By Ranjona Banerji
Long, long ago newspapers never identified people by religion in articles. Even if the news was about a conflict of a religious nature. Therefore, “people of two communities clashed” was the norm. Partly this was a nod to our secular republic, partly a reminder of the horrors of Partition. We were after all a full-fledged 20th century democratic republic standing tall in the comity of nations.
The end of the 20th century changed all that. The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 forced the media to change its policies on religion in politics. The notion of a secular polity was lost forever. Today, in 2024, you cannot hide behind the screen of “two communities” any more. You may argue successfully that the notion itself was flawed and there was good reason to drop the pretence.
And then, there are stories like this one:
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/jan/04/two-hindu-men-posing-as-muslims-arrested-for-issuing-bomb-threat-to-ayodhya-ram-temple-2647791.html
Two Hindu men pretend to be Muslims and issue a bomb threat to the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
The intent is to create sectarian tension and possibly violence. The underlying intent is to increase support for the ruling BJP and further vilify Muslims in India. The event is the “inauguration” of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya later this month, built on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid.
No matter happens in the government and the world, the strategy to increase Hindutva-fication of India continues.
And the traditional mainstream media, together with “n” number of channels on social media, is part of this strategy. Why else would TV channels run endless programmes on how Hindus are under threat? Why else would transgressions by upper caste Hindus be played down and those by any other religious minority or by Hindu lower castes be played up?
Why else would people who spew toxic, regressive thought processes be given space and time on mainstream TV media? The problem is that all so much hatred has been normalised over the past decade that we don’t even find it strange any more.
The very fact that Hindu three men connected to the BJP have been arrested for the rape of a student at Benares Hindu University last November with minimum outrage from the traditional media, especially TV, shows how much we in the media have changed.
https://scroll.in/latest/1061444/uttar-pradesh-three-men-arrested-in-iit-bhu-gangrape-case
Even the strapline in the link above is cautious enough to make the BJP claim via the Opposition.
There are few such qualms when anyone from the BJP makes any sort of claim against those from other religions, lower castes, other political parties. The screen guards around the BJP are solid and impermeable for now.
You can see how drastically the discourse has changed in the manner in which a Congress spokesperson was targeted by BJP-affiliated social media and TV personalities. Needless to say, the Congress spokesperson is female and the BJP affiliate male.
The Free Press Journal link pasted below is the only one that Google threw up when I put in the search terms “Shehzad Poonawalla Lavanya Ballal Jain Marya Shakil” just to check how many traditional media outlets had reported on this. The only one. Where a woman’s name is manipulated so that it is connected to slang for oral sex by a BJP affiliate on television, specifically NDTV. The anchor Shakil did not stop Poonawalla.
This is not just legitimising vulgarity in politics, it is cheapening the public discourse to the lowest possible level. This is not humour or comedy after all. This is presumably some version of journalism.
Or whatever.
These battlelines may look political, but this is not just petty politics. This is the lowest point in our democracy. If we can still call it that.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.