When media hurts India
It is India’s misfortune that we have mainstream media and intelligentsia that is bent on hurting India. Most attacks are on Hindus and Hindu civilization but they sooner than later debilitate India. This leads to global media on overdrive to paint a bad image of India in an unfair manner. This in turn results in attacks on Hindus abroad. The major section of Indian media thus serves as an instrument for other countries to attack India opportunistically to meet their geo-political and economic objectives. More importantly, if we were to summarize the stance of media and intelligentsia, they neither believe in upholding truth nor doing their dharma. In recent years, Indian intellectuals seem to have given unduly bad input on India, resulting in a low ranking for India which has robbed the rankings of their credibility. Here the focus is on print media with an online presence as these headlines will continue to persist in cyber-space accessible all over the world.
A variety of attacks done by the media in collaboration with the intelligentsia are listed and described below.
1.?????Knowingly misrepresenting issues by manipulating headlines and content
The Indian media misrepresented CAA legislation as denying citizenship to Muslims while it was about giving expedited citizenship to the persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians from India’s neighbourhood. Then the foreign media joined the chorus.?Recently some schools disallowed students wearing Hijabs to attend classes as these schools had uniforms that were to be worn by all students. This issue however was projected by the media as if there is a wholesale ban on Hijab in India. In particular, headlines were written in such a way that the global press carries an erroneous rather than factual representation. The media which used to swear about fighting patriarchy when it came to Hindus is projecting hijab very differently. It is also to be noted that when there was a movement against Burqa in Iran by young women a few years ago our media did not cover it at all. Recently however the uproar was such that coverage can no longer be suppressed.
As Karnataka is about to face elections, Hijab is not an election issue for any of the political parties. Yet media continues to put spotlight on Hijab issue if we go by coverage of a Muslim girl from the coastal district who topped in PUC examination. The media however would react in opposite manner if a Hindu student would bring his religious customs to schools or colleges. Then they will flag the secularism card. It is also to be noted that when compared to Iran, India is a very liberal place, now so called liberals themselves want to perpetuate regressive customs, when wearing one is in fact a social custom and nothing else. Everybody knows that how social customs in no time become individual compulsions leading to greater oppression of girls and women in society. Analysts have observed that native dresses have disappeared in Kashmir and Kerala when compared to a few decades back due to foreign influence. The same is true with Afghanistan during Soviet-backed rule, women were the most free.
The same media however does not even utter a word that in many Islamic Countries, non-Muslim women are forced to wear Burqa or Hijab as the case may be. They do not ask for reciprocity or mutual respect. Proving the adage that whoever bends will get more blows.
The dishonesty of media even impacts the development agenda. For years, Indian Express ran Op-Eds that called for farm reforms and once Modi Government passed the farm laws that addressed the very reforms the laws were called controversial. More broadly any truth or personality media does not like is called controversial. Making it worse any truth that "Who is Who" does not like it is called propaganda. Recently IFFI jury called Kashmir Files propaganda. Much before that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal called the same movie falsehood. Strangely now many famous people say the Kashmir file is one-sided. But then the genocide itself was one-sided. The same people did not say anything when movies like Hyder and yet another Hindi movie on Kashmir completely hid what happened to Hindus.
In [21] the blame for gold smuggling is put squarely on an airline, acquitting the region and community of the person involved.
In [30] Swati Goel Sharma has shown 7 instances how main-stream media manipulated headlines to shape an opposite narrative.
The core issue is that there is a "violence problem" with a community that will use violence as the first resort. This neither politicians, media, or Government wants to acknowledge. They go around in circles because of that. The situation hardly changes either on the ground. Nor does reporting change. Nor reactions of authorities[40]. I suppose people will realize the pain only when they personally suffer it. By that time it may be too late.
2.?????Overplaying Caste Card and fault lines
Even when a Dalit is incidentally involved it is played up in the media prominently. In other cases, the incident may be genuine and may have happened in a remote village in Madhya Pradesh where upper castes may have ill-treated lower castes but it is projected as an all-India phenomenon. It is also projected as if inequality exists only among Hindus when racism, slavery, and all kinds of discrimination have been very common globally.. The same media relishes doing caste-wise analysis during election time even when people want to move beyond and think of bigger identities and issues. The same sections which decry caste are the ones who oppose attempts to go beyond caste paradigm or limitations of them as can be seen by the reactions to the EWS quota matter. Suddenly columnists are finding issues with economic criteria when no such issues came in the way when OBC reservation laws were made.
