A recent report by the Washington, DC-based India Hate Lab found that hate speech, mainly directed against Muslims, peaked during campaigning for Indian state elections in 2023; the BJP won three of the five states that went to polls.32 Anti-Muslim sentiment in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots, where Hindu mobs reportedly killed hundreds of Muslims, also helped Modi, then the chief minister of Gujarat, remain in power for over a decade before propelling his rise to the national level.