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25 Jun, 2015

Indian media “falling in line with govt” – Kuldip Nayar, The Indian Express

One current development is ominous. Soft Hindutva is overtaking the print and electronic media. They go out of their way to blackout the minority point of view. One glaring example is a recent statement by a Muslim woman from Mumbai. She said that, as a Muslim, she could not get a house in any posh locality. In contrast, had this statement been made by a Hindu, newspapers and television channels would have reported it and commented for days to express their criticism.

The Muslim woman’s statement was perfunctorily noted, but not debated or discussed. This does not behove a society that has enshrined secularism in the preamble to its Constitution. Still worse is that the excesses committed against the minorities are scantily reported and hardly discussed. Only 70 years ago, when we won independence to establish a secular and democratic state, we took pride in the fact that, despite the demand for Pakistan, the preponderant majority still believed in the idea of India that Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad subscribed to.

Read the rest: When you crawl, unasked | The Indian Express