New Delhi: Reporting hate is not spreading hate, but a lot of people in our country like the version of the truth that suits their interest. They find opposition to radical Islam as similar to opposing all Muslims, and for them, it is intolerance to talk about reforms in any religion. Such people must see the developments in Bangladesh today, to understand what is real intolerance and radicalisation.
Like other Islamic nations, Bangladesh also witnessed demonstrations against France, but in the name of protests, people were seen not only burning the flag of France, but also the houses of Hindus living there. In the Comilla district of Bangladesh, a mob of Islamic fundamentalists broke into 10 houses of Hindus and destroyed them completely. According to reports, the mob comprising 500 people was furious over a Facebook post. The rumours spread that Hindus living in these houses were supporting France.
Bangladesh is a secular and democratic country like India and France, but the minority population living there cannot oppose the ideology of the majority, and the same could be understood through the pictures coming from there.
Apart from this, Bangladesh also witnessed large-scale protests against France, and the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, were filled with thousands of people at the call of an organization called Hifazat-e-Islam, which is a group of teachers and students belonging to thousands of Islamic schools. These people not only staged protests but they also tried to capture the French Embassy in Dhaka.
Two days ago, similar protests against France were also held in some parts of India because the Constitution of India has given everyone the freedom to speak and lodge their protest. This report is simply showing hatred being spread against Hindus in a neighboring country, but this can also be twisted by some as an example of hate-mongering. These few people sitting in their drawing rooms can decide what is the definition of hate News?
These few people want to define the ‘Hate News’ as per their whims and fancies. On October 31, as many as 95 former bureaucrats wrote to companies and corporate houses of India, asking them to stop giving advertisements to news channels spreading hatred. Zee News also believes that those spreading hatred should be boycotted, but the question arises how could these 95 people decide a report on hate to be spreading hatred?
These 95 former top officials have formed a group, Constitutional Conduct Group, which claims that it does not support any political party, and the members are with the Constitution of India and maintain strict impartiality. Citing the Constitution, the letter stated that news channels which converted the coronavirus into a communal issue gave false news of Muslims’ infiltration in the UPSC examinations, and raised issues like “Love Jihad” should not be given advertisements.
On the contrary to it, the real intention behind this letter can be understood in three points given below:
1. Such people want to cut the financial supply of news channels so that the latter should surrender to their ideology and stop speaking the truth. They want to create such a situation that News Channels fail to give salaries to their employees, and journalists should run around courts. This is a kind of direct threat to news media.
2. The letter has selectively cited those news reports for spreading hate which is in fact related to people of a particular religion. The earlier letters of the members of the Constitutional Conduct Group never mentioned the issues like killings of sadhus in Palghar, Pulwama terror attack, or against those who opposed the Supreme Court verdict on Ram temple or their opposition to Delhi riots, or Mumbai attacks or even the Shaheen Bagh protests.
They, however, term opposition to Islamic fundamentalism as spreading hatred against Muslims.
3. Had these officials still been in their positions, would they have taken a unilateral decision. Would they have done justice to the cases like Nikita Tomar’s murder in the name of Love Jihad or the death of Sushant Rahul Rajput, or the Shaheen Bagh protest?
Notably, the Constitutional Conduct Group has written more than 30 letters on different issues since 2018.