On Tuesday, Shekhar Gupta’s portal ‘The Print’ whitewashed the crimes unleashed by the Islamist mob in North-West Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on April 16 on the Hindu participating in the Hanuman Jayanti procession.
In an article published on April 26, the Print tries not only to absolve enraged Muslim mobs that pelted stones at the Hindus participating in the procession but also blamed ‘lower-caste’ Hindu migrants from Bengal for the violence that erupted in Jahangirpuri.
The article is written by alleged journalist Tanushree Pandey, who is notoriously known for directing far-left protestors to give directed TV interviews and manipulating the Hathras victim’s parents. Tanushree Pandey, who was caught twice in the past for propagating lies to put out a left-wing narrative on various incidents, has yet again tried pushing propaganda against Hindus by blaming them for the violence that erupted during the Hanuman Jayanthi procession in Jahangirpuri.
In the report, Tanushree Pandey attempts to implicate innocent Hindus by asking them leading questions. Pandey, who is known to invent facts to substantiate her claims, also puts out unverifiable information by saying these young Hindus were seen “brandishing hockey sticks, swords, and even guns” on the day of the violence.
According to Pandey, the area where violence broke out is home to Bengali Hindus, who are mostly from lower castes.
In the report, Pandey also claims they were mainly ‘mobilised’ by the local Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha, allegedly run by Suken Sarkar, who is among 25 people arrested so far in connection with the Jahangirpuri violence. Suresh Sarkar, brother of Suken, convinced kids from the locality to join the rally, Pandey claimed in her report.
The Print report also claimed that Suresh Sarkar made these ‘lower caste’ Hindus clear they were long oppressed due to their caste, but the Jahangirpuri violence was a way to assert their credentials as part of a pan-Hindu identity against a common enemy – Muslims.
“It’s good that the clashes happened… otherwise, how would Hindus be awakened?” Sarkar is quoted as saying by Tanushree Pandey.
“Now, he says he is ready to carry on the good work — preparing the next generation to fight, and even kill if the need arises, in the name of their religion,” the Print report claimed to portray Hindus as the perpetual aggressor in the communal clashes that occur across the country.
Further, Pandey concocts conspiracy theories suggesting the local residents, many from the marginalised communities, have derived a sense of agency and power by joining the forces of Hindutva. She also quoted a young man named Sagar, who is allegedly studying Class 10, to substantiate her grand theories to absolve Muslims from their crime and depict Hindus as the aggressor in the violence that took place in Jahangirpuri on April 16.
“He carried a sword in the rally, he says, because, “Muslims also carry swords and other weapons with them during Muharram… why shouldn’t we?” When asked where he learned this, he says his uncle Suken Sarkar, who has been running the shakha for more than ten years, had said so,” the Print report stated.
Again, in her story, Tanushree Pandey claims that teenagers influenced by Hindutva groups had participated in the rally with pride.
“Bangladeshi Muslims started snatching our swords, and we ran from there. I feel bad that I ran. We were taught in the shakha to be brave and never be scared of Muslims, as we Hindus have to protect our country from them,” the Print quoted another Hindu person.
As per the Print, the radicalisation of Hindus in Jahangirpuri is because of a “steady diet of videos, memes, forwards, and saffron pop that promote not just Hindu muscularity but a fear of Muslim virility”.
Fearmongering against Hindus, Tanushree Pandey continued her vitriol by claiming there is a sense of urgency among Hindus to unite castes to “save” the country from a burgeoning population of Muslims.
“No one questions the “facts” of this content nor the militant nationalism that some TV channels and films promote,” Pandey cried in her report as she gave a clean chit to Muslims and blamed ‘lower caste’ Hindus for Jahangirpuri violence.
Tanushree Pandey and her saga of concocting evidence and ‘directing’ TV interviews
This is not the first time Tanushree Pandey has been involved with something like this. During the protests against the CAA, Tanushree Pandey was caught directing and coaching far-left students even before the actual interview. In the video, the journalist was seen to be having extensive discussions regarding the events that transpired at the University and, at one point, had a prolonged hush-hush conversation with a left-wing protestor during the JNU violence in December 2019.
In the video, it was seen that the two of them were having a conversation off the record where an attempt is deliberately made to have a hush-hush conversation so that the content of it is not audible to the observers. Furthermore, in the video, it appears that it is not journalism that was happening but propaganda with active collusion between the journalist and the Vice-President of JNUSU.
A year later, Tanushree Pandey, who was at the India Today, was also caught directing the witness to give unfavourable statements against the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government. A telephonic conversation between Pandey and the brother of the Hathras victim – Sandeep, had gone viral, in which Pandey was heard trying hard to convince Sandeep to send her a video statement of his father alleging that he was under immense pressure from the administration.
Throughout the conversation, Tanushree Pandey appeared insistent on coaxing out a very specific statement from Sandeep, while the latter remains non-committal on his statement and appears hesitant to toe the line that the journalist wants him to toe.
Sandeep had also confirmed the journalist’s allegations of pressure and, on other occasions, said that his father was not very clear on whether he was pressurised or not.
Tanushree Pandey was heard saying to Sandeep that she has learnt from somewhere, though do not specify where an attempt is being made to blame the death of the sister on her family. She lied to the victim’s parents to manipulate them and get a pre-decided statement to build a narrative against the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
Perhaps, Tanushree Pandey tried to pull a similar stunt this time as well to show that it was Muslims who were victims and not the Hindus, and the latter was responsible for the Jahangirpuri violence.
Hindus were attacked by Muslims from behind, pelted stones from the mosque
On April 16, Muslim mobs attacked the Hindu procession from inside the mosque and on the streets on the Hanuman Jayanti. The Islamists attacked Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra from behind in Jahangirpuri, Delhi.
A video that the victims shot showed that a violent Muslim mob had attacked Hindu devotees passing through the street near the mosque during the recent Shobha Yatra in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area. In the video, it was seen that the Muslim mob attacked the Hindu devotees from a mosque.
Exclusive Video of the exact moment when Hanuman Shobha Yatra was attacked in front of Mosque. No attempt was made to hoist 🚩 flag. Actually they were attacked from behind.
— Kaushal Modi (@Brand_kaushal) April 19, 2022
Make it Viral …. pic.twitter.com/EoCsS7UQbn
Hindu devotees were marching with the procession on the streets of Jahangirpuri on Saturday. As they celebrated the festival with chants, religious slogans and flags, a Muslim mob attacked them with stones and glass bottles. Shots were fired too.
So far, 40 people have been arrested by the Police in the case, including prime accused Ansar and Aslam. There have been allegations that Ansar is an Aam Aadmi Party member.
