In a sharp and outspoken attack on the media, the Health Ministry’s daily official briefings and the Prime Minister, the well-known author and historian Ramachandra Guha says that the COVID-19 crisis has become an opportunity to ventilate anti-Muslim sentiments and Islamophobia. He says in large parts of Northern and Western India, anti-Muslim sentiment is “a disturbing and distressing aspect of our compatriots.”
Guha says the present surge in Islamophobia, both in India and by Indian expatriates in the Gulf, has led to “an extraordinary drop in India’s global standing… (it’s done) huge damage to India’s image….we have no friends more or less.”
In a 25-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Ram Guha questions the prime minister’s failure to speak out strongly against the targeting and demonization of Muslims. All the PM has come out with is a tepid and anodyne message that the Coronavirus does not see race, religion, colour, caste etc. “Why did the PM have to wait so long,” asks Guha, “and (speak) only after countries of the Gulf chastised us?”
Guha is critical of the deliberate use of Hindu religious imagery in the PM’s three COVID-19 speeches.
He points out the PM repeatedly uses such Hindu imagery such as seven steps, diyas, Lakshman rekha and agni pariksha. Guha says this is part of a practice or tradition that has been well-established since 2014 which he calls “the steady, systematic, deliberate conversion of India into a Hindu majoritarian state.” Guha calls Mr Modi’s govt. “an explicitly Hindu majoritarian government” and says it’s very different compared to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. which included secular leaders like George Fernandes, Mamata Banerjee, Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha.
Guha praises Uddhav Thackerey for saying he will not allow Muslims to be demonised. He also compliments the chief ministers of West Bengal and Chhattisgarh for trying to stem the communalisation of Covid-19.
With reference to the health ministry’s daily briefings, Guha says Lav Agrawal’s frequent references to the Tablighi Jamaat to explain the spread of COVID-19 is “an incitement to polarisation”. He calls it “tendentious” and “mischievous”. However Guha adds that Lav Agrawal “is not doing it on his own…he’s been explicitly told to go ahead and do it.” Guha calls him “an instrument of the political establishment”. Guha says he’s “doing what his bosses want”.
Speaking on the role of the media, Guha says “without question the media is guilty of whipping up Islamophobia.” He speaks of “anchors who go out of their way to inflame for TRPs.” However, he adds that “a large section of the media has been communalised for a long time.”
Finally, referring to Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who dismissed the criticism India is facing in the western media and the Gulf for its treatment of its Muslim citizens and instead claimed India is “heaven for Muslims”, Guha tells The Wire, “this is the most ludicrous statement from a cabinet minister.”
Guha says it’s an example of “alternative reality” and compares it to the sort of things US President Donald Trump says.
In the interview to The Wire, Guha also speaks of why he terminated his six year old relationship with the Hindustan Times as a columnist on the Sunday paper. He reveals details of what was in the column the paper refused to carry and what they said to him. Guha says that an almost identical situation happened in 2008, when he was also a columnist for the same paper.
At the time he discontinued his column but agreed to resume it in 2011 when the editor of the day assured him he would not be censored again. Now that it has happened a second time, he believes terminating his relationship is the right thing to do and is not an extreme or impulsive response. Guha also refutes the charge that he terminated the relationship because his pride or ego were hurt.