New Delhi: With the Gujarat elections around the corner, Right-wing columnists and writers seemingly raked up polarising issues in their columns and editorials this week, with one report claiming hundreds of Muslims had pledged their support to the Aam Aadmi Party at a rally last month.
In a report published on 30 November, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) English mouthpiece Organiser claimed 3,000 Muslims had pledged their support to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal. This had happened at a rally organised by the ‘Muslim Fighters Club’ in Juhapura, Ahmedabad, on 27 November, the report claimed.
“Amid ‘Nara-e-Takbir-Allahu Akbar’ chants, in the presence of an Islamic cleric who reads Quranic verses, the ‘Muslim Fighters Club’ announced its support for Arvind Kejriwal and AAP. They were raising slogans like ‘Vote for MAGI’ where ‘MAGI’ stands for Manish Sisodia (M), Arvind Kejriwal (A), Gopal Italia (G), and Isudan Gadhvi (I).”
“Rape survivor Bilkis Bano was also present in the meeting, where she said that Kejriwal is an educated leader and has done good work in the education sector,” the report added.
As the race for Gujarat heated up, Right-wing author Hari Shankar Vyas, while saying the state could give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yet another term, wondered if the victory would be just as sweet if the BJP’s vote percentage fell.
“Narendra Modi will win Gujarat, but if he wins because of Yogi Adityanath, will it not be a sinking thing for Modi-Shah?” He further added: “Prime Minister’s rallies almost every day, continuous campaigning for three months, carpet bombing of BJP leaders from all over the country, breaking the opposition candidates to pouring money like water — despite all the gimmicks if Congress wins 40-50 seats, BJP’s votes fall to 40 per cent and AAP gets 20-25 per cent votes, will that be a laudatory victory for Narendra Modi?”
Vyas added that he believes that whether it’s in Delhi, Gujarat, or Himachal Pradesh, Modi will lose even after winning elections despite putting his reputation at stake.
“Because the real win-win happens only when the game is fair. What about the fact that in Gujarat and its main bastion Surat, AAP had to worry about the kidnapping of its candidate,” he wrote in his column for Naya India, referring to the AAP’s allegations that its Surat (East) candidate, Kanchan Jariwala, was kidnapped by the BJP.
Also Read: ‘Religious frenzy causes inhuman behaviour’: Hindu Right press links Shraddha murder to ‘love jihad’
‘Haram’ FIFA World Cup
The RSS mouthpiece Organiser targeted the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Doha, accusing Qatar of promoting Islam throughout the event.
In its editorial titled: ‘Halal World Cup of Haram football’, the Sangh mouthpiece also expressed its concern that controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who had declared ‘professional football to be “haram” (forbidden), will reportedly deliver his sermons to the fans on the sidelines of the World Cup.
“Qatar has been known to be a permissive environment for terror financing, reportedly funding U.S. designated foreign terrorist organisations, such as Hamas, as well as several extremist groups operations such as Hamas, as well as several extremist groups operating in Syria,” the editorial said, quoting from hearing before a US panel.
“The host country has imposed Islamic rules of not showing skin during the World Cup. Women are facing restrictions and discrimination. Even players are not allowed to remove their T-shirts, a common practice in a game of stamina like football. Why did Doha even bid for the event if the so-called Islamic culture was so critical?” it asked.
A report in the same publication referred to a tweet to claim that 500 tourists who came to watch FIFA had converted to Islam.
“On 22 November, a good Samaritan of BBC and Guardian, Majid Freeman claimed in a tweet that over 500 people (tourists visiting Qatar to watch FIFA World Cup 2022) have converted to Islam,” an inset to its story titled ‘FIFA World Cup 2022: Football Fest or Da’wah in Islam’ read.
Majid Freeman is not the only one claiming such conversions amid FIFA World Cup 2022, it claimed. “A Twitter user Abu Siddiq claimed in a tweet that 558 people have converted to Islam so far on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar.”
