Radical Islamic Preacher Zakir Naik has caused enough devastation across the globe through his hate speeches which are aimed to radicalise the unsuspecting Muslim youth. While being underground in Malaysia, Naik leverages the power of social media to spread his message across. It seems that the Jihadi propagandist is soon going to be censored as the Modi government is mulling to ban Zakir Naik’s Peace TV mobile App and social handles.
Zakir Naik who is wanted in India and Bangladesh for finance and terror-related charges is all set to see his Peace TV channel, mobile App, and its YouTube channel getting banned for allegedly inciting hatred along religious lines through its network as the Centre mulls ways to censor Zakir Naik.
A recent Intelligence Bureau report submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs have some damning revelations as the report stated that Peace TV and its social handles are recruiting and radicalising Muslim youths, and are engaged in anti-India activities.
It further claimed that Zakir Naik’s organisation has ties with Jihadi groups, and gets funding from Arab countries for executing jihadi propaganda in the country.
There is no doubt that Naik uses his social media presence for radicalising unsuspecting Muslim youth as recently, he posted a video on YouTube in which Naik claimed that there are less than 60 per cent Hindus in India, and urged Muslims to take advantage of the situation and elect their leaders so as to push the community’s cause across the country.
It seems that the Centre has taken note of Zakir Naik’s toxic content on social media with top officials of the IB, NIA and other intelligence agencies recently holding a meeting at the Home Ministry office in New Delhi where they discussed whether the alleged ‘hate speech’ videos posted by Zakir Naik threatened ‘communal harmony’ in India.
For the uninitiated, Zakir Naik is a radical Islamic preacher currently on the run after being banned by various countries and is hiding in Malaysia, as India looks to extradite him. The controversial televangelist came into limelight when the perpetrators of the Dhaka terror attack were said to be inspired by his so-called teachings.
Last year, the National Investigative Agency arrested 127 terrorists with links with ISIS and found that all have been inspired by Zakir’s speeches. Earlier, Zakir Naik owned TV channels were fined by Ofcom the media watchdog of the United Kingdom for a sum of Rs 2.75 crore or GBP 300,000 or broadcasting hate speech and repeatedly inciting murder through his channels, Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu.