On Wednesday, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stirred up a storm after applying restrictive conditions on the immersion of Maa Durga idols this Dashami. According to ANI, immersion would only be allowed till 6:00 PM on Dashami and be resumed only from 2nd October due to the Muharram procession.
This outraged many people online and one of them was Tajinder Bagga, who is the spokesperson of Delhi BJP. Bagga decided to protest against such clamping down on the Hindu festivals by the Mamata government:
Maa Durga ki Murti Visarjan rokne wala Bengal me abhi koi paida nhi hua, dekhte hai kaise rokti hai Mamta Banerjee aur iski Sarkar https://t.co/8S8puezEjG
— Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) August 23, 2017
Is Saal Dashmi me mai Bengal rahunga aur dekhte hai Kaun rokta hai Maa Durga ki murti ke visarjan ko #AdharamKaNaashHohttps://t.co/4qnBUlLRCs
— Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) August 23, 2017
Bagga, who happens to be a Sikh, in his tweets reiterated that Hindus had the right to celebrate their festivals and dared the Mamata government to stop the visarjan. He also stated that he would personally stay present in Bengal this Dashami to ensure no disruption occurs.
This vocal support for Hindus by a Sikh deeply pained a Newslaundry columnist named Jaspreet Oberoi, who decided to attack him and Hinduism:
Can you at-least give up Sikhism before promoting idol-worship & superstitions? What a disgrace for the community, this @TajinderBagga. https://t.co/7lFW64kmmG
— Jas Oberoi (@iJasOberoi) August 23, 2017
Jaspreet, who goes by the name of Jas Oberoi, was then given a befitting response by Bagga, who also tagged Newslaundry’s Editor-in-chief Madhu Trehan to make her aware about the antics of her columnist:
. @madhutrehan pls tell ur Journalist, our Sikh Gurus never weared Janeu, but to Save Janeu they sacrificed their whole family. https://t.co/sbtcQVtIH1
— Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) August 23, 2017
. @madhutrehan ur journalist is saying me to leave Sikhism bcz I am against Mamata Govt order. Is this news laundary Journalism ? https://t.co/sbtcQVtIH1
— Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) August 23, 2017
The Hinduphobic and communal comment by the Newslaundry columnist was also bashed by other twitter users:
A horrendous display of ur sick thinking @iJasOberoi
Lest U forget Sikhs & Hindus always gave their lives for saving each other’s Dharma!
— Ravijot Singh (@NationalistRavi) August 23, 2017
What happened now? Isn’t it secular that bagga is supporting hindus despite being a sikh? Or is secularism only about supporting muslims? ??
— Kr Gaurav Pandey?? (@Kgtheseeker) August 23, 2017
But rather than apologising for his attack, the Newslaundry columnist made further personal attacks on Bagga and users opposing his bigotry.
Rather than putting the troll columnist in the dock (who might just enjoy the attention), it might be more prudent to ask as to whether Newslaundry approves of his vicious trolling. And if not, does it plan to take any suitable action against him? People might also question as to what did Newslaundry see in the troll, that it decided to make him their columnist?
Questions might be also raised as to why has Newslaundry chosen to give space to his articles such as this, where he demonises legendary police officer KPS Gill, who was one of the key persons responsible for stopping the Khalistani insurgency.
It also remains to be seen if Madhu Trehan and Newslaundry condemn this unsolicited heckling by their troll columnist or whether they choose not to react, which some might consider to be a case of silent approval.