In a recent article[14] one Newspaper brings the caste angle even when the caste was not germane to the article and other news media did not refer to the caste while covering the same item.
3.?????Ignoring/underplaying attacks on Hindu Temples ?and Hindus
Even when temples were attacked in Pakistan and Bangladesh they were reported in a subdued manner for years. It is reported that hundreds of temples were destroyed in Kashmir over the years, but the media chose to look the other way. Temples were attacked in UK in 1992 and the Indian press did not even report it. Thousands of articles were written about Gujarat Riots where the burning of train and Karsevaks was not even mentioned. If mentioned it was falsely claimed to be an accident.?This has only led to more and more attacks across the world.
Not just invaders, even for our own media the temples are a soft target. Johnson in Indian Express[28] has issue with increasing size of temples, amidst poverty. I suppose he overlooks grandiose Churches occupying huge tracts of land all over India which were seized and gifted by the colonial occupiers while driving the country to extreme poverty. If that land is returned back to the people that probably can address poverty in much larger measure instead of attacking the native religious tradition which continues to survive despite attacks by global majority religions.
Recently(June 2023) Kerala Stories highlighted conversion of Hindu women through some kind of grooming/influencing where even girls were involved. The box office collections were closely tracked in media week by week. Some news outlets[29], despite the success of the film, chose to give 20% empty headlines instead of 80% full, attempted to somehow put a cloak of negativity on the film coverage.
in [33] Reuters article headline gives a misleading impression that a temple was constructed by razing a Mosque, when it fails to mention in headline itself the Mosque itself was constructed by razing a temple sacred to Hindus. Secondly, it says India's Hindus say the Mosque was constructed by destroying temple, when it was not just Hindus, but also accounts of Muslim invaders as well as archeological evidence says that. Still lot of idols and evidence is found. The article fails to quote extensive research done by Meenakshi Jain[34]. A case of restorative justice is painted as plain injustice by Reutets using an Indian collaborator.
4.?????Whitewashing the past genocide of Hindus
In our history, there have been many genocides of Hindus. If we take the last hundred years Mopala genocide of Hindus happened around the time of the Khilafat movement. Both media and academia do not cover it at all. Then there was a huge number of killings in direct action called by Jinnah in 1946, which does not even find a mention in our textbooks or newspapers. Then the genocide in Kashmir was kept under wraps. What happened in Goa in the 1500s where the Portuguese gave an ultimatum “convert or leave” is not common knowledge across India. The heroes who stood up to prevent Bengal from completely becoming part of East Pakistan do not even get mentioned by the mainstream media.
5.?????Ignoring the religious angle of Medieval and Modern History
In medieval history, the Muslim invaders and rulers were very much motivated by a religious angle. They wanted to impose Islam on India violently. This was done by Tipu Sultan in the south and the Delhi Sultanate as well as the Mughals in the North. Then Kings like Shivaji fought them to restore Hinduism and so did Vijayanagar Kings. The Sikh Gurus gave up their life to prevent conversions. Even young princes were sacrificed. These are gory tales that are side-stepped by Indian media. Instead, they are projected as just medieval violence. Even when royal lineages have specifically identified themselves as Hindu Kingdoms they are reluctantly acknowledged using a regional affiliation [1]. However, the media does not hesitate to use History to divide Hindus the way they projected the Anglo-Maratha war as one between Dalits and Marathas. On another note, the fact that Lalitaditya, King of Kashmir had a very large Kingdom which expanded towards North and Northwest, and the way Ahom Kings prevailed against invaders is conspicuous by absence in our history books as well as newspaper coverage. The same is true about the reign of the Moors who ruled Spain and large parts of Europe nearly for six centuries, which does not figure in our historical discourse. Instead, Europeans are projected as perpetual winners.
6.?????Disconnecting us from our roots
Foreign scholars are dismayed that in India, schools and colleges do not teach treasures such as Geeta. But even a small attempt in that direction can get projected by the media as a sectarian attempt [2}.?A few news outlets have even tried to mock India’s attempt to learn from India’s own knowledge systems.
Disdain for Sanatana traditions was in full display when Sengol also known as Dharma Danda, Brahma Danda and Raj Danda in broader Hindu tradition was installed in Parliament on May 28, 2023. Some news outlets tried to make it palatable by calling it Tamil tradition and nothing else. Some questioned the 1947 incident even when their own news paper covered it. Some were not even aware that Sanyas can be taken by a person of any Varna and a brahmin when he takes Sanyas will stop wearing sacred thread indicating renunciation. Some journalists grudgingly complained about land holdings of Adheenam Seers while accepting any such institution need to have land. Many without checking assumed that Adheenam Seers had to be brahmins.
