On Monday (March 27), The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani resorted to false equivalence and monkey balancing while trying to make a case for gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and disqualified Parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi. Goes without saying, she tied herself in knots while she did so.
In a 20-minute video published on YouTube, she was seen lamenting about the treatment meted out to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed by the police and media. Arfa Khanum Sherwani asked why incarceration and ‘poor’ treatment of the gangster must not be considered an insult to the OBC community.
To put things in perspective, at time of her video Atiq Ahmed was an accused on multiple counts of kidnapping and murder. At the time of this report, Prayagraj court has held him guilty of kidnapping Umesh Pal, prime witness in Raju Pal murder case. Umesh Pal was also murdered in February this year.
So Atiq Ahmed was not some innocent bystander as Arfa would like us to believe.
She made the bizarre argument to draw a false equivalence with Rahul Gandhi’s sweeping statement about the ‘Modi’ community. In that way, The Wire’s senior editor hoped to present the Congress scion’s conviction and eventual disqualification from Lok Sabha as a conspiracy of the BJP government.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani will go to any extent, even defend a known criminal rioter, to make her case in favour of her master Rahul Gandhi. How long will this sycophancy last? pic.twitter.com/N51MUSa70y
— BALA (@erbmjha) March 27, 2023
“I was wondering when Rahul Gandhi can be convicted in a criminal defamation case for making remarks about Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi… why should the case be different for Atiq Ahmed who hails from the OBC community,” she was heard saying.
The Congress scion was convicted by the Surat court for not speaking against the two fugitives (Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi), as suggested by Arfa Khanum Sherwani but for labelling the entire ‘Modi’ community (which falls under the OBC category) as ‘thieves’ during an election rally in 2019.
“Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi…how come they all have Modi as a common surname? How come all thieves have Modi as a common surname?” Rahul Gandhi had said then. PM Modi belongs to the Ghanchi community in Gujarat which falls under OBC.
In a society where caste discrimination still exists, painting an entire community as that of ‘thieves’ could be a traumatic living experience for those who may have to face the barbs from society.
When such a sweeping statement on a backward community comes from a public representative who is in position to influence public, it could be detrimental for people of that community.
Senior Editor at The Wire draws bizarre analogies
Arfa Khanum Sherwani chose to ignore this particular context while suggesting that the incarceration of Atiq Ahmed must also be looked at from the perspective of caste.
“Atiq Ahmed is an accused. He is also from the OBC category. He is from the Gaddi caste…Their community is known for raising and breeding mules. Atiq Ahmed’s father used to do this work. He followed his father’s occupation for several years,” The Wire’s senior editor tried to make a case for the gangster-politician.
But isn’t Islam a caste-less society? Over the years, people have taken pride in the fact that caste system exists only in Hinduism and that other Abrahamic faiths like Islam and Christianity are above caste. Many people from Hinduism have been lured into converting to these faiths on promise of caste-less society.
Hindus often leave behind the baggage of caste system to embrace Islam and/or Christianity. So how is Atiq Ahmed’s so-called caste conjured up so conveniently?
“Isn’t the sentiments of the Gaddi community hurt by the ill-treatment of Atiq Ahmed? He is being labelled as a criminal in the media. Why only sentiments are hurt in the case of only Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi,” she brazened it out.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani exhibits desperation to defend Rahul Gandhi, Atiq Ahmed
“If the Modi community is protected in such a manner that comments on it result in disqualification of a political leader, then, why such a privilege is not extended to the Gaddi community of Atiq Ahmed? Why is he not having rights at par with Lalit and Nirav Modi,” she further resorted to mental gymnastics.
In her desperate attempt to shield Atiq Ahmed and defend Rahul Gandhi at the same time, Arfa Khanum Sherwani forgot that no politician has labelled the Gaddi community as ‘thieves or gangsters’. Atiq Ahmed’s case is being telecast live because justice is being delivered for his crimes and not because of his caste or his faith.
The likes of Arfa would cry Islamophobia at the drop of the hat whenever any Muslim criminal or terrorist is accused of crimes. They are the frontrunners when it comes to ‘dara hua Musalman’ bogey. When a criminal is from the Muslim community, they cry foul over how Muslims are painted as criminals.
So why cannot people of the Modi community have the same right to feel threatened by social stigma when a leading politician called them thieves?
