The infamous Zee News and its anchor Sudheer Chaudhary have done it again. They have a new target and this time it is the poor old women from the Kairana bypoll. Women have been accused of wearing a ‘Talibani Burqa’ and of spreading fanaticism (Kattarpan) in the area by Sudheer Chaudhary.
The ‘DNA analysis’ of May 28 shown on Zee News with the title, ‘DNA analysis on the arrival of the shuttlecock burqa‘, anchored by Sudheer Chaudhary starts with the sentences,
‘If I tell you today that the Talibanikaran of India has started and slowly and gradually Indian Muslims are being made fanatics, you would not believe but it is the bitter truth. It is a matter of great disappointment that this Talibani ideology is entering into India.’
Aman Chopra did the same in Taal Thok Ke: What is the need of Taliban’s ‘shuttlecock burqa’ in Kairana? on May 29, 2018 with the title,
‘UP Ka Kairana, Taliban Ki Proyogshala’ with hashtag #talibaninkairana.
The whole programme is based on some visuals in which a few old ladies voters from the Kairana constituency are wearing a closed burqa. The anchors Sudheer Chaudhary and Aman Chopra in their programmes have correlated their burqa-style with Afghanistani style burqa, by calling it Talbani burqa. The news weaves a very negative story just on the basis of the burqa. The said burqa is part and parcel of old ladies lifestyle in many parts of Utter Pradesh, especially in the old city part of Lucknow and in western U.P. There are several types of burqas and many old ladies loves to bear complete burqa. This is not a new phenomenon and is prevailing since long.
The Zee News portrayed the ladies in very bad light and correlated it with the Talibani ideology. Wearing a certain kind of clothing does not make you a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer. Moreover, the right to wear anything is the personal choice of an individual that comes under freedom of speech. Targetting one community and that too old innocent Muslim women for wearing the burqa is very pathetic and matter of great apathy. A few isolated glimpses of just a few women do not provide any proof of a change in the ideology of an entire town.
Can media fall below this level to get TRP? Yes. It has become a trend now to defame Muslims, Dalits and other weaker sections on a regular basis. And after the sting done by Cobrapost, it is very clear that almost all of the mainstream media is ready to be sold. They will keep you engaged all day in highly communal debates and discussions. The almost zero media coverage of Cobrapost makes it crystal clear that this pillar of democracy has fallen.