7.?????Relative Defamation of Hindus
Here media manipulates headlines so that Hindus look very bad and minorities are shielded from adverse publicity. When the evil-doer is non-Hindu, their religious identity is not included in headlines, rather it is associated with their region, profession, or alma mater. The same media prominently displays names and photographs of Hindu evil-doers.?Common reportage includes the naming of non-Hindu Victims and of Hindu Attackers but not vice-versa.?Another technique is to the extent possible not covering grave incidents that show non-Hindus in a bad light. The media, which shows a lot of concern for Dalits or women underplays them if they are attacked by non-Hindus and goes out of the way to rule out any association with religion/tradition/practice. The general approach of media seems to be to project Hindus/Hinduism in a negative light while being indulgent with other communities/religions.?This hurts society as the media is supposed to hold a mirror without applying filters.?Thus the same incident is likely to be reported differently by different media houses, instead of plain truth. Falsehood is often repeated so often that it becomes a commonly accepted truth. Conversions out of Hinduism are celebrated but reconversions are frowned upon. The references [3-13] make our case.
In [42] hiding the religious identity of the culprit takes new heights by Indian Express. Here the heading refers to a Bengaluru man for an incident in Bangalore. If the culprit were to be Hindu, his name and picture would be prominently displayed to convey the religious identity prominently,
It is also observed that in the event a non-Hindu gets imprisoned for the most heinous crime where all media houses are forced to go public with the name and face of the person, then they start covering follow-on stories to project a gentle hue on the person. In the event of serious crimes such as possession of drugs by celebrity children, the whole legal system gets questioned by the columnists.
Kapil Mishra[16] rightly raised this issue of double standards. However when it comes to double standards, the conduct of Supreme Court of India takes the cake[18].
In April/May 2023, there was violence in Manipur due to the extension of quota benefits to one tribe(Hindu) . This was opposed by another (Christian). As long as violence was done by the Christian Tribe and the Hindu Tribe was the victim, the media did not refer to religion at all. As soon as the direction was reversed the religion was mentioned in media coverage. [32} lays bare how the Editor Guild of India continues its bias in reporting by disregarding facts.
In contrast, a news item[41], that is positive about a Muslim boy, the boy's name is highlighted and his photograph is shown prominently.
8. Perpetuating Western Hegemony
Media in India reproduces articles about India from the likes of the New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, Guardian, etc, when they do not reciprocally reproduce articles in Indian media about happenings in the USA and UK. Recently there was an article in Economist which was comparing the living standard in Goa with the living standard in Bihar. Bihar should be compared with states of the same size and population and Goa with other smaller states. It makes sense for Indian media to run articles about USA and UK from what appeared in the foreign press. About India, they should know better. This is in a way continuing neo-colonialism. In many cases, some western countries want to hold leaders of other countries accountable for crimes even though it is beyond their jurisdiction by enacting convoluted domestic laws, and media from affected countries accept such hegemony.
Additionally instead of relying on the western media to understand and interpret happening in third countries such as China. South America, Japan, Russia, Eastern Europe, or Africa, the Indian media should expand its global footprint such that we get factual accounts without filters and imposed narratives.
In [31] Indian Express pontificates that Indian Entertainment Industry should not be patriotic and instead meekly imitate the west. In the headline they claim that west is embracing anti-war outlook. That is not at all borne by reality. The western media have been cheer leaders for all wars (overt or covert) conducted by the west. That in recent memory, totally unwarranted attack on Iraq (praised by Economist) to Ukraine war, where west is perpetuating the war. This instead of acknowledging the apprehensions of Russia on NATO expansion using Ukraine, which was one of the key concerns that led to war. Reconciliation can begin only after acknowledging the truth.
9. Rating, Ranking and awards game
Many a global ranking is completely out of tune with ground reality. Irrespective of the ranking denomination, India's place is reserved far below. If we were to believe ranking agencies India has worse Press freedom than Qatar and more hunger than Sri Lanka and women far worse than in the Middle East. Sections of the local media seem to be waiting for such bad news and then spin a narrative using ever-too-willing columnists. Even when it comes to awards many global agencies look for contenders who can serve as collaborators to present Hinduism in particular at India at large in a bad light. India can keep parroting nice statements such as Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, Sarva Dharma Samabhava, Ahimsa Paramo Dharma, Athiti Devo Bhava etc. yet on the ground rest of the countries and non-Hindu religions hardly relate or reciprocate. In most cases there is neutrality, negativity or just silence.
