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In Whose Interest?: ABP Editor Slams TV News Over Kasganj Coverage

ABP’s Abhisar Sharma has accused a TV anchor of fuelling rumours by broadcasting them as facts.

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After ABP News’ Pankaj Jha revealed that he was threatened by some extremists for his coverage of the Kasganj riots, another editor from the channel, Abhisar Sharma, hit out at news channels for their biased and misleading coverage of the communal clashes.

Condemning not just the violence but also the rumour mongering that followed it, Sharma, in a Facebook post, outlined falsehoods that are being spread by extremist Facebook pages such as ‘Dainik Bharat’.

Sharma said that when ABP News set out to bust these rumours - such as Muslims questioning the tricolour yatra in Kasganj – they were threatened with death and harm to their family.

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Sharma, in his post, accuses a TV anchor (without naming him) of fuelling rumours further by broadcasting them as facts.

देखिए कैसे ये अफवाह मेरे और पंकज के बारे मे की गयी : "हिन्दुओं की हत्या को ठहराया जायज़ ! बिना इजाज़त तिरंगा यात्रा निकाली...

Posted by Abhisar Sharma on Monday, January 29, 2018

According to a translation by The Wire, Sharma accused the anchor of raising the following questions:

  • Are we going to have conflicts over the issue of flying the national flag within our own country?
  • If not in India, where will the tricolour be raised? In Pakistan?
  • Who are the real enemies of the tricolour in Kasganj? Why isn’t the police disclosing their names?
  • How many such Pakistans are flourishing in India?
  • Are Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai communal slogans?

Focussing particularly on the third statement – ‘Who are the real enemies of the tricolour in Kasganj?’ – Sharma says that although Kasganj’s DM has publicly stated that no permission had been taken for the yatra to be conducted, the anchor had gone ahead to declare a specific community as Paksitani.

This, when in actuality, even Muslims were seen waving the tricolour as part of the procession, as substantiated by photos as well IG Thakur’s statement to the effect.

When the atmosphere is rife with tension as it is, what is the need to bring Pakistan into the debate? For whose political benefit are such statements being made?
Sharma’s post, as translated by The Wire

When reports against the falsehoods emerged, there was no apology from the said news channel for their misleading coverage, says Sharma. In fact, the channel also sent out a reporter to Kasganj to file a ground report, which was effectively against its older report, he says, questioning the channel’s integrity.

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If what you said then was the truth, why didn’t you stick to it? That is because the television news channel in question knows it committed a mistake. Except it is not an ordinary mistake.

Blaming the channel for orchestrating a make-believe protest in Kasgnaj against the tricolour by Muslims, Sharma says that the hatred sown by the anchor “will be reaped by anybody who is touched by it.”

Further questioning the channel on whose vested interests does it promote through such rumours, Sharma said:

Did the District Magistrate of Bareilly, Raghavendra Vikram Singh, not ask why such processions were taken out through Muslim dominated neighbourhoods and why such inflammatory slogans were raised? Let me clarify once again that ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ are not provocative slogans, but to enter that neighbourhood and raise taunting slogans about Pakistan most definitely is.
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Sharma clarifies that though communal clashes can be hard to cover, it is the duty of news channels to not bow down to the majoritarian opinion that wants the media to declare the other community as “eternal villains.”

He then blames the channel of not just speaking in the interest one community, but as the unofficial mouthpiece of a political party.

Most importantly, you are not even speaking in the interest of Hindus. You are just an unofficial spokesperson of one particular political party. By fomenting tensions between Hindus and Muslims, you are merely carrying out that party’s political agenda.

Slamming the anchor for his perceived idea of ‘patriotism’, Sharma questions his intent behind diverting the narrative from crucial issues like farmers’ woes towards the clashes.

For a moment, let’s accept that you are a hanger-on of the political party in question. However, by fomenting instability in the country how are you helping Modi ji’s dream of ‘Make in India’ become a reality? Demonstrate your political loyalty skilfully at least.

Sharma ends his post by saying that while furthering the interests of extremist groups that are slowly making it to the political mainstream, the channel is only putting the lives of Indians in jeopardy.

You are not just indulging in dishonest journalism, but also committing injustice against the country’s most important and fundamental unit – our families. You are attacking their peace of mind and well-being. Both as a journalist and as a father, this is completely unacceptable to me.

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