Have series like Tandav and Pataal Lok led to a spate of anti-Hindu violence across the country?

Anti-Hindu crimes are on the rise. Whether they were always peaking or have seen an upward trajectory in recent times, or whether their sheer ghastly nature makes it impossible for the media to not report on them is subject to debate. But we know for a fact that Hindus are being consistently attacked not in an ordinarily criminal manner, but simply because they are Hindus and have a certain set of belief systems. It would not be an overstatement as such, to say that anti-Hindu web series, which go to great lengths to demonise Hindus, are playing a primary role in driving such crimes.

Ask yourself, is it entirely possible that the vitriol dolled out by web series like Pataal Lok or Tandav has no real consequences on the ground, or in the minds of those who already harbour a sense of animosity towards Hindus? In fact, an analysis of the repercussions of airing anti-Hindu content on unfiltered OTT platforms will reveal that such animosity is turned into real-time hatred, which subsequently leads to the conduct of life-endangering hate crimes against Hindus. Mind you, the impression of Hindus being cultural rivals for a set of people is only normalised with the content of such web series and films – which is all that is needed by fundamentalists to go on a killing spree. 

It is almost as if their hatred against Hindus is stamped with authority by such “cinematic content”, which makes criminals of a certain kind, genuinely believe that they have a moral right to specifically target Hindus because already, they have been shown as the most wicked lot by certain filmmakers of India. The same was collated by a Twitter user, who posted a collage of various news reports which showed that hate crimes are being perpetrated against Hindus in the nation.

Bollywood & the 'secular' woke jamaat should take a look at this and seriously ask themselves whether this ghastly situation is not perpetuated by them through their consistent anti-hindu tirade & communal incitement over the years.. And then the bigots don't even feel ashamed! pic.twitter.com/TCxP33MRkm

— Un-bhadralok bangali (@goonereol) January 18, 2021

Most of the media reports (not all) collaged by the Twitter user were of incidents which occurred after the release of Paatal Lok in May last year. Almost every report cited relates to a crime against someone who was a visible Hindu – pandit, seer, mahant and the kind. Their attire made them prone to attacks by blood-thirsty mobs of Hindu haters, freshly indoctrinated with an authoritative urge to teach Hindus a lesson. Not only the Hindus but even their places of worship have also been indiscriminately attacked, vandalised, and targeted in the past year or so. 

In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, close to 140 Hindu temples have been vandalised in less than two years. Meanwhile, idols of Hindu deities have not been spared either. One can only imagine how many temples must have been vandalised across the country as a result of Bollywood normalising the demonisation of Hindus. Countless idols have been desecrated, only because there seems to be a proliferation of anti-Hindu ideology across the country. 

It is precisely for such reasons that we, at TFI, have been proponents of the IT Ministry and Modi government reining in anti-Hindu elements who are currently having a free run under the garb of “artistic freedom”. The normalisation of anti-Hindu content will lead to the community’s demonisation, which in turn will lead to heightened crimes against them. No more Hindu lives must be lost due to anti-Hindu content on the Indian digital space.