#Bullibai will lead to attacks on all women, not just Muslims

Published in National Herald on January 26,2022

Link: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/bullibai-will-lead-to-attacks-on-all-women-not-just-muslims

Given the nature of breaking news, and the daily litany of media reports on atrocities in the current communally charged climate in India, our sense of outrage seems to have been anaesthetized.

This year began with news that Muslim women were being "auctioned" on social media. The "Bulli Bai" app followed a similar attempt in July last year with the "Sulli Deals" app; and within weeks emerged evidence of how social media platform Clubhouse is being misused, with participants in a discussion using sexually explicit and violent language while mocking, objectifying and humiliating Muslim women.

Unlike last July, the outrage this time pushed police in Mumbai and Delhi into action. Several young people from different parts of the country were arrested. Each time an arrest was made, police claimed they had found the "mastermind". Yet, there is little evidence to suggest that they have actually got to the bottom of who created and funded these apps.

The law will, or will not, take its course. There is little about the way the criminal justice system works that gives us confidence that it will. However, the process of tracking down the culprits behind this dehumanising, misogynistic and Islamophobic ploy has revealed a much more disturbing and uglier reality.

The young people detained so far are all in their late teens to early twenties. They are educated and tech-savvy. Evidently, being "educated" does not protect you from irrational and hateful propaganda. The question we must ask is how much hate do you need to imbibe before you become a part of a hate-spewing system? What compelled these youngsters to be part of such a system?

Also, irrespective of whether any one of these young people is the main instigator, we are confronted with not just a bunch of lonely, twisted individuals, but an entire ecosystem that is spawning such people.

A major contributor to the creation of this ecosystem is mainstream media, especially news television that amplifies communal bias and hate speech. Some TV channels have virtually become the mouthpieces for those who want to keep Indian society divided along communal lines. The latest slogan on some of these channels is "Hindu khatre mein hai" (Hindus are in danger) taking off from an out of context statement made by a Muslim preacher and to detract from the vile hate speech that emanated from Hindu preachers recently. Such shenanigans would be laughable if they were not so dangerous.

Equally responsible is social media. Initially, it was seen as a space for self-expression, for connections, for community. It has now become home to misogyny and communal hate of the vilest kind. It works on the basis of confirmation bias. You read or hear all that confirms that bias because the system is designed to do just that. As a result, it assists in creating these vast pools roiling with hate towards the 'other' -- Muslim, Christian, Dalit, women, take your pick.

Secondly, we have to ask what these attempts to "auction" Muslim women in India tell us about Indian society?

While not all the targeted women are necessarily political, they project themselves on social media as confident and independent professionals with strong opinion. Social media has opened up a space for women, albeit with its attendant risks if they express opinions contrary to the dominant narrative. Most outspoken women on social media, irrespective of the community to which they belong, and including many women politicians, suffer vicious and dangerous trolling that includes rape and death threats.

Although this attack on Muslim women is part of a deeper woman-hating strain that is so integral to Indian public life, where women who are confident, who speak out, must be demonised, in this instance we cannot use that generalisation. Because this is specific to Muslim women, and part of the larger agenda of demonising and dehumanising all Muslims. The attacks represent the dominant ideology in this country that essentially tells all Muslims to either behave, or face the consequences.

Think about it. When the men spewing hate and openly calling for a genocide of Muslims in India at the recent "Dharam Sansad" in Haridwar escape virtually unscathed; when the scores of lynchings of poor Muslim men just going about their lives are written off as acts by a fringe; when Muslim journalists like Siddique Kappan are in jail for months for no reason except for doing their jobs; when those disrupting Friday prayers not just in open spaces but now even in mosques are not punished; then why would anyone be afraid to "auction" Muslim women as an extension of this growing Islamophobia? They did this because they were confident they would get away with it.

And finally, what stands out is the deafening silence from a government at the Centre that constantly speaks of "women's empowerment". Is "empowerment" only for some women? Are women "empowered" if they are auctioned and demeaned in this manner? Do Muslim women not matter because Muslim votes make no difference to the party in power?

Those of us born into privilege by way of caste, class or religion, cannot even imagine what it must feel to be a Muslim woman in this so-called "new India' under construction. If despite the hurdles that so many of them would have encountered, if some Muslim women are confident enough to speak out and express themselves freely on social media, we should celebrate and salute them for their courage.

I believe it is imperative that we do not forget, or allow this particular attack on Muslim women to be forgotten. Today these attacks are on social media and directed towards women identified as Muslim. If unchecked, this will pave the way for far greater violence on all women, and not just on social media.

 

 

How a section of media passes off the government’s ‘official version’ of events as news gathering

 Broken News

Published in Newslaundry on January 7, 2022

Link: https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/01/07/how-a-section-of-media-passes-off-the-governments-official-version-of-events-as-news-gathering

Even as the rising numbers of people infected by Covid-19 is once again front-page news, we have before us another example of how easily mainstream media amplifies the official version of an event.

I am referring to reports about the “massive security breach” in Punjab on January 5. The story is still unraveling.

However, there are some aspects of the coverage in print media that are in some ways similar to the so-called ”botched” security operation in Oting in Nagaland's Mon district on December 4 that resulted in the death of 14 civilians.

