New Delhi: Prime time Monday was more of the same and then some new controversies. The Wall Street Journal article on Facebook ignoring the BJP’s hate speech was the hot topic on Mirror Now and India Today. CNN News 18 stuck to the increasingly murky and political investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death as did Republic TV, while Aaj Tak focused on actor Aamir Khan’s visit to Turkey and meeting with its First Lady, Ermine Erdogan.
First, to Mirror Now, where Tanvi Shukla’s panel examined the explosive WSJ article about the alleged nexus between Facebook and BJP and how the social media giant had taken no action against the political party’s hate speech on its platform.
Shukla asked, “Are social media platforms becoming political tools?”
Nikhil Pahwa, editor, Medianama, said, “The political environment is such that companies are afraid to take action against hate speech by politicians. Even if Facebook did not act, why didn’t law enforcing agencies act on this matter? We can’t depend on platforms to act for us.”
“The law of land will decide what is hate, what is biased. It cannot be left to the social media platforms,” said the BJP’s Gopal K. Agarwal, sanguinely. Shukla hit back saying, “The law of the land is not deciding. It is only dragging its feet.”
On India Today, the panel focused on the political aspect of the Facebook-BJP story, given that Facebook’s subsequent response stating that it “enforces policies on hate speech “without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation” has become the latest war between Congress and BJP.
“Fact of the matter here is, we question the professional integrity of Facebook and guess who comes to their defence — Ravi Shankar Prasad. He is not the spokesperson of Facebook,” argued the Congress’ Pawan Khera.
“This not only shows the unholy collusion between Facebook and the right-wing ecosystem. They are attacking the messenger,” he added.
The BJP’s Tejaswi Surya retorted, “I have given six to seven examples with names of high ranking people who work at Facebook and are linked with the Congress.”
But Khera wasn’t interested. “Tejasvi Surya is a known protagonist of hate speech himself,” he lobbed back.
CNN News 18 was uninterested in such matters and discussed, yet again, the Sushant Singh Rajput case, which has now been transferred to the CBI.
“There was an attempt to make an attack at my home and I also informed the Mumbai Police about it,” stated Ganesh Hiwarkar, a choreographer and allegedly a friend of the deceased actor.
Former Additional Police Commissioner of Mumbai Yogesh P. Singh commented, “It is the duty of the police to investigate thoroughly with reference to his allegations,” adding that “Mumbai Police has not been investigating the case the way in which it is prescribed in the police manual.”
Speaking about Rhea Chakraborty’s affidavit, lawyer Swapnil Kothari alleged it was “absolutely in sync with the Maharashtra government’s affidavit.”
Aaj Tak‘s Sachin Arora targeted actor Aamir Khan over his meeting with Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan. “The one who talks about being unsafe in India, did he feel safe in the ‘enemy country’, or suffer memory loss like his character in Ghajini?” asked Arora, referring to Khan’s superhit 2008 film about a man who develops amnesia.
“Pakistan ke yaar se Aamir ka yaarana” (Aamir’s friendship with Pakistan’s ally), another headline flashed on screen.
Author and screenwriter Advaita Kala dutifully reminded viewers that Aamir Khan had carried out a campaign to deny PM Modi to get a US visa. “He was also a part of Narmada Bachao Andolan… So someone who has been involved into activism, if he goes and meets such a personality, then the questions being raised on his hypocrisy are legitimate”, noted Kala. We’re still wrapping our heads around that logic.
TV9 Bharatvarsh, meanwhile, discussed how “Zulmi Jinping” is torturing Uyghur Muslims in China — in a reference to the Chinese President.
Retired defence expert Col RSN Singh alleged that no Islamic scholars in India or elsewhere categorically condemn China over its misbehaviour with Uyghur Muslims.
President of the Indian Muslim Foundation Shoaib Jamai said he and his organisation had talked about Uyghur Muslims during the Shaheen Bagh protests, but were condemned by Communists and Left parties. “PM Narendra Modi can teach a lesson to China if he suspends mutual international trade,” Jamai suggested.