On the night of 30th June, a Durga Mandir in the Lal Kuan area of Hauz Qazi, Old Delhi, was desecrated by a Muslim mob after a fight erupted over a parking lot. Following the incident, communal tensions prevailed in the area. On Tuesday, new Idols were consecrated at the Temple.
On the day of the consecration of the Idols, a rally was taken out by Hindu groups in solidarity with the Hindu residents of the area. India Today reported on the matter and claimed that the ‘Unity March’ was “marred by Jai Shri Ram slogans”.
“Although both the community members agreed that the tension has been de-escalated and old Delhi is back to its normal life, the procession was marred by Jai Shri Ram slogans.”
This is hate, @IndiaToday pic.twitter.com/QyFlbcFI2b
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 11, 2019
The motivated hatred against Rama that is prevalent in the manner in which India Today has reported on the incident has become extremely normalized in recent times. The mainstream media has furthered the narrative that chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is provocative enough to justify violence.
During the incident of Islamic bigotry at Hauz Qazi, the mainstream media was working overtime to give the intolerance of the Muslim community a free pass. Nearly all media outlets published an image of Muslims serving food to Hindus at the event as a symbol of communal harmony. However, the Hindu activists paint a different picture altogether and asserted that the Muslims were there only for photo-ops.
The mainstream media also made a concerted attempt at suppressing the news of a Hindu boy who went missing during the violence. They even blamed the media outlets who actually covered the news. IndiaSpend’s factchecker.in, a fake news portal that has been endorsed by the mainstream media on numerous occasions, even painted Muslims as victims of hate crime in the Hauz Qazi incident although no hate crime was committed against Muslims at all.
The conduct of the mainstream media during the hate crime against Hindus at Hauz Qazi is a severe indictment of their conduct. While they claim a ‘Unity March’ was marred by Jai Shri Ram slogans, they have no words of condemnation to offer for the intolerance of the Muslim community. It is another demonstration of the fact that the mainstream media, more often than not, acts as the propaganda wing of the toxic elements of the Muslim community.
