Unchecked Hate Speech: From Kerala's RW X Spaces to YouTube’s Hindutva Pop | Let Me Explain

Hate has found a new home.   

Not on the streets,  

not in political rallies,

but in late night chatrooms.

(audio)

“Just agree once that we should burn that terrible book, and we will stop this conversation.”

“Which terrible book is that?”

“How many terrible books do you know?”

“People across India think that there are no Hindus in Kerala.”

“They think that mostly people are all converted.”

“So they are all, you know, protected — like Lakshadweep.”

“When I tell them, no no, (Hindus are) there… Then they say that’s so dangerous.”

“Why do you guys not understand? How come you guys are so liberal?”

“So when I say ‘arm yourself’, I am not saying ‘have arms with you.’”

“I don’t know what the law allows.”

“Whatever it is, make sure you are protected, and you have a very good network.”

“Be associated with the closest Sangh or RSS office, or somebody.”

“These people can protect you.”

“I think many Malayalis are aware of this ticking time bomb that they are sitting on.”

“But still, they just don’t want to do anything, because they are scared.”

“Because they feel that if we do, we might get noticed.”

“If we do, we might get cornered. If we do, we might lose a job.”

“Bengal and Kerala are their next choice.” 

“So understand this very well and act accordingly before you end up losing everything.”

These are conversations on Spaces — the audio chat feature on Twitter, now called X. 

My colleague Haritha Manav listened, documented, and followed these discussions — not for one night, but for weeks.

Discussions where speakers, almost all Malayalis, urged Hindus in Kerala to “arm themselves.” 

Where they call for the holy book to be burned. 

Where child deaths in Gaza are mocked.

These aren't just random comments. 

This is real hate, and it's helping shape a dangerous narrative.

And too many platforms are letting it pass, unchecked.

Let me explain.

What I’m about to share in this episode primarily comes from the work of my colleague, Haritha Manav.

She spent days tracking these late-night hate-filled spaces. Hours of listening, sifting through the noise, and pulling out the patterns.

And here’s the thing.

When mainstream media often echoes or ignores these conversations, it takes painstaking reporting to expose how hate is seeded.

At The News Minute, we believe stories like this must be told.

But to keep doing this work — work that is slow, careful, and often risky — we need your support.

So definitely do read Haritha’s full article on our website.

And if you believe this kind of journalism should exist, stand by us.

Subscribe to The News Minute and help keep independent media alive.

Now, in these X Spaces, night after night, people are gathering not for debate or discussion, but to spread conspiracy, hate, and fear.

From the locations they talk about and the cultural references they share, many sound like Hindu Keralites living abroad.

Their conversations usually start around 11.30 at night, and go on till well past 1.

And the language is openly abusive. Derogatory terms for Muslims are casually thrown around.

And it's not hard to see why Kerala becomes a centre of attention. 

This is a state with a significant Muslim population, and for those manufacturing hate, fueling communal divisions can reap big political benefits. 

Some of the most active speakers have thousands of followers, many of them linked to Sangh groups.

And while plenty hide behind anonymous handles, sometimes people show up with their real names.

Like Rajesh Krishnan, a BJP office-bearer in Kerala, who proudly declared in one session — “Yes, I am a communalist.”

And it doesn’t stop there.

These conversations regularly spiral into sexist remarks and wild claims about history and politics. They even go after individuals who are secular.

But here’s the bigger danger.

These hate-filled discussions don’t just stay confined to X Spaces.

Right-leaning media outlets often pick them up, amplifying baseless claims and dressing them up as if they were legitimate news. 

We saw it after the Pahalgam terror attack. Women who survived were vilified in Spaces and smeared online.

Even the National Investigation Agency gets dragged into these chats, with speakers claiming to have “inside information” about upcoming operations. 

Most of the time, it’s just a tactic to intimidate critics. 

And every time, the goal is the same — turn controversy into conspiracy. Polarise. Mobilise.

When we confronted Rajesh Krishnan about his hateful remarks, he insisted he wasn’t spreading hate speech, only criticising what he called “political Islam.”

On his shocking claim that he would laugh at deaths of children in Gaza, he doubled down. 

(Audio)

“Who should we show humanity to? Is it terrorists, to whom we should show humanitarian concern?” 

“The ones who kill people in the name of religion? 

“No. It should be humans. We need to show humanity only to humans.” 

“This is what I said, and I stand by it.”

And he says..this is not hate speech. (please nod at the camera for second) 

But of course, this kind of hate isn’t confined to X Spaces. It has found stages on other platforms too.

Take Clubhouse — the audio app that was briefly all the rage in 2021. 

On the surface, it promised free-flowing conversations. 

In reality, some rooms quickly turned into cesspools of communal and misogynistic abuse.