10. Inter-faith relationships
There have been many cases over the last many years where Hindu girls were lured into relationships. In one case a student still studying underwent concomitant conversion and marriage. Both media and judiciary support such acts by playing the liberty card without appreciating the consternation of parents. Typical logic given is as an adult if a person can vote and choose who runs the country they can make personal choices. But these enlightened persons miss out the reality that when a person is besotted their rationality is in low gear and when a girl is not even financially independent either she will face a harrowing time with her in-laws or worse still domestic violence with no support system available in traditional setting. Recent cases of extreme violence against Hindu women have their seeds sown by media and judiciary a few years back. In the same vein supporting extreme liberty, same sex marriages etc. without assessing the predilections of western societies who have chosen such lives means we as people are free only geo-spatially but our minds are mortgaged to neo-colonial masters.
In [19] to avoid highlighting that the criminal act is done by Muslim man, the girl's name is put in the headline by NDTV. This is even after the channel is bought by Adani. Only to show how deep is the thought process to hide the truth at any cost and push narrative that there is no real issue with inter-faith relationships where man is Muslim and woman is Hindu.
In [20] Indian Express puts the focus on the fridge instead of on the criminal in the headline. If the culprit were to be a Hindu, the headline would clearly focus on him with picture.
Come, 29th May 2023, Hindu girls in inter-religious relationships continue to become victims of ghastly violence by their partners leading to their death and different media houses suppress the dark truth in different ways. With passage of time, I suppose our elite and sophisticated people may even deny this truth and call these deaths as propaganda.
11. Supporting Separatism and exploiting fault-lines.
Probably no country or region in the world has a sense of unity and oneness as India has that goes back millennia. Diana Eck called India as a sacred geography united by the footsteps of pilgrims. Sanatana and Dharmic traditions and the tendency to assimilate and amalgamate along with multilingualism have been hallmark of India. Section of our elite underplay unity and overplay differences and encourage conflict based on differences. Whereas every district in India has something unique to offer, only certain people and groups project their exceptionalism supported by the media. Thus when a news item appears it says Tamils, Keralites, and Kashmiris in the headline, if the news is good. If the news is bad they also become Indians. Any attempt to give justice to Hinduism is called parochial, but having intolerance even to signboards in Hindi is not considered parochial by our media. The same politicians remain silent if the other language is Urdu for example. One set of differences becomes polarizations and another becomes rightful assertion. Anything that can divide or undermine Hindus becomes a ready candidate for publication by the news media.
You can see how Indian Express seeks to keep the hijab controversy alive[15]. Also see how the whole district is called out in the headline, reminding how a lady student from the same district had to go through harrowing times at Oxford a year or two earlier.
12. Foreign Media
About the way foreign media covers India, it is less said the better. Whenever India makes forays into high technology or gets acknowledged, the likes of the New York Times will bring a bullock cart or a picture of a lamp post with messy electric cables into discourse, as if to remind us that we are still a third-world country. In other cases, anything negative there is an all-out effort to associate it with Hinduism.?Any scruples and sensitivity they demonstrate in their own countries when human tragedies are covered are not to be seen if the coverage is about India. What is worse, many a case that is not factual, a distortion, or a position that is antithetical to their own. We have seen this in the coverage of CAA protests as well as farm protests. The media from West Asia is not to be left behind. They enthusiastically transmit news items without bothering to know the whole truth as long as it fits their agenda.
India is particularly vulnerable here as there are many Indian journalists or persons of Indian origin who are too willing to collaborate with foreign media to peddle biased narratives. See the role of DW journalists of Indian origin[17]. It is high time India penalizes such conduct.
Also, it is very routine for western media to call attacks on its soil as terrorism and attacks on India as militancy. Some western media outlets give an impression that they seem to endorse Jihad against India, in particular BBC[22],
[23] covers how New York Times misreported with a very different spin, Indian Government's action to protect Hindus from targeted killings in Jammu and Kashmir.
[24] covers how Qatar Government run Al Jazeera misrepresents facts and propagates lies and attempts to give bad name to India.
When it comes to pitting Indians against India, see the kind of articles published by Huffington Post{26,27]. That peculiar mindset that we want to hear bad about India and blame Hinduism for it, runs through. But centuries when Hindus and who became ex-Hindus or no more were accounts that never find a mention. Nor will any violence against Hindus that happened in modern times.
