Social media users on Tuesday expressed their displeasure over the nominations for the reconstituted Press Council of India. Among various names nominated to PCI, Executive Editor of The Caravan, Vinod K Jose was one of them. Vinod K Jose has long been furthering narratives that go against the Modi government and on occasion, even against Hindus of the nation. His magazine The Caravan has regularly peddled falsehoods and spreads anti-Hindu propaganda.
The central government has recently reconstituted the Press Council of India for a three-year term. A gazette notification dated October 7, 2021, was issued notifying the nominations of twenty-two members to the 14th term of the Press Council of India.
The central government has confirmed to OpIndia that it is not the govt that nominates members to the Press Council of India. A govt source, clarifying its stance, said, “The entire process, from seeking nominations to selecting them, is done by PCI which is a quasi judicial body functionally independent of Government of India. To impute that Government of India has nominated any member to PCI is a fallacy and totally unwarranted.”
Netizens question The Caravan’s Vinod Jose’s nomination to the PCI
Vinod K Jose was one among the six persons appointed under ‘Editors’. However, his nomination sparked outrage as netizens questioned the government for his appointment. The government later clarified to OpIndia that it does not nominate members to PCI.
Former civil services officer Sanjay Dixit termed Vinod’s inclusion in the Press Club of India as appeasement of the enemy of the nation.
Did any1 notice Press Council of India members’ nominations? Straight from Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’! At no, 6, Vinod Jose of The Caravan! Looks like someone in @BJP4India feels that nationalists and pro-Hindu voices do not matter, but every enemy of nation is to be appeased! pic.twitter.com/oUh0fseOsZ
— Sanjay Dixit ಸಂಜಯ್ ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್ संजय दीक्षित (@Sanjay_Dixit) October 12, 2021
One of the users tagged cabinet minister Anurag Thakur and asked why a rabid Hindu hater, anti-BJP and anti-Modi journalist Vinod Jose has been given a place on the Press Council of India.
Dear Sri @ianuragthakur , @Anurag_Office how can a rabid hindu hater, anti-BJP & anti-Modi journalist Vinod Jose of Carvan be nominated as Press Council of India member ? https://t.co/tnE9Tj9B6n
— RANJIT KUMAR (@ranjitkumar1960) October 12, 2021
Another Twitter user reacted to the situation with a laconic response, saying #StopAppeasementPolitics.
#StopAppeasementPolitics https://t.co/SbY5X5EVyt
— arun hassani (@tezsuraj) October 12, 2021
A Twitter user surprised by the inclusion of Vinod K Jose in the Press Council said such infiltration within the BJP is terrible.
Very surprising… but such infiltration within @BJP4India is really terrible!
— TS Mohan (@TSM979) October 12, 2021
Yet another Twitter user said instead of clamping down on anti national activities of The Caravan, the government was rewarding their journalists by nominating them to the PCI.
Don’t know who in BJP is out to confuse it core Voters?
— Ajay Singh (@AjaySinghPTBAS) October 12, 2021
Rather than clamping down on Caravan for its anti national activities,they are being nominted to PCI.
Centre reconstitutes 22-member council for the 14th term of PCI
Besides Jose, others appointed are Ankur Dua, Dr Baldev Raj Gupta, Dr Khaidem Athouba Meitei, Dr Suman Gupta and Prakash Dubey under ‘Editors’.
Gurinder Singh and LC Bharatiya are named under ‘Owners or Managers of medium newspapers’. Those included under ‘Owners or Managers of small newspapers’ include Aarti Tripathi and Shyam Singh Panwar. In addition, there are 12 other people nominated to the 14th term of Press Council of India.
Caravan and Vinod K Jose’s history of falsehoods, anti-Modi agenda and Hindu-hate
The Pulwama terror attack was a dastardly attack sponsored and orchestrated by Pakistan that claimed the lives of several Indian soldiers. The country mourned in unison. The country demanded vengeance against a terror state that painted the lanes of Pulwama with the blood of our soldiers.
While a nation rallied behind the armed forces, Caravan was busy counting caste.
In a morbid report by Ajaz Ashraf of The Caravan, he had conducted a ‘caste analysis’ of our martyred soldiers. In his report, the author mentioned calling the families of the deceased to inquire about their caste.
