‘They were only thieves,’ Mainstream media shamelessly tried to coverup the mob-lynching of Sadhus

The dastardly lynching of Hindu Sadhus have shaken many to the core. The gut wrenching video has gone viral where an octogenarian Sadhu can be seen desperately clinging on to the shoulder of the policeman only for the policeman to hand over the Sadhu to the murderous mob. All this happened during the nationwide lockdown. While the incompetence of the Uddhav Thackeray government is glaringly visible, the role of media cannot be ignored as they left no stone unturned to cover up the incident.

Barbaric is the only word that comes to mind when one thinks of what happened in Palghar, where two Juna Akhara Sadhus- Chikane Maharaj Kalpavrikshgiri (70) and Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), and their driver Nilesh Telgane (35) were lynched to death by a bloodthirsty, 200-strong mob.

Several videos of the mob lynching have gone viral, and the most disturbing part is how the police watches over the entire barbarity as the helpless Sadhus constantly plead for help. In one of the videos, faint voices can be heard from within the mob saying, “goli maaro (shoot them)”, a little later when the 70-year old Sadhu is escorted towards the mob, you can again hear someone say, “ishko maaro (kill him)”.

The incident came to light yesterday on Twitter as the video was met with outrage and anger which forced the mainstream media to take notice and the Thackerays to issue a statement. However, the incident took place on the night of April 17. The mainstream media cleverly attempted to cover up the incident so that their poster boy and world’s ‘best’ Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray doesn’t have to face the heat.

On April 17, Hindustan Times began the whitewashing of the incident as it ran an article with the headline, “Mistaken for thieves, 3 lynched to death by 200-strong mob in Maharashtra’s Palghar”. In the article Hindustan Times continue to address the victims as “unidentified persons”.

God forbid, had the victims of such a barbaric act would have involved people from the minority community that too in the presence of the police, the same media would have been hyperventilating and the Rana Ayyubs of the world would have wasted no time in writing editorials in Washington Post about how the Modi government is carrying out a genocide of Muslims.

Of course, the Rana Ayyubs of the world have maintained a radio silence. To make matters worse, mainstream journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai are trying to downplay the incident and instead blaming the right wing. The same Rajdeep Sardesai would have suffered a glorious meltdown on Twitter had the victims belonged to the minority community.

Since it didn’t fit the propaganda of the liberals, the incident had been largely ignored before it went viral on Twitter. The reportage of Indian Express in this incident has only exposed the publication’s hypocrisy.

The mainstream media had earlier claimed that the Sadhus and their driver were lynched by the mob on suspicions of theft, and the police too say that the mob mistook the Sadhus and their driver, who were headed towards Gujarat to attend the last rites of their Guru, Mahant Ramagiri, for thieves and killed them due to such rumours.

The Juna Akhara statement however states that the killer mob surrounded the vehicle of the Sadhus, killed them and also looted cash worth Rs. 50,000/- and also the gold ornaments used for decorating idols. It seems unlikely that a mob should kill Sadhus mistaking them for thieves and then start looting them.

The media has assumed Uddhav Thackeray’s statement on the incident as the final word and have desisted from asking difficult questions. How did such a barbaric incident happen especially in the presence of Police? How did the 200 strong mob assemble when there’s a nation-wide lockdown?

A section of the media is so blinded by their hatred for Hindus that they have effectively given a free pass to the lynching as they have declared there is no communal angle without investigation with case in point being Rajdeep Sardesai and Nikhil Wagle.

https://twitter.com/Iyervval/status/1251962528495616000?s=20

The fact that the Sadhus were robbed by the murderous mob has also been cleverly hidden by the media. AAP worker and serial propagandist Dhruv Rathee simply couldn’t hide his glee as the two Sadhus were murdered while a deranged man like Anurag Kashyap had the audacity to blame the incident on the “pervalent environment of hatred”. Incidentally had such an incident took place in Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh, Kashyap and his colleague, Anubhav Sinha would have gone on an explicit driven rant against the government.

https://twitter.com/Iyervval/status/1251959886843265024?s=20

https://twitter.com/Arunnn__/status/1252096142562611200?s=20

One would have never thought that such a dastardly incident could take place in the land of Balasaheb Thackeray. However, the mainstream media has tried their best to not let the crown of “World’s best CM” slip from the head of Uddhav Thackeray. Unfortunately, this incident will likely be stifled in the next few days and the only thing that will change is the rise in price of the Bollywood celebrities for tweeting praises of Uddhav Thackeray.