Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s massive victory in 2019 has visibly rattled the Lutyens media. While introspection would be an order of the day, the “liberals” have resorted to displaying angst against how their propaganda failed to influence the average voter. However, as the anger and shock of the result dissipate, the Lutyens media is back to peddling their ‘dara hua musalman’ narrative with The Hindu leading the way. The narrative that Muslims are scared in an India led by Prime Minister Modi is alive with no signs of dying down.
The Hindu today published an article headlined ‘Minorities in North India bear the brunt of post-election hate crimes’. The entire article tries to further the ‘dara hua musalman’ narrative basically insinuating that hate has triumphed and now, the Muslims of this country live in constant fear and threat from the majority Hindu population. The narrative also assumes that the Hindu population is inherently violent against Muslims and has been emboldened by the Modi government being elected to power.
The Hindu article bases its entire narrative on 2 incidents. One of the incidents is of Mohammad Qasim being shot in Begusarai. Qasim says he was shot because he is a Muslim, the police say that he was shot as a result of an altercation between him and one Rajiv Yadav as a result of which Yadav shot Qasim. Interestingly, in a Telegraph report dated 28th May 2019, Qasim is reported to have said that he knew his attacker. The Hindu report today, however, quotes Qasim saying he had no idea who his attacker was at that time, and hence, the version that he was shot because of an altercation cannot possibly be true.
The second incident that The Hindu article relies on is that of a Muslim man in Gurugram being beaten while being forced to chant Jai Shree Ram and his skull cap being thrown.
There were reports that the Gurugram police had examined over 50 CCTV footages in the locality and have found that there was a scuffle involving the Muslim man Barkat Ali and some other people. The argument also turned to push and shoving in which Barkat Ali’s skull cap fell down. The CCTV footage reportedly shows that nobody had deliberately removed Ali’s skullcap, rather Ali had picked it up and kept in his pocket.
The CCTV footage also reportedly showed that nobody had torn up Ali’s shirt either. The police, after examining over 50 CCTV footages also found that it was a minor brawl and seeing some men fighting, a sweeper nearby had rushed to separate the men and had asked them to calm down, following which the brawl had ended.
The police had stated that they had registered an FIR in the case. The statement by the victim had not mentioned him being forced to chant ‘Jai Shriram’ or being threatened to be fed pork. The police had also stated that from CCTV footage, it is seen that the entire incident was over within a minute.
The police had stated that some ‘anti-social elements’ were trying to paint the incident in communal colours. The victim Barkat Ali had reportedly stated that he is feeling unsafe in Gurugram and wants to go back to his home in Bihar. The police commissioner had, however, asked him to stay till the investigation was over.
Swati Goel of Swarajyamag.com had also done a ground investigation that revealed that Ali was in all probability lying about this ‘hate crime’.
Even as The Hindu uses these two dubious cases of “hate crimes” to allege that Muslims were unsafe in Modi’s India, The Hindu has summarily ignored to take into account how Muslim mobs have gone on a rampage recently and how several BJP workers have been murdered brutally after PM Modi won a thumping mandate for the second time.
On 18th May, an agitated Muslim mob in the town of Mathura descended upon two Hindu lassi shopowners– both brothers, located at the crammed Chowk Bazaar of Mathura, close to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. Following a minor tiff, a burqa-clad woman brought along with her a bloodthirsty mob at the iconic ‘Nattho Yadav Lassiwale’ to exact revenge for the perceived inequity meted out to her. The mob indulged in brutally thrashing the lassi shop owners while addressing them ‘Kaafir’, a pejorative reference to non-Muslims. Pankaj Yadav and Bharat Yadav, the two brothers who were managing the shop at that time were severely injured in the attack. Though the brothers were taken for dressing their external wounds, the elder brother Bharat sustained internal injuries and within a week’s time on May 24, his health deteriorated and on the following day, he died. The post-mortem revealed that Bharat’s brain and nerves were damaged in the attack.
A Muslim mob had recently descended upon a temple and ransacked the house of worship because they did not like bhajans being played on loudspeakers. 5 were arrested in connection with this case.
Recently, a Muslim mob had also attacked a Dalit wedding procession, but the Lutyens Media seems to be mostly quiet because it perhaps does not suit the popular narrative of Muslim-Dalit unity.
While The Hindu has proven to be blindfolded when it comes to the violence unleashed by Muslim mobs, it also seems to be unphased by the number of brutal murders of BJP workers being reported from across the country after the thumping 2019 mandate.
In West Bengal, a BJP worker chanting Jai Shree Ram was stabbed to death and the wife of the victim had squarely blamed TMC goons for the murder.
After Smriti Irani defeated the Gandhi family scion and Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi her close aide and newly-elected Lok Sabha Member of Parliament, Surendra Singh was brutally shot dead by unidentified assailants in her constituency of Amethi.
A day after this episode, a BJP worker, Chandan Shaw, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Bhatapara of North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. In a separate incident the same day, another BJP worker, Nemichand Tanwar was also reportedly shot dead in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The family has alleged that he was killed as he didn’t vote for Congress.
Similar spurts of post-poll violence claimed another three BJP workers live in Tripura. BJP worker Shibu Das (20), a resident of Khayerpur area and fish trader Apu Das (56) were both attacked on the streets and killed in cold blood.
Prior to this, BJP worker Mithu Bhowmik was murdered in Fatikcherra area of northern Agartala on May 24, a day after the poll results were declared.
On May 26, it was reported that Mateen Patel (48), a BJP minority cell worker at Mohalla village in Akola district, Maharashtra, was beaten to death over Lok Sabha results.
Recently, BJP worker, a youth named Prem Kumar Reddy was clubbed to death in Telangana after BJP secured a victory in local body polls in the state. The BJP has squarely put the blame of the murder on TRS workers.
The Hindu essentially relies on 2 incidents where the police have summarily denied communal angles to allege that Muslims are scared in Modi’s India while ignoring cases where BJP workers were murdered in cold blood and Muslim mobs went on a rampage against Hindus of the country.
While the ‘dara hua musalman’ narrative suits the agenda that aims to not only demonise PM Modi but also Hindus who voted overwhelmingly in support of the Prime Minister, the truth is often deliberately pushed under the rug.
The Hindu at the very onset says “Street thugs have taken advantage of the post-election triumphalism to stage attacks on minorities in parts of north India”, while the entire report relies on two incidents that have several loopholes in the story. At one point in the article, while talking about the Gurugram incident, The Hindu report itself admits that there is no evidence to prove that the “victim” was made to chant Jai Shree Ram.
It is evident that the frequency of these motivated reports are only going to increase with BJP being in power.
For example, In April, it was widely reported that a Muslim inmate at Tihar jail, Nabbir, had claimed that he was branded with the ‘Om’ symbol on his back by the jail superintendent. He had also claimed that the authorities had forced him to fast during Navratri and he had been thrashed. He had made these allegations in front of the Metropolitan Magistrate Richar Parihar who ordered a probe into the entire matter.
The probe has now been completed and a report has been submitted to the court. According to the report that has been submitted, the inmate had levelled “False allegations” against the authorities. He was branded with the symbol by his own associate.
While the noise surrounding the allegations levelled by Nabir was shrill, the very media personalities and politicians who had outraged then have fallen silent now.
The Hindu proves that pesky little facts should never stand in the way of a good narrative, even if the truth is sacrificed, mercilessly, at the altar of propaganda.