On April 16, 2023, when a Gangster was killed while being taken from Jail to Hospital for medical checkup, the foreign media chose to highlight him as ex-MP (which he also was) but chose to conceal that he was a gangster, once again maintaining the record of motivated journalism.
[35] Explains in great detail how foreign media peddles only half-truths and completely ignores drug crime, gang wars and terrorism angle and India's concerns about security to their diplomats and lack of a conducive environment, which is becoming more common in the Anglosphere. They also fail to mention how intelligence agencies in the West are deeply invested with the criminals.
[36] Gives details that most or nearly all Western reportage knowingly omits. Even [36] does not talk about the Air India Bomb Blast which killed 350 people or so, because Canada refused to take action against the perpetrators in 1982. The blast and loss of lives happened in 1985. When we scanned scores of videos emanating from Canada, most present and former diplomats or politicians maintained silence or ignorance about India's concern about terrorism. {37} is probably the sole exception.
Generally many nations take pride about freedom for their media, but that may apply to their domestic affairs, that too for not all nations. When it comes to covering foreign affairs and in particular India, ?the foreign media comes across as an organ of a deep state/global ecosystem with vested interest that is antithetical to India, that too a perverse organ. In[37] Time does not even hide its agenda to divide India. A distorted narrative prepared by collaborators of Indian origin is served periodically.
On January 22nd 2024, Ram Temple was rebuilt on the same site where it was forcibly replaced by a Mosque, by Babur, earning it a title Babri Masjid, five hundred years ago. The struggle to reclaim the temple went on for last two hundred years with legal disputes. The Mosque was razed in 1992, as legal avenues and political negotiations were stuck. Finally legal proceedings dragged on with a judgment that allowed for reconstruction of temple, as a matter of restorative justice. Land for a Mosque also was separately allotted. The Foreign media (nearly all) chose to not give the historical context and portrayed it only as replacement of Mosque by Temple, showing their innate prejudice lack of commitment to truth. For those who want to know the whole truth Sitaram Goel[ ] has documented instances of thousands of temples getting destroyed and replaced by Mosques.
13. Entertainment and Advertisement
As recounted by a Minister in Assam government: “In the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a child who is the progeny of Hindu parents is shown reading Namaz, and her prayer gets answered. In yet another case, the original story of Kabuliwala is altered to include an episode where the young girl who is missing Kabuliwala is reading Namaz so that he returns, thanks to a Bollywood director”.Then across India, movies depict Brahmins, Hindu traders, and landlords as evil and Muslims and Christians as paragons of virtue. It is not unusual that when a real-life story where a Brahmin has no role when realized on screen the Brahmin is made the villain. The recent gruesome incident of Shraddha murder case when realized as a TV show, the director changed the religion of the villain from Islam to Hinduism. The Hindu festival of Holi gets targeted by the advertising industry in the name of the environment, most recently in Swiggy Advertisement. The same company is respectful towards festivals of Christians and Muslims. A few years ago, a Surf Excel Advertisement, shows a Hindu girl giving a ride to a Muslim boy wearing a white dress so that his dress does not get spoiled with a parting line where he says he will read Namaz and return. Here, one religion is shown negatively and the other positively. It is also very common for models and film stars to treat icons of Hinduism with disdain and other religions in a sanctimonious and positive manner.?Then there are Advertisements where a CEO stops his car and drinks tea with his driver sitting on a ledge by the roadside. Should the Tea Company CEO whose product this Advertisement is about, not practice it publicly and visibly in real life first? ?Then there is a surfeit of advertisements that target customs, traditions, and practices of Hindus in particular and Indians at large. Some have even stopped talking about their products.
There is yet another trend where advertisements are made around Hindu Festivals, icons or traditions where models wear morose expressions which is contrary to the spirit of celebration rooted in our culture and treating the sentiments of the consumers with disdain and such behaviour repeats.
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14. Sheer ignorance
In many cases media repeats a particular narrative and then claims that it is true. In[25] below the Hindu article claims that accession of J&K state into Indian union is conditional. In reality all the princely states used the same draft of accession agreement to every letter. Initially they ceded 3 areas and then progressively ceded all areas. All accessions i.e. of 500 plus princely states happened using identical accession agreement. The agreement is publicly available and was also published on The Wire.