The similarities are not the details. They lie in the ease with which mainstream media reproduces the official version of an event without so much as a question mark or quotation marks. It takes several days for other versions of the event to appear, if at all. By then, the majority of readers have already made up their minds about what happened based on the initial reports. (Tellingly, some newspapers did start using quotation marks around the phrase “security breach” two days later or adding the word “alleged”.)

In the case of the prime minister's cavalcade being stranded on a flyover on its way to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala in Punjab, the similarities in the front-page stories on January 6 is startling. The outlier, as usual, is the Telegraph which states an opinion in its choice of headline – “Hubris waylaid, Modi goes back” – and then the lead story, “Beating a retreat with 'zinda laut paaya' parting shot'”.

While the Hindu modifies the “security breach” phrase in its front-page headline by attributing it to union home minister Amit Shah – “PM's car caught in Punjab stir; unacceptable breach, says Shah” – the Indian Express uses the phrase as a given, even without quote marks: “Security breach leaves PM stranded on flyover in Punjab; bid to harm him: BJP”. Similarly the Times of India leads with “In security breach, PM stuck on Punjab flyover for 20 min”.

The point here is not whether what happened qualifies as a security breach or not. That is being investigated. But when you have on record the chief minister of the state in which this has happened explaining what happened, and the protesting farmers who apparently led to the hold up giving a different version, is it not legitimate to question?

When you don't have reporters on the spot who could have verified what actually happened, do you automatically go by the official version, particularly at a time when politics in Punjab is so polarised as it heads for an election? Or do you make an effort to get other perspectives?

When it comes to the prime minister, or anything on our borders, the mainstream Indian media has a long tradition of initially going by the official version. Rarely is this even questioned, unless evidence to the contrary is so obvious that it is unavoidable. As happened in Oting, when one of the miners who survived the shooting by the army clearly stated that they were shot at without warning. Reporters who have tried to raise questions have had a tough time surviving in mainstream media.

Another curious aspect of the January 5 incident in Punjab is what the prime minister is supposed to have said to “some officials” as he returned to Delhi from Bathinda. This is what the ANI news agency quoted him as saying, “Apne CM ko thanks kehna, ki mein Bhatinda airport tak zinda laut paaya.” Say thanks to your CM, tell him I managed to get back alive to Bathinda airport.

The Indian Express used the quote in its front-page story while attributing it to ANI. Neither the Hindu nor Times of India used it. The reasons are fairly obvious. Who were these “officials” to whom the PM said this? Was it said on camera? Was the reporter present to take down the precise quote? There is a basic rule in journalism that if you use a direct quote, you attribute it to someone. And if that someone wishes to remain anonymous, you say so.

The importance of those words is becoming evident as it is flogged by BJP leaders in statements and press conferences. Additionally, we now have to watch the spectacle of BJP chief ministers, like Shivraj Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh, urging people to chant the Maha Mrityunjaya Jaap for the PM's long life. And, of course, TV channels have gone to town on this, with some reading into the incident a conspiracy to kill the PM.

It is also striking that while several English language papers either did not use this quote at all, or chose not to amplify it, the Hindi newspapers highlighted it and made it their main headline on their front pages.

There is little doubt that this will now be the main discourse around the January 5 incident, although there is no evidence so far that there was an actual threat to the life of the prime minister. But in election season, who cares about such details? The narrative is in place.

Before the Punjab drama, we had another major story breaking in the New Year, that of an app called “Bulli Bai” that sought to “auction” over 100 Muslim women, including leading journalists and activists.

Significantly, although most of mainstream television predictably ignored this shocking, misogynistic and Islamophobic attack on Muslim women, one that mirrored a similar incident in July last year called “Sulli Deals”, at least some in print media did take note. Stories were done in the Hindu, Telegraph, Indian Express and Times of India. The women targeted were quoted; their experiences of what this breach of their privacy meant in their lives was reported. And strong editorials were written urging that action be taken in Indian Express and the Hindu.

Although social media was abuzz with this news, and many of the independent digital media platforms as well as YouTube channels did focus on this (read here, here, here, and here), I would argue that mainstream print media recognising this as an issue that cannot be pushed under the carpet has helped put pressure on the police to track down the perpetrators.

It is possible that the Delhi police, which reports directly to the union home ministry, was shamed this time into acting not only because the Mumbai police moved with alacrity and tracked down three people connected to the app within a few days, but also because major print media outlets singled out its indifferent attitude.

Last year, when the Muslim women targeted by the “Sulli Deals” app approached the Delhi police, practically nothing was done. The Hindu was trenchantly critical of the Delhi police when it wrote in its editorial: “It is indeed baffling that the Delhi police, that is expected to play a critical role in securing the lives of all important functionaries of the country, threw their hands up when faced with the challenge of identifying some random imposters on social media. Such a level of incompetence or connivance is ominous.”

The significance of such an intervention is that the outrage does not remain a bubble on social media. This time, apart from these legacy media, several international news outlets have also reported on it. Together this has led to the kind of pressure that ought to have been exerted even last year, when the first despicable attempts to demean Muslim women were made.