The left-liberal and Islamist sympathising media ecosystem comes to the rescue of anyone expressing Hinduphobia and supporting terrorist groups like Hamas. Several media outlets including Scroll and Hindustan Times have published articles downplaying the pro-Hamas and anti-Hindu social media activity of Parveen Shaikh, the principal of the prestigious Somaiya Vidya Vihar school run by the Somaiya Trust in Mumbai. This comes after OpIndia published an exposé on Shaikh’s unflinching support for Hamas, usual Hindu haters including Islamist preacher Zakir Naik, and 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi riots mastermind Umar Khalid among others.
On the 1st of May, left-leaning portal Scroll published a report titled: “Mumbai school principal told to resign after being targeted by Hindutva website”. The bias of this article is evident from its headline itself, why would the ‘Hindutva’ website which OpIndia proudly is, target a random school principal if she was not liking terror group sympathising posts?
The insinuation of the Scroll article is rather simple – that OpIndia investigated Parveen Shaikh because of her Muslim identity. In truth, her Muslim identity is irrelevant. Her pro-Hamas views would affect Muslim and Hindu children alike. Not just those supporting Hindutva, but the Left too should be concerned about it. If they aren’t, as clearly, Scroll isn’t, then they are also pro-Hamas and pro-terror.
In a bid to whitewash Shaikh’s objectionable social media behaviour, without a smidgen of shame, Scroll passed off Parveen Shaikh’s support for Hamas as her ‘political views’. The publication presented the Hamas-sympathising posts liked by Shaikh on X (formerly Twitter) as “posts in support of the besieged territory of Gaza.”
Scroll’s report insinuates that OpIndia somehow ‘targeted’ Parveen Shaikh for having pro-Palestine opinions or for having sympathies for the people of Gaza, however, having pro-Palestine opinions is not the same as being pro-Hamas. Hamas is an Islamist terrorist group which has killed thousands of innocent Israeli civilians. Supporting a terrorist group is certainly not ‘political views’. While supporting Palestine could be considered a political stand, OpIndia’s coverage makes clear that a Principal who has the responsibility for thousands of children cannot possibly hold views that brand the killing of non-Muslim (Israeli in this case) innocent children and the rape of women as ‘resistance’ by an Islamic group.
The said report also downplayed Shaikh’s liking of several X posts abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bhartiya Janata Party and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Shaikh also liked several posts that were critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his political regime,” the Scroll report reads.
Contrary to Scroll’s assertion, the posts liked by Shaikh were not simply critical but abusive. If the left-leaning portal opines that posts calling PM Modi a “dog” referring to CM Yogi as “evil” and “critical” then their understanding of criticism and abusive behaviour is highly questionable.
Notably, OpIndia had found an outrageous tweet from Parveen Shaikh in which she stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a “dog” who is ready to fetch a ball at the instruction of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. She even engaged in internet propaganda against him making her dislike of him abundantly clear. She also voiced similar sentiments against Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and referred to the two BJP leaders as ‘evil.’
Parveen Shaikh invokes ‘freedom of speech’ after Somaiya School management asks her to resign
Speaking to Indian Express, Shaikh invoked ‘freedom of speech’ and democracy to justify her pro-Hamas social media behaviour. “I live in democratic India; I hold the principle of freedom of speech in high regard as it is a cornerstone of democracy… I will not resign because I have given a hundred per cent to the organisation,” she said. Much like Scroll, IE also mentioned that a section of parents extended support to Shaikh despite her objectionable opinions saying that “her views on certain subjects do not make a difference”.
HT downplays Parveen Shaikh’s pro-Hamas activities on X, despite Sheikh confirming to them that she liked posts sympathising with Hamas terrorists
In a pattern similar to Scroll and IE, Hindustan Times also reported selectively reported opinions of some parents supportive of Parveen Shaikh to assert that she has a great track record as the said school’s principal and thus, her outrageous social media behaviour should be overlooked. The report downplayed Shaikh’s pro-Hamas and anti-Hindu social media activities even though she confirmed to the publication that she indeed liked the contentious posts. Shaikh, however, passed off her pro-Hamas leanings as her support for the ‘Palestinian cause’.
“The news portal [OpIndia] that published the article about me is known for its bias against secular constitutional ethos, as well as the Palestinian cause. Its followers, who have trolled me, would share the same bias,” Shaikh told HT.
Both, HT and Scroll reports quoted a parent named Shilpa Phadke to assert that despite being a ‘progressive’ woman and excellent educator, Parveen Shaikh is being targeted for her Muslim identity. However, it is crucial to note that professional excellence does not give one a free pass to extend support to terrorist groups and abuse the country’s democratically elected prime minister, and a state’s chief minister over political differences.
Parveen Sheikh liked posts supporting Hamas terrorist Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s ‘resistance’ against Israel, and posts propagating anti-Ram Mandir views
On the 24th of April, OpIndia published a report which tracked the Islamist views of the principal and her leaning towards anti-Indian elements on social media. She frequently likes Hamas pronouncements endorsing their ‘resistance’ against Israel along with those supporting its senior leadership such as terrorist Ismail Haniyeh. She strikes as an ardent advocate of Hamas who rationalizes all the atrocities it commits as ‘resistance’ or ‘retaliation.’
Parveen Shaikh has an extensive record of “liking” tweets that echo her views. She also supports radicals such as Islamist preacher Zakir Naik and Umar Khalid, the mastermind of the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi. She also likes tweets holding Hindus liable for fundamentalist attacks on their sacred procession. Furthermore, Shaikh enjoys dehumanising Hindus by portraying them as beggars in front of Arab countries and is opposed to the Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
Moreover, one of the X posts, Shaikh alleged that Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan “sold his soul to the devil” since he had requested that the Indian government reject any attempts by outsiders to meddle in domestic matters.
On the 12th of April, Shaikh liked a post by anti-semite and fake news peddler Jackson Hinkle which hailed the children and grandchildren of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh – who were neutralised by Israel for being Hamas terrorists. He called their death ‘martyrdom’, thereby revealing that he believes Hamas is ordained by Allah to heap atrocities against Jews.
As the OpIndia report sparked an outrage, Somaiya Trust took cognizance of the matter and said: “We were unaware of the sentiments expressed until it was brought to our notice today. We do not agree with such sentiments. It is certainly concerning. We are looking into the matter.”
Now that the Trust has asked Parveen Shaikh to resign, the media ecosystem has taken it upon itself to downplay and whitewash Shaikh’s terror-sympathising views and garner public sympathy for her.
