NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain had to face criticism on Twitter for equating a Facebook post with real and physical assault by goons of a political party. Reacting to a video which show a person being assaulted and abused by a mob at his home, Jain tweeted that “Thuggery cannot be answer to thuggery”. By tweeting this, the NDTV journalist was suggesting that what the mob was doing is equivalent and comparable with the ‘crime’ of the person they are attacking.
Awful. Thuggery cannot be answer to thuggery. https://t.co/nafdkPHbyy
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) April 14, 2019
But the tweet he is responding to itself mentioned that the person, identified as ‘Mumbai resident Modi-bhakt’, was being assaulted for his comments on Facebook. According to the tweet, he had criticised Raj Thackeray on Facebook after a rally by the MNS chief, and also had said that Raj Thackeray is anti-national. The person only made some comments on Facebook criticising a public leader, and didn’t say anything that is against the law, like threating violence.
But his comments against Raj Thackeray angered his supporters so much that they reached his home and started physically hurting him. It is seen that the person was offering his apology for his comments, but the mob was still attacking him. What the Raj supporters did can be sure called thuggery, but by saying that what the victim did also was thuggery, Sreenivasan Jain once against exposed himself on social media.
By equating both the incidents, Jain is implying that what the victim did is equal to what the mob did with him. The mob was thrashing a ‘Modi bhakt’, and no doubt Sreenivasan Jain was feeling gleeful about that fact.
Social media users were quick to point out that Jain was indulging in monkey balancing by equating a harmless social media post with physical attack by a violent mob.
What did the victim do? Just a FB post criticizing a leader and this is what he had to go through. But you a self proclaimed champion of free speech are branding the victim a thug! Shame on you
— Kinetic Kill (@AbleArcher7) April 14, 2019
Absolutely shameful you @SreenivasanJain . Everyday we get stunned to know the level you guys can fall. You are ones whose channel we used to look up in past.
— chowkidar RightBong (@dadaamalb) April 14, 2019
What did the victim do? Just a FB post criticizing a leader and this is what he had to go through. But you a self proclaimed champion of free speech are branding the victim a thug! Shame on you
— Kinetic Kill (@AbleArcher7) April 14, 2019
Instead of unconditionally condemning violent for a Facebook post, the self-styled liberal virtually celebrated the violence, just because the victim was a ‘Modi bhakt’. Of course, this was not the first time Jain was caught downplaying violence against people from right wing ideology. Earlier, referring the plot of LeT terrorists including Ishrat Jahan to kill Narendra Modi, he had said that the terrorists wanted to do only ‘chota mota blast’.
