Right-wing activist Kajal Shingala, known as Kajal Hindustani, has rapidly become a notorious figure in Hindutva politics in India. Recently, she made headlines after a Congress leader filed a complaint against her for allegedly offending Patidar women in Morbi with her incendiary speech. Last April, the Gujarat Police arrested her for a hate speech during Ram Navami that reportedly triggered communal violence in Gujarat’s Una town.
Kajal Hindustani, infamous for her Hindutva and anti-Muslim rhetoric, has carved out a reputation as a provocative Hindutva icon in Gujarat. In 2023, just a week after her explosive speech on March 30 during Ram Navami, she was arrested for allegedly igniting communal riots. Her words, urging Hindus to arm themselves against a specific community, only served to stoke the fires of tension.
In this DFRAC exclusive report, we dive deep into how Kajal Hindustani spreads her venomous hate online, particularly through her Twitter account. In this report we dissect her digital footprint and the far-reaching impact of her incendiary rhetoric, revealing how she continues to pour fuel on the flames of division.
Who is Kajal Hindustani?
Kajal Shingala, who now calls herself Kajal Hindustani to align with her extreme nationalist views, claims to be a social activist. Dubbed the ‘lioness of Gujarat,’ she has a self-styled image that masks her controversial actions.
One report stated that she describes herself as a ‘young and dynamic nationalist’ working to promote ‘Bhartiya Culture and Religions.’ She asserts that she champions Hindu human rights and portrays herself as a political activist dedicated to ‘saving girls from forceful conversions’—a narrative often used to stoke communal fears.
Despite her divisive rhetoric, she has amassed a following of nearly 206.4k users on Twitter, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to her Twitter bio, she is an “Entrepreneur, Research Analyst, Debater, Social Activist, Nationalist, and a Proud Hindustani”—a description that starkly contrasts with her inflammatory and polarizing activities.
The Hate-Fueled Pattern on Her Twitter Account:
Her tweets are rife with anti-Muslim rhetoric. She frequently uses terms like Love-Jihad, Land Jihad, and jihadi to incite right-wing groups against the Muslim community.
The graph illustrates Kajal’s timeline of posts on “लव Gहाद.” In total, she posted 127 tweets, with the highest number occurring on April 26th, 2023.
In her tweets, she often uses the phrase “ALLAH KE BANDE” to demean and stereotype Muslims, implying that even those devoted to God engage in immoral behavior. This grossly generalizes and vilifies the entire community.
Moreover, many of her posts sarcastically mock opposition leaders, further fueling political hatred and deepening divisions.
She actively urges her Hindu followers to discard secularism and brotherhood, promoting instead the establishment of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ that excludes other religions.
Kajal Hindustani as Plaster Saint:
On one hand, Kajal shared a video aiming to perpetuate the narrative of ‘love Jihad,’ depicting a Hindu girl caught in a relationship with a Muslim man. She labeled the video as evidence of these alleged practices, cautioning Hindu girls to be wary and avoid falling into what she portrayed as a deceitful trap.
However, she posted a video featuring a song depicting a love story between a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy, which she labeled as a “Romantic Song.” The song ends with lyrics promoting hatred, insinuating that if the girl marries a Hindu man, the fridge would only be used for vegetables, not for preserving her body parts.
Fake Claims
In order to attract more sympathy to her gimmicky stories, and to gain explicitly to her social or political identity she uses her social media account and spreads Many Fake Claims.
Misleading Claim 1:
She shared a report of Opindia claiming that famous ex- b-town celebrity Sana Khan was dragged by her husband to an event while she was pregnant.
She tweets, “Sad, don’t know when my Muslim sisters will get the right of equality in India..!! #UCC.”(English Translation)
Fact Check:
To verify the claim, we searched on Google and found a post from Sana Khan’s verified Instagram account where she clarified that her husband was not dragging her, but was saving her from suffocation by taking her inside.
Misleading Claim 2:
She shared a screenshot where it was written in Hindi which when translated to English states, “On March 25, Indira Gandhi shot 400 sadhus in an hour in front of the Parliament during the cow slaughter movement.
I curse the Congress party that one day a hermit doing penance in the Himalayas in modern dress will capture this very Parliament and destroy the Congress ideology. This is the curse of a Brahmin and the curse of a Brahmin never goes in vain.
– Karpatri Maharaj, crying in front of the Parliament and lifting the bodies of sadhus, 1966 – – from Acharya Chandrashekhar Shastri.”
Sharing this screenshot she tweets, “The curse of a saint has become the time of the unrighteous, the apocalypse is certain…!!” (English Translation)
Fact Check:
To check the veracity of the claim we used some keywords and found many reports regarding the same claim.
“The Caravan” quoted UNI’s report as saying that in the incident on November 7, 1966, more than 250 private vehicles and two-wheelers were damaged within a two-mile radius of Parliament House. At the same time, according to the PTI report, about 830 people were detained, in which most of them were sadhus. Rameshwaranand (the then Jana Sangh MP) was also among those arrested.
According to the report, then Minister of State for Home Jaisukh Lal Hathi issued an official statement that 40 people were injured in the firing, in which eight died. A constable was also included in the dead.
An article preserved in the archives of the English newspaper “The Hindu”, quoting official sources, put the death toll at 7 and the number of injured at 100.
Now let’s talk about the alleged curse of Karpatri Maharaj. An article published in “Speaking Tree” mentions this incident. The report mentions a curse of Karpatri Maharaj, which he had given to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. But there is no mention of any such curse, which has been mentioned in the viral post.
Misleading Claim 3:
Kajal Hindustani is promoting ‘The Kerala Story’ claiming it’s ‘based on true events’. As according to the teaser 32k women in kerala has been converted to Islam.
Source: Twitter
Fact Check:
DFRAC team found an interview of Sudipto Sen on YouTube channel ‘The Festival of Bharat’ where he talks about how he calculated the figure. From the 45-second mark onward, he says, “In 2010, former Kerala CM Ooman Chandy put a report in front of Kerala assembly. In front of my camera, he denied that anything had happened. But in 2010, I documented a case where he (Chandy) said that every year approximately 2,800 to 3,200 girls were taking up Islam. Just calculate it for the following 10 years, and the number is around 32,000.”
we further checked India Today report which said, “On June 25, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy informed the state legislature that 2,667 young women converted to Islam in the state since 2006” but there too was no mention in the report of women joining the ISIS.
Conclusion
The Hindutva speaker Kajal Hindustani, examined in this article, exemplifies a dangerous tendency. She uses her considerable platforms to sow seeds of hatred and spread prejudices about Muslims. By spreading dividing narratives, she actively splits society, instilling hostility and intolerance. Furthermore, she disseminates misinformation by distributing false or twisted news that hinders factual conversation. This not only limits the public’s ability to make educated judgements, but also exacerbates societal differences and polarisation.
At last, Kajal Hindustani’s acts highlight a hazardous abuse of power, increasing society divisions and eroding the foundations of a peaceful and informed public conversation.
