In recent times, the mainstream media has abandoned its duty of reporting facts and taken upon itself the role of Moral Science teachers we had in kindergartens. And as a consequence, they have compromised heavily on the authenticity of their reporting for the baton of moral superiority they brandish among themselves.

It was reported that NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar, the veteran politician, lied about a Masjid being attacked during the 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blasts for the sake of secularism since, in reality, only Hindu dominated areas were targeted. Unfortunately, such ghastly lies about terror attacks for the purpose of generating fake narratives are not the only ones that peddled in the name of secularism.

A phenomenon that has emerged over time is that on the backdrop of any terror attack when the nation is still mourning the loss of innocent lives, the mainstream media and a certain section of the Indian polity appears more concerned with imagined crimes than real.

The wounds of Pulwama had not healed, the blood of the martyred still hadn’t gone cold, the tears of their daughters and wives and parents still hadn’t gone dry and every ’eminent’ citizen of the country was more concerned with an apparent threat to Kashmiris that did not exist than the sentiments of the bereaved. And when it became clear that no such organized attacks were taking place, only those who were making anti-India remarks were being targeted and even that through legal means, a narrative was literally invented so that Kashmiris could be painted as victims even though they had suffered no atrocity, they hadn’t lost any family, they weren’t attacked by anyone for their identity.

It’s a trope that is repeated all over the world over and over again after every single act of terror in which people lose their lives. The narrative is quickly shifted from the motivations that inspired the terror attack and every media outlet runs amok with the narrative of ‘Muslims fear backlash‘. After London, after Barcelona, after Orlando, after Brussels, after Berlin, after Paris and after every other terror attack, instead of addressing the causes that led to them and grieving with the families of the deceased, people are warned about how Muslims are living in fear. It doesn’t matter that apart from rare instances where a solitary person committed a crime against a Muslim and was punished for it, there has been a single instance of organized violence against Muslims in the backdrop of a terror attack. It simply hasn’t happened. And yet, it’s the narrative that is sold every single time.

The mainstream media and the section of politicians whose careers depend on minority appeasement have made it a business of fear-mongering and creating victims out of Muslims when there are none. The only victims of terror attacks are the deceased and their families. Why do Muslims have to be declared the victims even when they are not? Why are they constantly fed the toxic syrup of perpetual victimhood? Does it really serve their interest when an attempt is made to deflect attention from the actual causes of terrorism by proclaiming them as victims when they clearly aren’t?

The Indian Media quietly ignored the fact that the Pulwama terrorist made it clear that he was carrying out the attack against ‘Cow-piss drinkers‘, a derogatory term that is used against Hindus. Instead of addressing the kind of hatred and bigotry that leads to such heinous crimes against humanity, the media and politicians instead busied themselves inventing victims of ‘Hindutva extremism’ when none existed.

If secularism mandates that people not be allowed to grieve their dead without being bombarded with a barrage of propaganda that makes a certain community appear as the victim, even when it’s not, people are going to question whether such secularism is worth preserving at all. For the interests of our country, that is not a very good prospect.

The more we make victims out of people who are definitely not, the more grievances we create in the minds of people who actually are. By disrespecting the sentiments of the near and dear ones of the dead and by portraying a community whose followers were just slaughtered for their faith by deeming others as potential rioters and criminals, we further risk endangering the fabric that binds our country together.

In the Pulwama terror attack, the Kashmiris were not the victims. Soldiers of the CRPF were. They were attacked because the terrorist wanted to kill ‘cow-piss drinkers’. These are the facts. ‘Kashmiris under attack’ is not. According to reports, Kashmiris were pelting stones at the soldiers who lay injured in the aftermath of the suicide attack. In the 1993 Bomb Blasts, Sharad Pawar simply concocted a bomb blast at a Muslim religious place for the sake of the so-called ‘secular fabric’. Nobody questioned this flawed, malicious logic.

Under such circumstances, it’s abundantly clear that the people predominently under attack are Hindus and we are under attack from terrorists who cannot tolerate the diversity of our religious beliefs. If politicians spend more time condemning fictional events than real ones, then the real victims of terrorism may run out of patience. And if that happens, the consequences will be grave for our country.

Every responsible citizen should devote more time to sympathizing with real victims than invent fake ones to further their own nefarious agenda. Unless we address the core issues that afflict our country, more innocent blood will be spilled by people who have abandoned all reason and humanity. If we sympathize more with imagined victims than real ones, the consequences will be devastating.