By Aban Usmani / News Laundry

The hypermasculine Muslim is back as the scheming villain in the Hindu Rashtra programming of Indian news TV. But the script, at the risk of sounding repetitive, has moved far beyond the mob lynching years to cast itself around “garba jihad”. The anchors are at it again: almost championing vigilante violence through frames prioritising the Hindutva cause, ascribing motives to the minority community based on allegations against individual victim-suspects.

What has enabled this new vitriolic campaign is a series of attacks by Hindutva footsoldiers on Muslim men during Navratri festivities in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Akola in Maharashtra. Accused of entering garba venues and leching at Hindu women to carry out “love jihad”, these Muslim men have been beaten up by Hindutva vigilantes – nearly all of them identified as Bajrang Dal or VHP cadres – and booked under various criminal provisions. Although garba venues have long been contested grounds for Hindutva groups, the recent violence comes on the heels of Madhya Pradesh’s cultural affairs minister Usha Thakur declaring that the garba pandal has become a medium of “love jihad” and the state’s BJP government telling garba organisers to verify the identities of the visitors. Her party colleagues have made similar statements.

Notably, there has reportedly been only one FIR against the Hindutva vigilantes so far, in Ahmedabad, but that evokes little interest for TV news anchors. Perhaps because the same actors have been participants in propagating the Hindutva conspiracy theory of “love jihad”, increasingly politicised and now legislated upon by the BJP.

So what exactly did the anchors say? Let’s take a look.

Aaj Tak

On his show Black And White last week, anchor Sudhir Chaudhary asked why people from a faith that prohibits dance and music – he meant Muslims, if you were wondering – want to participate in Hindu religious festivities. The ticker said it was a “breaking analysis of love jihad” at garba pandals and asked “what’s the role of Muslims entering the garba of Hindus?”

With images of Muslims circumambulating the Kaaba in Mecca, the show had Asian Shoes, Macho Hint, Ebix Cash, Saraf Furniture and Pringle as sponsors. “Why do Muslim men want to change their identity and enter these pandals?” the anchor, formerly of Zee News, asked.

The Aaj Tak ground report to “crosscheck facts” had a plethora of quotes from Hindutva footsoldiers and purported Muslim clerics, but none from either the accused who were beaten up or their relatives. The anchor declared the “objectives” of the Muslim youngsters: to befriend Hindu girls and get close to them by taking advantage of the crowd. He claimed that several such instances had taken place since 2002.

Chaudhary also raked up his Shaheen Bagh visit, with ample visuals from the protests against the citizenship law, and demanded to know why such people should be allowed to enter garba venues when he was not allowed to exercise his “constitutional right” to be at the Shaheen Bagh protest. He also seemed to believe he was questioning the duplicity of “such elements” by asking why they should enter Hindu festival venues when many have reservations against the “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” slogan.

Chaudhary, however, did specify that he did not encourage vigilante violence and wasn’t against people from all communities celebrating festivals together.

News Nation

On the Rashtramev Jayate show, titled “Garbe mein bhaijaan ka kya kaam”, the anchor asked the viewers to take a look at how people, along with Bajrang Dal members, thrashed “bhaijaans” who had entered garba pandals allegedly under false identities.

The voiceover championed vigilante violence, almost lauding how Bajrang Dal members “punished” such “jihadis” with slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”. The ticker claimed that the controversy had arisen due to “infiltration” by Muslims. “Why are Muslims changing their identity,” they asked. It’s a big “prahaar”, or attack, on “garba jihadis” in Madhya Pradesh, declared the channel. It alleged that the love jihadi gang has its eyes on Hindu families celebrating at pandals.

For all its claims about these “jihadis”, the show did not have any quote from the accused who were assaulted or their families.

The segment was sponsored by MDH and Patanjali.

News18 India

Anchor Aman Chopra seemed to be way ahead of his competitors, telecasting a segment on “love jihad” at garba pandals on his show Desh Nahin Jhukne Denge last Thursday. Like Sudhir Chaudhary, he was quick to compare this to the protests against the citizenship law.

He said while the production of identity proof was required to enter garba venues, there were those who opposed it saying “kaagaz nahin dikhaayenge”, a phrase all too synonymous with the protests against the CAA-NRC-NPR alphabet soup of 2019.

“Kaagaz nahin dikhaayenge, garba mein aayenge?” asked the ticker.

With visuals from Akola, Ahmedabad and Indore, Chopra’s pace was hurried, as if he was breaking news of these incidents live. “What is this trend, Shehzaad,” he asked, moving on to a panel discussion.

The episode did not have any quote from the Muslim accused who were assaulted or their families.

The segment was sponsored by Patanjali and MDH.

This story was originally published in newslaundry.com . Read the full story here