a vast difference in dealing with such crimes.
Referring to the infamous case of George Floyd, a Black man, who died in May 2020 after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officers in an episode that was captured on video.
He said Floyd’s death spurred nationwide protests against police brutality and a reckoning over everything from public monuments to sports team names. But such protests do not happen in India whenever such incidents occur.
It is to be noted that Chauvin and the three other officers involved in Floyd’s death – Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng – were fired and charged with a variety of crimes. Chauvin was convicted of murder in April 2021 and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison, while the other three officers were each sentenced to several years in prison.
He said the Floyd case wasn’t a one-off occurrence. According to a new survey, there are at least 917 organised hate groups in the United States. The study examined the existence of hate organisations on Twitter and was based on information gathered by the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC) and given in their yearly census of hate groups. The SPLC discovered that over the previous two years, the number of likes and comments on hate organisation profiles increased by 900%.
However, he said in the United States there is a robust legal system as people fear the law and get punished for such crimes irrespective of creed, race, or faith.
When asked how we can address the hate problem, Dr.QutubUddin suggests that if we use our anger, hatred, resentment, and rage and channel it into positive thinking and actions like removing poverty, providing good education, better healthcare, improving climate change, etc., we can certainly have a positive impact on humanity, which will make our world a better place to live and prosper.
Also, having social groups for interacting between communities and developing mutual trust and understanding will definitely be a positive step in the right direction, he adds.
Conflict resolution and healing groups should be formed, as in the US, for those involved in the healing process. He pointed out that white people are living in guilt because they feel that their forefathers committed atrocities against black people. Equal rights groups are also active and support the demands of black people.
He hoped that India would learn a lesson from the US society and its legal system in rooting out hatred from society as a large Indian Diaspora made the US their second home.