One infamous example was a session titled “Muslims Gals are More Beautiful Than Hindu Gals (Gals Opinion).” 

What started as a provocative title spiralled into open promotion of rape, incest, and bigotry — targeting Muslim women, Hindu women, and entire communities.

Another Clubhouse room that same day began as a discussion caste, but quickly devolved into the same kind of misogynistic tirades.

The backlash was swift. Police in Mumbai and Delhi registered cases, charging participants under sections that ranged from promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings, to sexual harassment and transmission of obscene material. 

Three young men — including the moderator, just 19 years old from Haryana — were arrested.

And this wasn’t an isolated case. 

It echoed the Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals scandals, where Muslim women were mock-auctioned online. 

The very same dynamics are at play across platforms like Facebook and YouTube, where tech becomes a megaphone for hate.

And the scale is staggering. 

According to the India Hate Lab, hate speech incidents in India jumped by 74% in 2024. 

Nearly a thousand of those were traced back to livestreams and videos on Facebook, YouTube, and X.

We covered this in detail in an earlier episode of Let Me Explain, showing how hate speech in India isn’t just erupting on the streets — it’s being organised online. 

Another example is Hindutva Pop — a genre where lyrics drip with hate.

In April 2022, a Hindu New Year rally in Rajasthan’s Karauli turned violent after Hindutva Pop songs blaring from loudspeakers urged Hindus to “show Muslims their place” and promised that “only swords will speak.”

Months later in Karnataka, outside a mosque, young men danced to another such track — one that openly declared: “We will bathe this land in blood.”

These aren’t underground tracks. They’re right there on YouTube, racking up millions of views. Some even generate ad revenue — money flowing not just to the artists but to YouTube itself.

The Tow Center analysed 100 Hindutva Pop songs across 40 YouTube channels. 

And more than half of those channels are part of YouTube’s Partner Program, which allows them to monetise their content.

One of the biggest stars of this genre is singer Laxmi Dubey, with nearly 5 lakh subscribers on her channel. 

And in her songs, she warns that “those who cause hindrance in the land of Ram, will not be left alive.”

Other singers like Kajal Rajwanshi and Varun Bahar go even further. 

Singing openly about sending Muslims to the graveyard, or slashing tongues of those who refuse to hail Lord Ram.

Even when this kind of content is removed after public outrage, it doesn’t disappear . 

It often reappears, through YouTube’s auto-generated channels or as remixes on smaller fan accounts.

And these songs are not just music. They’re rallying cries. Travelling from YouTube to the streets — blasting from DJ carts in religious processions, fueling real-world violence.

Take Singer Sandeep Acharya, linked to a Hindutva youth group, 

in an interview, he admitted that even when YouTube suspends his channels, he simply makes new ones. 

His songs — some celebrating the killing of Muslims accused of “cow slaughter” — have racked up millions of views across multiple channels.

Despite YouTube’s hate speech policies, these tracks are still widely available. 

Why? Because enforcement is far weaker in India than in English-speaking countries. 

Slurs and violent lyrics in Indian languages — often slip past moderation.

And with India being YouTube’s biggest market, experts say the company has little incentive to strictly enforce its own rules here.. 

So whether it’s X Spaces filled with nightly hate, or YouTube channels turning calls for genocide into catchy pop anthems — the story is the same.

Hate is being normalised. Packaged. Monetised. And amplified at scale.

And yet, the law is clear.

India’s Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita defines hate speech as any communication that promotes enmity between groups, on the basis of religion, race, or language.

Supreme Court lawyer Anas Tanwir told us that what’s happening in these X Spaces is not random. 

It’s part of a deliberate strategy. And a way for the Sangh to expand in states like Kerala, where they’ve struggled politically.

He also pointed out the tricky balance here. The state has to act against hate speech. But too much control over online speech can also threaten freedom.

It’s a thin line, but on one thing, the courts have been: Secularism is non-negotiable.

The Supreme Court has said, there cannot be a fraternity unless members from different religions and castes can co-exist harmoniously.

And yet, that harmony is exactly what’s being chipped away in these dark corners of the internet.

What starts as a late-night chat on Spaces, or a so-called “devotional” song on YouTube, can spiral into real-world hate, fear, and violence.

And that’s why it matters that we listen. That we call it out. And that we don’t look away.

For suggestions and feedbacks, write to lme@thenewsminute.com

Like Pooja’s LME? Support the show: https://rzp.io/rzp/support-lme

Become a TNM subscriber- https://www.thenewsminute.com/subscription

If you are watching from abroad, click this link: https://buy.stripe.com/28o01q9md0OPdtm8wR

Produced by Bhuvan Malik, script by Lakshmi Priya, camera by Ajay R, edited by Dharini Prabharan, graphics by Vignesh Manickam.