15. Regional Media
In several states regional media takes a stance against national interest, integrity and security of India, Hinduism, Indians of other regions and so on. In some states, the regional media protects the ruling dispensation by hiding truth, misreporting it or under-reporting it. In some cases, political parties themselves own these media houses. Net-net those who are voiceless are left to the wolves by the media.
16. Local issues, Day-to-day issues and lost opportunities
The majority of the hardship people face has nothing to do with which party is in power. Some issues are systemic. Some issues are related to the apathy of officials and the irresponsibility of citizens. By making every issue a battle between parties and/or ideologies people are let down by the media. In many cases, the entire focus is on analyzing the stray statements of who is who and chasing political correctness instead of pragmatism. There is huge opportunity for investigative journalism where only citizen's interest and truth are the motives. But there are hardly any takers among the journalists for this.
17. What makes news?
If we go back in time by a few decades, there was a clear separation between local and global news. Today it is no longer the case. The whole world has becomea a global village. Even earlier, bad news, like accidents and weather-related deaths, traveled far and wide. Now, however, even minor incidents, trivialities, and all kinds of anomalies and deviant behavior make headlines, thus giving a somewhat distorted picture of reality. Thus relatively minor incidents become well-known leading to all kinds of stereotypes and manufactured narratives. Despite this many incidents that result in trauma for large numbers of people remain hidden for prolonged periods, as they lack agency, and the media has no appetite for investigative journalism, and people at large are served all kinds of banalities.
What makes news is very important as it influences people a lot more than one realizes. Continued reportage of certain kinds of violence may make people numb. It also may make unethical and immoral behavior acceptable. It may project a small phenomenon in a given country as a major phenomenon. Thus, outliers become main-stream and main-stream become outliers. That is rather worrying.
18. Media and Academia
Many centuries, ago scholar Bhart?hari said “What kind of a scholar is he who knows only about his tradition”.? Naturally many universities of yore in India without exception studied a plurality of traditions. Ironically, we have reached a point in India where one may deplore “What kind of scholars are they who do not know their own tradition but about everyone else’s”.? The NEP 2020 has attempted to correct this gap by encouraging the study of Indian Knowledge Systems. However, entrenched academia and media would have none of this. A text such as Manu Smriti cannot even be studied in Indian Universities. It can only be studied by Western scholars such as Wendy Doniger who will look at it with their own lens and biases. Without lived experience in our tradition and not being rooted in our culture, their inferences are often distorted. ??Lack of study means very few people know that “Yatra Narya Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devatah” is also mentioned in Manu Smriti. Manu Smriti is a Dharma Shastra, one among many, and not “Laws of Manu” as claimed by many Western scholars. Dharma Shastra is about recommendations of righteous conduct. Law is a word alien to our tradition. Unfortunately, our media instead of showing an open mind would rather demonize Brahmins with yet another pretext, even when Manu was a King as per our tradition. They also would ignore seminal work by Gandhian Dharampal, "Beautiful Tree" which establishes that education in India was pervasive across classes and genders in the pre-colonial era and all studied what they needed to.
It is high time this cancel culture should stop. Only knowledge can liberate our minds. For example, how many have tried to understand the Purusha Sukta and its true meaning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrHGWFl4Wz4)?
Everyone must know what is in any ancient text/oral source and assess it by going through primary sources and keeping the times when it was in vogue, before pronouncing any judgment on that. One key feature of the Sanatana civilization is adaptability to changing places, times, and locales.
Note: This article is continually updated as and when events happen and the media reports them.
