Controversial journalist and former NDTV anchor Barkha Dutt has released a video asking the question, “Are Hindus really victims in India?” and, in the same breath, she answers, “no, it is all nonsense”. Surely, the view isn’t surprising. In the video she begins by mentioning about the alleged audio of Kerala BJP chief where he allegedly says that Sabarimala controversy is a golden opportunity for the BJP. She states that surely Hindus cannot be victims since both the BJP and Congress are vying for Hindu votes. She then compares the Sabarimala verdict with the Triple Talaq issue, and says Hindus are hypocrites as they welcomed the Triple Talaq bill, but now are rejecting the Sabarimala verdict. She says Hindus are happy when loud speakers at the mosques are banned, but have a problem when crackers are banned. She mentions Ayodhya issue without really making an effort to make it clear what she wanted to say, perhaps because ‘Ayodhya’ is the code word for all the wrong things amongst Hindus for liberals. She speaks of Dadri lynching and mentions some other Muslim names who were allegedly lynched. She concludes, “Hindus are politically assertive, aggressive, emboldened, everything but victims!”
Her ignorance with a dash of arrogance is shocking, as she attempts to pass the judgment on such a grave issue with a few sentences and a few graphics in a video barely lasting for 4 odd minutes. But what is even more outrageous is the way she concludes her judgment first and then goes on to build the case with a few selective cases to support her already concluded view.
Even if there was some truth to the Kerala BJP chief’s audio, how does that take away the fact that Hindu sentiments were hurt due to the Sabarimala verdict? Justice Indu Malhotra’s judgment itself states it all. Moreover, comparing the triple Talaq verdict with Sabarimala verdict is an absurd one. In case of triple talaq, the issue is about basic human rights. In case of Sabarimala, nowhere there is a breach of human rights. It is all about a deity-centric, limited regulation in a single shrine. It is not at all a generalized case of violation of human rights.
How can one speaking eloquently of loud speakers discuss crackers in the same breath? Daily, throughout the country, Azan is played out with loudspeakers, breaking every regulation. However, there is no known case of any action taken. We all know how singer Sonu Nigam had to face the wrath of the leftists for speaking about loud speakers. The cracker ban was imposed without any scientific evidence that a couple of days of cracker festivities would dramatically harm the environment. Moreover, the ban was tried to be imposed strictly, and many cases have been registered for violating the restrictions.
Barkha Dutt passionately speaks about mob lynching, conveniently ignoring the fact that several Hindus including Dalits and tribals have been lynched all over the country by Muslims in various cases, which have literally gone unreported.
However the bigger flaw lies with the issues that Barkha Dutt has conveniently brushed under the carpet. Let’s get it straight that it to be mere ignorance from a journalist with such years of work in the field, but intentional bias.
The discrimination against Hindus had started right from the time of Independence, thanks to the advent of Nehruvian secularism, and volumes have been written and spoken about that. However for a biased mind, history is relevant only if it supports one’s case, here holds true for Barkha Dutt. Having said that, the current scenario is not very different from the past.
While consistently sidelining issues pertaining to the Hindu the faith, the governments have repeatedly used temples as their money minting machines, while keeping other places of worship like the churches and mosques out of the clutches of government control. Crores of tax payers’ money is spent on Haj pilgrimage, but a Hindu has to spend his own money for his Amarnath yatra or Vaishno Devi yatra. On one hand, Hinduism is painted as a regressive, discriminatory society by the “usual” suspects in academia and journalism, and on the other hand, ‘secular’ political leaders like Rahul Gandhi persistently insulted the Hindus, cornered them, worked against them. The glaring scary example of it was UPA era creation of the term ‘Hindu terror’. Hindu organizations such as RSS have been unjustly blamed as being extremist and have long been treated as untouchable & mocked at until very recently. While killings of Akhlaq and other Muslims were given the right coverage, lynching of innumerable Hindus including Dalits and tribals was all intentionally hidden from the public eyes. In Coastal Karnataka alone more than a half dozen Hindus were killed by Muslim organizations, which the journalists completely ignored. The killings of Hindu workers in communist ruled West Bengal and Kerala are never worth a discussion for the mainstream media. West Bengal government’s anti-Hindu stance is well known but again, leftist journalists like Barkha Dutt never speak about it. This very month Karnataka government will yet again spend state money to celebrate the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, a bigot who murdered and forcibly converted Hindus and Christians and looted and plundered hundreds of temples.
This never ending list is not unknown to the likes of Barkha Dutt. Though Barkha is not known to be an intelligent journalist, one cannot believe that she is unaware of these facts considering her long journalistic career. While no Hindu would like to call himself a victim, one cannot deny the fact that Hindu society has been a target of state sponsored discrimination and hatred for too long. Of course the Hindu society has efficiently fought against all odds, and now is evidently united, and this unseen unity amongst hindus is not palatable to the leftists like Barkha Dutt. After all, Barkha Dutt has repeatedly been at the forefront of anti-Hindu propaganda, and has been called out for the same. The latest video is just another trick from her bag. The gullible shall fall, the rest will realise and call it out.
