What is the one religious group that has it out for Netflix and National Public Radio, is trashing the “liberal media” and does battle on Twitter?
All your guesses are probably wrong.
This is a complex story, so let’s take this one step at a time.
NPR’s New Delhi-based producer was recently forced out after making bizarre remarks on Twitter about Hindus. The IBTimes tells what happened next.
National Public Radio (NPR) producer Furkan Khan came under a lot of criticism on Twitter after she made a remark saying that giving up Hinduism could solve all the problems of Hindus.
"If Indians give up Hinduism, they will also be solving most of their problems what with all the piss drinking and dung worshipping," she tweeted.
Khan was called out on Twitter and criticized for her "bigotry" and "Hinduphobia". NPR too distanced itself from the controversy as they termed her statement as "unacceptable" and said it did not reflect their views.
“[NPR] regrets the unacceptable tweet by New Delhi producer Furkan Khan. This comment does not reflect the views of NPR journalists and is a violation of our ethical standards. She has publicly apologized for her tweet and has resigned from NPR,” a statement released by the radio said. …
Let’s look at this as journalism, for a moment. The tweets are what they are. But something is missing here.
What frustrating episode caused this woman to lash out? And what is Khan’s religious point of view? The article doesn’t say.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken on the issue of Hinduphobia on various occasions. “It is this country’s misfortune that when some people hear the words ‘Om’ and ‘Cow’, they get triggered. They think the country has gone back to the 16th century,” OpIndia quoted PM Modi as saying.
This is not the first time Khan has been involved in a Twitter controversy. Earlier she had said that the situation regarding Kashmiri Pandits was a "normal conflict collateral damage."
This post, on a site that identifies itself as “India’s most loved right wing blog,” points out that Khan is a “closet jihadist,” meaning that this site is saying that she is a Muslim. The Week explained what deep water Khan had gotten herself into as her opponents were calling the police. Imagine some police officer showing up at your door.
There’s more Muslim-Hindu animus in India’s media these days, providing us with the unusual spectacle of journalists going after entire religions on Twitter.
Let’s look at another example. I first heard of Ira Trivedi, a yoga teacher and freelance writer, in the pages of Foreign Policy for this insightful piece on the aborting of baby girls in India. Turns out her yoga show on Doordarshan, an Indian broadcast network, got cancelled after she did an offensive tweet calling Hinduism “regressive” and the Quran a “deeply progressive text.”
I am not sure which faith Trivedi adheres to, but all signs point to her being a Hindu. Considering what the climate is like out there, why would she do this? No one has gotten within interviewing distance of her to find out and she’s deactivated her Twitter account.
As you can see, America is not the only country with Twitter mobs seeking to take down journalists.
However, I do wonder what planet some journos are on these days if they think any chance remark won’t get noticed. I’m not finding any foreign media reporting on these two women, but something is clearly at the base at why these women feel compelled to tell Hindus to get their collective act together.
NPR has taken on Indian society before, recently blaming it for increased violence against religious minorities. It appears to be a liberal island in a sea of rising Indian conservatism. The fault lies with Hindu nationalists, who have restructured Indian society to go with Hindu norms of a few centuries back instead of the multi-cultural existence that is typical of a more tolerant India.
Being a reporter for a Western publication may be too risky in today’s India, where claims of Hinduphobia sound like the “fake news” talk emanating from the Donald Trump administration. Hindu nationalism is clearly the new religion, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent win of a second term in office. Hindu nationalists are more powerful than ever and one thing that will result is a press that will fall in line with what feels like the state religion.
It is Hindu nationalists who suggest banning Netflix because it shows anti-Hindu concepts. If you watch the clip with this blog, the Netflix show “Leila” is actually a dystopian story about an India controlled by right-wing forces.
So, even religious groups are conscious about their brand these days. And if they have to take down a few media professionals to keep that image pure, so be it.