{"product_id":"it-started-with-words","title":"It Started with Words","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSince 2014, hate speech in India has moved from the political fringe to the centre of public life. It is heard from election platforms and religious stages, repeated in television studios, circulated through WhatsApp and YouTube, and rewarded with votes, influence and profit. It calls for minorities to be boycotted, evicted, stripped of their livelihoods, driven from neighbourhoods and, increasingly, met with violence. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese words have consequences. They create the climate in which homes and shops are demolished, and ordinary citizens are lynched, intimidated, and made to prove, again and again, that they belong to their own country. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHuman rights activist Harsh Mander examines how this hatred is produced, spread and protected; who profits from it; and what happens when those who incite fear also command the machinery of the state. Drawing on several case studies, including his own attempt to seek legal action against politicians for incendiary speeches delivered in the lead-up to the communal riots in Delhi in 2020, Mander asks whether the law can still protect the vulnerable—or whether it has become another weapon in the hands of the powerful. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eIt Started with Words\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a book about how violence begins long before the first blow is struck. It is a warning about the direction in which India is being pushed, one that no concerned citizen can afford to ignore.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speaking Tiger","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43955249381411,"sku":null,"price":499.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0281\/3607\/9395\/files\/71Ms5QXlg8L__SL1166__jpg.avif?v=1789727411","url":"https:\/\/champaca.in\/products\/it-started-with-words","provider":"Champaca Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}