References
?1.?????The Hindu, The rich history of the Chalukya dynasty, January 30, 2022,https://www.thehindu.com/society/the-deccan-domination-a-new-book-dives-into-the-rich-history-of-the-chalukya-dynasty/article38340292.ece?homepage=true#comments_38340292
2.?????Telegpaph India, Geeta event promoted in IIM Bangalore Name, November 18, 2022, https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/gita-event-promoted-in-iim-bangalore-name/cid/1898736
3.?????Times of India, Two Uttar Pradesh men broke into 35 houses nabbed, Jan 3,2021,https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/two-up-men-who-broke-into-35-houses-nabbed/articleshow/80076474.cms
4.?????NDTV, Man arrested Over Seizure Of???4-Crore Heroin At Mumbai Cargo Complex, ?November 5, 2021, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/gujarat-man-krishna-murari-prasad-arrested-over-seizure-of-rs-4-crore-heroin-at-mumbai-cargo-complex-2599909#pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories,
5.?????Indian Express, Man who attacked cops at Gorakhpur temple graduated from IIT Bombay: Police, April 4, 2022, https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/gorakhpur-temple-cops-attack-ahmed-murtaza-7852121/
6.?????Times News Network, Uttar Pradesh: Dalit, 18, beaten up for opposing rash driving by ‘drunk”upper caste man, July 13, 2021. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/dalit-18-beaten-up-for-opposing-rash-driving-by-drunk-upper-caste-man/articleshow/84355303.cms
7.?????Swarajya Magazine, Ground Report: Violence in Agra After Hindu Woman Who Eloped with Muslim Man found Dead At His House, November 14, 2021,https://swarajyamag.com/politics/ground-report-violence-in-agra-after-hindu-woman-who-eloped-with-muslim-man-found-dead-at-his-house
8.?????Times News Network, Man who killed Delhi Teen for refusing marriage nabbed, February 23,2021, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/man-who-killed-teen-for-refusing-marriage-nabbed/articleshow/81160384.cms
9.?????Indian Express, Assam Doctor assaulted by kin of deceased COVID patient; 24 Held, June 3, 2021,https://indianexpress.com/article/north-east-india/assam/assam-doctor-assaulted-after-covid-19-patient-dies-arrested-ima-7340636/
10.?NDTV, Caught on Camera, Horrific Assault of Doctor by family of COVID Victim, June 2, 2021,https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/horrific-assault-on-doctor-by-family-of-covid-victim-caught-on-camera-2454178
11.??Swarajya Magazine, Assam: 24 arrested for Brutally Assaulting Doctor After Death of COVID patient, June 2, 2021. https://swarajyamag.com/insta/assam-24-arrested-for-brutally-assaulting-doctor-after-death-of-covid-patient
12.?Project Satyaloka, The myth of breast tax, November 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1dKth54GRw
13.?Shrikant Talageri, Are Indian Tribals Hinds? Part 1, https://youtu.be/d21XnNqXySg,?0:13:00 to 0:16:00.
14. Karnataka: Dalit woman dragged, beaten at temple; video surfaces, https://www.siasat.com/karnataka-dalit-woman-dragged-beaten-at-temple-video-surfaces-2497057/ 6 January 2023
15. Indian Express, In hijab protest district, over 50% dip in minority students’ count in govt PUCs, https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/in-hijab-protest-district-over-50-dip-in-minority-students-count-in-govt-pucs-8367929/, January 8, 2023
16. Hindustan Times, Why different punishment for Shankar Mishra and Jauhar Ali Khan, asks BJP leader, https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/why-different-punishment-for-shankar-mishra-and-jauhar-ali-khan-asks-bjp-leader-101673494587957.html, January 12, 2023
17. Swarajya Magazine, German State Broadcaster's Documentary On 'Hindutva Pop Music' Is One-Sided, Biased, And Riddled With Flaws, February 3, 2023. https://swarajyamag.com/politics/german-state-broadcasters-documentary-on-hindutva-pop-music-is-one-sided-biased-and-riddled-with-flaws
18. India Today, Comparing Supreme Court Observations on Nupur Sharma and Muhammad Zubair Case, https://youtu.be/DgYBoi0_Ypc, June/July 2022
19 NDTV, Nikki Yadav's Partner Plotted Murder With Help Of His Family, Friends: Cops, February 18, 2023, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nikki-yadav-murder-case-partner-sahil-gehlot-plotted-murder-with-help-of-his-family-friends-report-3793067#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll
20. Indian Express, Delhi fridge murder case: Accused father, 4 others arrested: police say Sahil, Nikki were married. February 18, 2023, https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-fridge-murder-case-father-arrested-sahil-nikki-married-8452333/
21. ONManorama, Again Air India staff arrested for gold smuggling at the cochin airport, https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2023/03/08/air-india-cabin-crew-arrested-gold-smuggling-cochin-airport.html, March 8, 2023
22. Arif Aajakia, 90 J&K Commanders cleared in PK,...., 5th March 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3rFvnhdPDo
