wUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Washington this week that, “If violence is happening in India to affect Muslims, that in itself is a fallacy” as a statement, it was clear that she Indian news channel is not watching.
If he had seen, he would have seen how often Muslims are seen as the bad guys and Hindus as the victims. The way it is told by news channels, there are more sinners against Hindus than Muslims.
For example, take the week that was. let’s start times nowAnchor who appears to be deeply troubled by the “Hinduphobic narrative”, in the words of Padmaja Joshi, Spreading abroad and in India.
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communal angle
A weekend ‘Converse India’ debate with Rahul Shivshankar discussed the Places of Worship Act 1991 – ‘Is it unfair to Hindus?’, it asked.
According to Sivasankar, Hindu groups feel that the act “opposes the most against them … they have suffered the most under the two waves of settler invasions”.
He talks about the “Islamic invasion” that desecrated the temples and wonders whether “the wrongs of history can be righted”.
Padmaja Joshi did two debates on Tuesday titled ‘Demonizing Hindu Right Flop’ and ‘No Merit in’ Harassed ‘Dalit Petition/Using Caste to Fan Hinduphobia?’
In the latter, she based a “fake narrative” from California, where the civil rights department there voluntarily dismissed her three-year-old case, accusing two “Brahmin engineers” at Cisco of discriminating against one was imposed. Dalit employee.
He also raised the issue of the suicide of IIT Mumbai student Darshan Solanki, which Joshi called “left… branded as caste harassment…”. Meanwhile, in a recovered suicide note, Armaan Iqbal Khatri has been accused of harassing Solanki. Joshi wanted to know why caste was made a “weapon” to create a Hinduphobic narrative.
On ‘Demeaning the Hindu Right’. Joshi welcomed the Supreme Court verdict allowing the RSS to take out processions in Tamil Nadu. It was a ‘disgrace’ for ‘Lutyens’ and a victory for Hindus.
Hindi news channels also often discuss communal issues. on Tuesday, india today Anchor Gaurav Sawant was incensed by the alleged killing of a Hindu doctor who treated patients for free in Pakistan. While the Western media is “only concerned about Muslims in India”, he said, Pakistan has seen killings in the name of religion.
that these topics sparked prime-time debate in the middle of a news week – in which Home Minister Amit Shah visited the sensitive border state of Arunachal Pradesh and delivered a ‘strong message to China’ (india today), Karnataka ‘boiling’ over Amul vs Nandini milk dispute, upcoming assembly elections in the state, ‘disqualified’ (times now) Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visited his constituency Wayanad and a minister from Ukraine visited Delhi – showing how seriously the channels buy into and promote Hindu identity politics.
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Ateeq chasing Aftab
Sitharaman may be right in saying that Muslims are not the target of violence in India; But in television news, they are often associated with violence. Last week, communal riots broke out in Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar. This week, fresh in Sonepat, Haryana and Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. as mentioned in last week’s columnTV headlines and debates suggested that Hindus did not initiate the incidents of violence.
Crimes or alleged crimes committed by Atiq or Aftab receive whole day, sometimes – long coverage and this reinforces the ‘violent’ image of the community in the minds of the viewers. Everything is blown up, blown out of proportion.
Some recent examples: Monday morning saw a feverish excitement india today And Till today With a countdown till 12 noon when the viewers were promised an exclusive on ‘Aftab Ke Iqbaliya Tape’. Aftab Poonawalla is accused of killing and mutilating his live-in partner Shraddha Walker.
Unfortunately, a court order prevented the airing of the tapes. however, Till today The pressure continued with Shraddha’s father and lawyers having detailed discussions on the contents of the tapes. But for the courts, this story would have been Till today At least for the whole of Monday.
Next, Atiq Ahmed, Don. For the second time in as many weeks, he is a star on Hindi news channels – or rather, his journey from Sabarmati Jail to Prayagraj has besieged Hindi news channel reporters, hanging out of their vehicles for ‘breaking’ coverage Are.
since Monday afternoon when his ‘convoy’ (Convoy), left Sabarmati, Hindi channels – and even some English ones – have been following him, honestly; If it was not him, it was his son Asad who was seen in Delhi. Journalists spent a long time standing outside a building in Delhi’s Sangam Vihar, where they apparently stayed-‘found it Assad whereabouts of,Republic India, And if it was not Asad, it was Umesh Pal’s mother, who was allegedly killed by the Atiq-Asad duo, while giving interviews in which she sought “justice”. If not she was Atiq’s sister.
‘Operation Ateeq’ (India TVHindi news channels have become a hunting game – an ‘Atiq Returns Part II’, Zee News Told as if it were a sequel to a movie.
Viewed in isolation, all these examples are mere ploys by news channels to increase their viewership with sensationalizing criminals and their crimes. However, not all crimes or criminals are seen in the news as having the same or similar behaviour: A Bihar Police report on Monday that a member of the right-wing Bajrang Dal masterminded the Ram Navami violence in Bihar barely made headlines.
This ‘criminalisation’ of one community and ‘victimization’ of another, may or may not be accurate. But this is the assumption we make by watching TV news. And it’s not a pretty picture.
The author tweets at @shailajabajpai. Thoughts are personal.
(Editing by Therese Sudeep)