Chavhanke’s ‘UPSC Jihad’ Crosses a New Line in Hate Speech

Demonising Muslims who have cracked the UPSC is the next step in racheting up hate against the community.

In the petition by Jamia students which successfully got the Delhi High Court to stay the broadcast of Suresh Chavhanke’s show on ‘naukarshahi jihad’, they invoked ‘Radio Rwanda’ as an example of how the media can play a role in inciting hatred and even genocide.

Ferdinand Nahimana and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza of private Rwandan radio station RTLM, along with Hassan Ngeze of the Kangura newspaper, were convicted by a UN tribunal of genocide, incitement to genocide, conspiracy, crimes against humanity, extermination and persecution for their role in the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.

While convicting Nahimana, the tribunal’s president Navanethem Pillay said:

“You were fully aware of the power of words, and you used the radio – the medium of communication with the widest public reach – to disseminate hatred and violence….Without a firearm, machete or any physical weapon, you caused the death of thousands of innocent civilians.”