By Ranjona Banerji
Take a bow, Indian media. Take a bigger bow, Indian television media. What a glorious pass you have brought India to.
On Monday, July 31, Chetan Singh, an RPF constable on a Jaipur-Mumbai train opened fire, with his automatic service weapon. He first shot his colleague and then proceeded through the train to identify three Muslim passengers and shot them as well. Add “allegedly” wherever you want. A video was shot where Singh was heard to say, “If you want to live in India, vote only Modi, Yogi”.
While FIRs for the four murders have been filed, the Railways have scrambled in to declare that Singh had “mental health” issues. Two questions arise: if Singh had known mental health problems, why was he on duty and why was he given a weapon.
As for “mental health”, it is a familiar trope used by majoritarian populations worldwide. Thus in the western world, all white gunmen have mental health issues but all Muslim gunmen are terrorists. Singh has openly declared his political affiliation and went out of his way to find Muslims to shoot.
https://thewire.in/security/railway-protection-force-constable-shoots-dead-asi-three-others-in-train
This is an act of terrorism.
And it is an act of terrorism which has been carefully crafted and allowed to reach this depth of horror, where a government employee opens a service weapon on Indian citizens and justifies his act because of the religion of his victims. Singh is part of the Railway Protection Force. Every journalist should question exactly who he is supposed to protect. A toxic ideology or the general public.
All our TV anchors who scream about Hindus being in danger day and night bear a massive responsibility here. From the lynching of Mohsin Sheikh in Pune on June 2 2014, to that of Mohammed Akhlaq in 2015 to the murder of Junaid Khan in 2017 to the various “dharam sansads” held by so-called Hindu priests calling for the murder of Muslims, we have watched the bulk of the Indian media looking for excuses for the culprits and perpetrators. And fanning the flames of Hindu-Muslim hatred, as required by the RSS playbook.
In case you have forgotten, let us add the reaction of the authorities to the anti-CAA protests, the Delhi riots, the fact that shooters were let off for being Hindu – I cannot think of any other explanation, can you? Examples are legion of the Indian media, especially Hindi but also English, pushing this anti-Muslim propaganda. Not all these TV channels mind you are propaganda channels, that is funded or partly owned by BJP members. These are channels owned by India’s top industrialists and by respected media houses.
Add to this the enormous influence of pro-BJP YouTube “influencers” with hundreds and thousands of followers who push this anti-Muslim agenda, day in and day out. Hatred is fomented in many ways. The hatred of BJP politicians for Muslims, including the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of UP, is amplified by these channels. And then they add their own twists and touches.
The result is that all of us in the media are now culpable for the hatred and violence which has spread across India. Uttarakhand, a largely peaceful state, has seen increased anti-Muslim violence. Gurugram is currently burning, schools were shut on Tuesday because of the communal situation.
And then there’s Manipur. Manipur is not an anti-Muslim situation, but the anarchy has in its beginnings the massive demon of Hindu majoritarianism. The mainstream media, let me remind you, largely ignored Manipur. When the video of women being molested became public, most TV channels tried to correlate the incident with violence against women in non-BJP states.
The pattern in all of these incidents has been the same, as far as the largest percentage of the media is concerned: protect the BJP at all costs. Blame the opposition. And make sure that the image of the Prime Minister remains intact. Hence, the endless coverage of Narendra Modi waving at trains, ships, planes, anything at all.
A recent survey has said that 82 per cent of Indian journalists think their employers are pro-BJP. I can only guess that the remaining 18 per cent were too scared to admit this or work for the few largely digital platforms which remain independent.
https://www.newslaundry.com/2023/07/27/lokniti-csds-media-survey-82-percent-of-journalists-think-their-employers-support-the-bjp
Where do we go from here? As of now, spiral further downwards. Unless people in the media who control and ferment public discourse, and provoke people to violence and hatred, admit to the damage they are doing, there is no hope.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.