Another report in Organiser carried a report of West Bengal’s “connection” with Qatar and the 2022 World Cup.
“Reportedly, West Bengal is supplying certain goods like goat meat and power transformers to Qatar, which would be utilised during the ongoing football extravaganza,” the report claimed. “However, the reported fact that countries like Qatar have been financing West Bengal’s mosques for purposes which are far from being transparent can’t be ignored.”
Also Read: Crackdown on PFI will ‘curb spread of Islamic radicalism’, says Hindu Right press
Rahul Gandhi ‘belying’ his grandmother
Right-wing authors also hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remark that Hindutva ideologue V.D.Savarkar had betrayed freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
In its editorial, RSS Hindi mouthpiece Panchjanya said the tendency to evaluate freedom fighters doesn’t just do them injustice but that it also raises doubts about the patriotism of those raising such questions.
“Rahul has even belied his grandmother Indira Gandhi with his statement. Indira Gandhi mourned Savarkar’s death and in 1970, the Government of India issued a postal stamp in his memory,” the editorial said. “Indira ji mentioned the contribution of Savarkar to Pandit Bakhale, [then] secretary, Swatantryaveer Savarkar National Memorial on 20 May 1980, in which she called him [a] ‘remarkable son of India’.”
Former BJP Member of Parliament Balbir Punj also wrote a column on Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on Savarkar.
Rahul, Punj said in his column, shouldn’t have judged Savarkar for ending his letter to the British with — “Sir, I beg to remain your most obedient servant”.
“Even Savarkar’s severest critics wouldn’t use this to paint him as a traitor or a betrayer of the nation. Mahatma Gandhi, while corresponding with the British, too used such expressions as this was the norm then,” Punj wrote in The Indian Express.
“Congress banked on an elusive Hindu-Muslim unity to prevent a possible partition of the country. Savarkar, while striving for ‘Akhand Bharat’, focused on preparing the Hindus for the impending disaster waiting to hit them in the shape of communal riots and vivisection of the country.”
He added that Rahul’s narrative, while taking on Modi or BJP, often reeks of Communist toxicity”.
‘IFFI has Leftist leanings’
Right-wing author and commentator Minhaz Merchant defended Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar after he was slammed for condemning actor Richa Chaddha’s tweet on the Galwan clash of May 2020.
Kumar had criticised Chadha for her tweet but he was slammed soon after speaking on the episode.
In his column in the Times of India, Merchant asked if getting a Canadian passport made Kumar “unpatriotic”.
“Did actor Akshay Kumar display an unpatriotic streak by acquiring a Canadian passport? What about actors Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif? Both have British passports,” Merchant wrote in his column, adding that several Indian billionaires, such as Vedanta Limited chairman Anil Agarwal, held foreign passports.
“Does this make them unpatriotic?”
Meanwhile, Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s excoriating statement on the inclusion of Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘The Kashmir Files’ at the International Film Festival of India in Goa drew equally scathing remarks from the Hindu Right.
In his statement, Lapid had called the film “a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival”.
In his column on the subject, Right-leaning author and professor Makarand Paranjape wrote IFFI had “decidedly Leftist” leanings and that Lapid was a “harsh critic” of Israel.
“IFFI used to be not only among the most important ‘Third World’ film festivals but also decidedly leftist in its leanings. Was that why Lapid was selected to head its jury? Or simply because he is from Israel? But the 47-year-old international award-winning filmmaker has been a harsh critic of Israel, which he shows as being suffocatingly autocratic and intolerant, in his movies,” he wrote in FirstPost.
Paranjape added that Lapid’s comments have brought ‘The Kashmir Files’ back into the spotlight.
“Whether the film is great or not, whether it is truth or propaganda, or whether one likes it or not, what is important is that it changed the narrative by bringing the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits into the international limelight,” he wrote in his column.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: Independence not result of Congress efforts & satyagraha alone — Hindu Right press lauds RSS role