When Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Washington this week, that “Across the board in India, if violence is happening to make Muslims get affected, in itself is a fallacy as a statement’’, it was clear she’s not been watching Indian news channels.
If she had, she’d have noticed how more often than not, Muslims are seen as the bad guys and Hindus as victims. The way it is told by the news channels, Hindus are more sinned against than Muslims.
For example, take the week that was. Let’s begin with Times Now, which appears deeply troubled by, in the words of anchor Padmaja Joshi, “Hinduphobic narrative’’ being spread abroad and in India.
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Communal angle
The weekend ‘Converse India’ debate with Rahul Shivshankar discussed the Places of Worship Act 1991— ‘Is it unfair to Hindus?’, it asked.
According to Shivshankar, Hindu groups feel the act “militates against them against the most…they have suffered the most under two waves of settler invasions’’.
He goes on to talk about “Islamic invasions’’ that defiled temples and wonders if “righting wrongs of history’’ can be attained.
Padmaja Joshi had two debates on Tuesday titled ‘Demonising Hindu Right Flops’, and `No merit in ‘harassed’ Dalit plea/Using Caste to fan Hinduphobia?’
In the latter, she dwelt on the “fake narrative’’ from California “where the civil rights department there voluntarily dismissed its three-year-old case’’ in which two “Brahmin engineers’’ at Cisco had been accused of discriminating against a Dalit employee.
She also brought up the suicide of IIT Mumbai student, Darshan Solanki which Joshi said the “Left… branded as caste oppression…’’. Meanwhile, a recovered suicide note accused one Armaan Iqbal Khatri of harassing Solanki. Joshi wanted to know why caste had been “weaponised’’ to create a Hinduphobic narrative.
Onto ‘Demonising Hindu Right flops’. Joshi welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, which by allowing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to take out a procession in Tamil Nadu. This was a `snub’ to `Lutyens’ and a victory for Hindus.
Communal issues are frequently discussed on Hindi news channels, too. On Tuesday, India Today anchor Gaurav Sawant was agitated by the reported killing of a Hindu doctor in Pakistan who treated patients for free. While the western media “is only worried about Muslims in India’’, he said, Pakistan witnessed murders in the name of religion.
That these topics made prime-time debates in the middle of a newsy week — which saw home minister Amit Shah visit the sensitive border state of Arunachal Pradesh and deliver a ‘strong message to China’ (India Today), Karnataka ‘boil’ over an Amul vs Nandini milk controversy, the forthcoming assembly elections in the state, a ‘disqualified’ (Times Now) Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visit his constituency Wayanad, and a Ukrainian minister in Delhi — indicates how seriously channels buy into and promote Hindu identity politics.
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Chasing Atiq, Aftab
Sitharaman may have been correct in saying Muslims are not the target of violence in India; but on television news, they are frequently associated with violence. Last week, it was the communal clashes in Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar. This week, fresh ones in Sonipat, Haryana and Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. As mentioned in last week’s column, TV headlines and debates suggested the Hindus didn’t start the incidents of violence.
Crimes or alleged crimes by an Atiq or an Aftab receive lengthy coverage — all day long, sometimes — and this reinforces the ‘violent’ image of the community, in the viewer’s mind. Everything is blown up, blown out of proportion.
A few recent examples: Monday morning saw feverish excitement at India Today and Aaj Tak with a countdown to 12 noon when viewers were promised an exclusive on ‘Aftab’s confessional tape’. Aftab Poonawala is accused of killing and mutilating his live-in partner Shraddha Walker.
Unfortunately, a court order prevented the airing of the tape. However, Aaj Tak pressed on undeterred with a detailed discussion on the contents of the tape with Shraddha’s father and lawyers. But for the courts, this would have been the story on Aaj Tak — at least for all of Monday.
Next, Atiq Ahmad, the don. For the second time in as many weeks, he is the star on Hindi news channels — or rather his journey from Sabarmati jail to Prayagraj has besotted Hindi news channel reporters, who have been hanging out of their vehicles for ‘breaking’ coverage.
Since Monday afternoon when his ‘kafila’ (convoy), left Sabarmati, Hindi channels — and even some English ones — have been following him, faithfully; if it wasn’t him, it was his son Asad who was sighted in Delhi. Reporters spent a great deal of time in Delhi’s Sangam Vihar, standing outside a building where he possibly stayed — ‘mil gaya Asad ka thikana’ (Republic Bharat). And if it wasn’t Asad, it was the mother of Umesh Pal who was allegedly killed by the Atiq-Asad duo, giving interviews in which she asked for “justice’’. If it wasn’t her, it was Atiq’s sister…
‘Operation Atiq’ (India TV) became Hindi news channels’ hunting sport – an ‘Atiq Returns Part II’, Zee News called it, as if it was a film sequel.
Seen in isolation, all of these examples are merely a ruse for news channels to increase their viewership with sensational criminals and their crimes. However, not all crimes or criminals are seen to be equal or treated equally on the news: a report by Bihar Police, Monday that Ram Navami violence in Bihar had been masterminded by a member of the right-wing Bajrang Dal barely made headlines.
This ‘criminalisation’ of one community and the ‘victimhood’ of the other, may or may not be accurate. But it’s very much the perception we form by watching TV news. And it’s not a happy picture.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)