23 Swarajya Magazine, Former Kashmir DGP Blows A Hole In New York Time's Story On The Arming Of Villagers In Jammu, March 13, 2023, https://swarajyamag.com/defence/former-kashmir-dgp-blows-a-hole-in-new-york-times-story-on-the-arming-of-villagers-in-jammu
24. Swarajya Magazine, Qatar Government Owned Al Cites Select Cases Of Mosque Demolition For Road Widening To Claim PM Modi Wishes To Demolish All Mosques, April 4, 2023, https://swarajyamag.com/reports/qatar-government-owned-al-jazeera-cites-select-cases-of-mosque-demolition-for-road-widening-as-pm-modis-desire-to-demolish-all-mosques
25. The Hindu, Maulana Azad reference omitted in NCERT textbook, Authors of the revised Class 11 political science textbook have also deleted the fact that Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India on the basis of a promise that the State would remain autonomous, April 12, 2023, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/deleted-from-ncert-text-maulana-azads-name-autonomy-condition-for-jk-accession/article66729738.ece
26. Viney Kirpal, I live in India, Here is what I want you to know, Huffpost Personal, May 31, 2021, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/india-covid-19-pandemic-variant_n_60b10a31e4b01de8b7826404
27. Kayonaaz Kalyanwala, Contributor, It's time to end the conspiracy of silence, Huffpost India, December 11, 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/its-time-to-end-the-consp_b_6310006
28. Johnson T.A,, A cry from Karnataka's poorest reigion; No schools, No Houses, but temples now much bigger, Indian Express, May 6, 2023, https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/cry-karnatakas-poorest-region-no-schools-no-houses-temples-bigger-8593915/
29. Grace Cyril, The Kerala Story box office collection Day 33: Adah Sharma’s film struggles to reach Rs 240 crore, India Today, June 7, 2023, https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/the-kerala-story-box-office-collection-day-33-adah-sharmas-film-struggles-to-reach-rs-240-crore-2389718-2023-06-07
30. Swati Goel Sharma, Dissecting Media Bias: Seven Misleading Narratives In Mewat Incident And Under-Reported Realities of Attacks On Hindu Processions. Swarajya Magazine, Sunday, August 6, 2023 09:56 AM IST. https://swarajyamag.com/reports/dissecting-media-bias-seven-misleading-narratives-in-mewat-incident-and-under-reported-realities-of-attacks-on-hindu-processions
31. Indian Express, Independence Day 2023: Why does Bollywood keep weaponising patriotism, even as the West embraces an anti-war outlook? August 15, 2023. https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/indpendence-day-bollywood-patriotism-anti-war-movies-8889354/
32.Jaideep Majumdar, Swarajya Magazine, Why The Editors’ Guild Of India Report On Manipur Comes Across As Biased And Politically Motivated comes across as biased, September 5, 2023, https://swarajyamag.com/north-east/why-the-editors-guild-of-india-report-on-manipur-comes-across-as-biased-and-politically-motivated
33. Y.P.Rajesh, Reuters, Ram temple built on site of razed Babri mosque in India to open in January, September 14, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-temple-built-site-razed-mosque-open-in-january-2023-09-14/
34.Meenakshi Jain, THE BATTLE FOR RAMA: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya, M1 January 2017. https://www.amazon.in/Battle-Rama-Case-Temple-Ayodhya/dp/8173055793
35.Aditya Kothari, Nijjar Killing: Busy vilifying India, Western media ignores ugly gang wars and drug syndicates, Firstpost,October 7, 2023, https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/nijjar-killing-busy-vilifying-india-western-media-ignores-ugly-gang-wars-and-drug-syndicates-13216652.html
36.Navadeep Suri, I dealt with 'Khalistanis' as a diplomat, and I know the India-Canada row obscures truths, October 5, 2023. https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2023/10/05/i-dealt-with-khalistanis-as-a-diplomat-and-i-know-the-india-canada-row-obscures-truths/
37. CPAC, Canada-India relations: Interview with fmr. immigration minister Chris Alexander – October 19, 2023,
38.Simran Jeet Singh and Gunisha Kumar, Time, Why India Targeting Sikhs at Home and Around the world, December 5, 2023, https://time.com/6342873/india-sikhs-persecution/
39. Sitaram Goel, Hindu Temples, what happened to them, Voice of India, Volume 1 1998 and Volume 2, 2002.
40.HT Newsdesk, Bengaluru police deny communal angle in viral street brawl between two families, March 25, 2024. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/bengaluru-news/bengaluru-police-deny-communal-angle-in-viral-street-brawl-between-two-families-101711338411442.html
41. Moneycontrol.com, Dubai Police honours Indian boy awards him with certificate for returning tourisy's lost watch, May 16, 2024
42. Indian Express, Bengaluru man booked after viral video shows him firing gunshots in air, October 3, 2024. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/bengaluru-man-booked-viral-video-firing-gunshots-9601668/?ref=trending_recommended_read