Leading media figures have urged India’s top constitutional bodies “to step in and uphold their mandate” amid rising threats to religious minorities, especially Muslims.
They issued a statement condemning the alarming rise in “open calls from various quarters for attacks on India’s religious minorities, especially Muslims” and said that “silence is not an option.”
Senior journalist and writer Mrinal Pande, N. Ram, former editor-in-chief of English daily The Hindu, R. Rajagopal, editor of The Telegraph, and Vinod Jose, executive editor of Caravan magazine, were among the 28 media persons who signed the March 23 statement.
“Sometimes the occasion is an election, at other times it is a political gathering, a so-called Dharam Sansad [religious parliament], or a controversy over clothing, or even the screening of a movie,” they stated, adding that “these calls for violence — which have been widely reported in the media — have been met with a cold and calculated silence from the country’s top leaders.”
Referring to the latest controversy in Karnataka state over the hijab or veil worn by Muslim girls, the journalists highlighted the systematic hate being propagated against Muslims under the pretext of Covid-19, including calls by legislators for their socioeconomic boycott.
“Disturbingly, the term ‘corona jihad’ was fabricated and amplified by sections of the media establishment,” they said.