The Caravan’s Hinduphobia is such, that they did not even spare the martyred soldiers who were brutally murdered by Pakistan.
While their Hindu hate is rampant, they hate the government that came to power due to Hindu consolidation as well. The Caravan has conducted several shoddy hit jobs on Amit Shah, PM Modi, NSA Doval and his son. There have been several lies peddled and shameless propaganda furthered by the magazine.
In February 2021, Twitter India had withheld the account of far-left outlet The Caravan in the country in response to a legal demand. An FIR was registered against the media outlet and its journalists for spreading fake news about the death of a protester on Republic Day, where Khalistanis and so-called farmers had gone on a rampage.
The Caravan had spread the fake news claiming that “An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society.” In reality, the protester had died after his tractor overturned.
Spreading fake news at such a sensitive moment that had the potential to incite violence led the police to file FIRs against journalists associated with the media portal. Furthermore, on Saturday night, Mandeep Punia, associated with the media portal was detained by Delhi Police after he misbehaved with them.
Vinod K Jose himself, who is the Executive Editor Caravan Magazine had peddled the lie that the Delhi anti-Hindu riots were actually an organised carnage of the Muslims in India. Like most Leftists, Vinod Jose had failed to acknowledge that the violence by Muslim mobs against Hindus had started far before the Delhi riots and also, during the Delhi riots, which were planned by Muslims and Leftists, Muslim mobs had run rampage against Hindus.
The Caravan’s @Prabhtalks & @ArshuJohn win the prestigious investigative journalism award, the ACJ India Award for Investigative Journalism for their brilliant cover story on the role of BJP&Delhi in Delhi’s anti-Muslim violence. This is the 3rd time that Caravan wins this award. pic.twitter.com/tikOWuQ60f
— Vinod K. Jose (@vinodjose) June 3, 2021
In fact, the Chargesheets filed in the Delhi anti-Hindu riots make it amply clear that the Riots were a pre-planned conspiracy to bring the Modi-government down. The media played a vital role in the nefarious plans by peddling fake news and false narratives to show India in bad light and further the lie that Indian Muslims were being targeted, when in reality, it was the Muslims who had targeted the Hindus. Vinod K Jose was an active part of spreading this canard.
He had further tried to shield the Tablighi Jamaat when they were defecating and deliberately trying to spread the Coronavirus during the beginning of the pandemic.
Communalising coronavirus pandemic and the hounding of Muslims in India is making news outside, @ashoswai writes: https://t.co/fxSqLKCbcO
— Vinod K. Jose (@vinodjose) April 22, 2020
After emerging as a ‘superspreader’ of the Wuhan Coronavirus, the conduct of the members of the Tablighi Jamaat did not improve. While they were being transported from Nizamuddin for their treatment, they spat on roads during the bus ride. After being shifted to quarantine facilities in Delhi, they engaged in unruly behaviour with the staff and doctors. The occupants made unreasonable demands for food, misbehaved and abused staff members and spat all over and on persons working/attending to them, including doctors. They also started roaming around the hostel building.
Then, it was reported that some of them were found roaming naked at the MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad and making lewd gestures at the hospital staff. They sang obscene songs and asked for beedi-cigarettes from the staff at the hospital. The nurses had also written a letter to the Police regarding the matter and later, the UP Government had decided that female members of the healthcare community and the Police will not be attending to the members of the Tablighi Jamaat.
Members of the Tablighi Jamaat misbehaved with healthcare staff at Kanpur as well. They refused to cooperate with the nurses, doctor and hospital staff saying that there wasn’t any disease such as the Wuhan Coronavirus. They also spat on them. “We had 22 people for two days who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Markaz, Nizamuddin in Delhi. Our team of doctors, staff and nurses were taking care of them in rotation. However, the patients behaved rudely with the medical team, they misbehaved, spit here and there and also used to huddle up together in the hall despite being repeatedly told not to do so,” Dr Arati Dave Lalchandani, the Principal and Dean of the GSVM Medical College, said.
There were several other incidents as such, however, Jose deemed it fit term genuine concern regarding the spread of the virus as “Islamophobia”. While the article itself was written by another Hinduphobe, the fact that Jose is the Executive Editor and had shared the article proudly, only points to his ‘liberal’ credentials.
Update: This report has been updated with the government’s response.
