‘UPSC Jihad’ , Another attack on muslim civil servants by Sudarshan News head
Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, declared on Tuesday by releasing a promo of their upcoming program on the increasing number of Muslims appearing for and clearing the Union Public Service Exams recently had suddenly risen and also tagging them as ‘UPSC Jihad’. “How has the number of Muslim IPS [Indian Police Service] and IAS [Indian Administrative Service] officers increased recently ? ” he asked viewers. “What will happen if ‘Jamia ke jihadi’ rise to positions of authority in the country?”
Chavanke is known for stoking communal tensions and inciting religious violence, as well as his widespread misinformation campaigns. The video shared by Chavhanke on Twitter sparked an outrage for its “hateful agenda” targeting the Muslim community and calling for the suspension of Chavhanke’s Twitter account, by using the hashtag #SuspendSureshChavhanke.
His nonsensical claim that students of Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi, which has long been the target of Hindutva supporters, were waging a jihad, joins a long list of other purported struggles that conspiracy theorists believe India’s Muslims are waging: love jihad, in which young Muslim men seduce Hindu women to marry and covert them to Islam; land jihad to build shrines on public land; cow jihad to steal bovines; organ jihad to donate human organs that will then be transplanted into the bodies of Hindus and presumably sully them; and cab jihad to undercut auto rickshaw drivers.
IAS, IPS officers association condemn Chavhanke
Among those who have condemned it are the Indian Police Service (Central) Association, and large number of serving and retired civil service officers too joined in to condemn the video. The IPS association, which tweeted against what it called was an attempt at a ‘communal and irresponsible piece of journalism’, through its official handle.
“By casting doubts on the integrity and impartiality of a constitutional body like the UPSC in the selection of officers for All-India Services, he is spreading disaffection for the constitutional scheme of governance,” said retired IPS officer N.C. Asthana.
“A despicable attempt at hate mongering. To question the credentials of officers on the basis of religion is not only laughable, but should also be dealt with strictest legal provisions. We are all Indians first,” said IPS officer Niharika Bhatt.
” Why dont police arrest him and why SC or HCs or Minorities commission or UPSC dont take suo motto cognizance now? @TwitterIndia please take action and suspend this account. Its hate speech. ” said IAS Prabjot Singh .
Najmul Hoda, an Inspector General in Chennai, said that this should be referred to as “hate speech”. “Comments like these are an attempt to dehumanise an entire community,” he said.
The Indian Police Foundation, an independent think-tank on policing, condemned the video and said it won’t retweet it because it is “pure venom” and “dangerous bigotry”. It also urged the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), Uttar Pradesh Police and concerned government authorities to take strict action.
Meanwhile RTI activist Saket Ghokhale tweeted that he is in the process of filing a complaint against the news channel editor.
Television personality Tehseen Poonawalla tweeted that he has lodged a complaint against the teaser with Delhi Commissioner of Police S.N. Shrivastava and the head of the National Broadcasting Association, Rajat Sharma.To Poonawalla, Chavhanke wrote on Twitter that Zakir Naik is behind this purported conspiracy.
Jamia’s response to the video
Jamia Millia Islamia on Thursday called for a meeting to discuss if legal action can be initiated against the channel for its promo.
“We have called a meeting to discuss the next course of action against the TV channel for airing mala fide content. Every student of Jamia’s Residential Coaching Academy who has cleared the UPSC exam should file an FIR against the channel for its hateful content,” Najma Akhtar, Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, told IANS.
She also cleared that out of 30 students of Jamia’s Residential Coaching Academy who have cleared the UPSC this year ,almost 50 per cent , are non-Muslims.
” Jamia Teachers’ Association requests the University administration to file Criminal Defamation Suit against anti-Indian and anti-JMI remarks by traitor Suresh Chavhanke, CMD and Chief Editor of Sudarshan News TV ” Professor Majid Jamil , Secretary ,JMITA informed via press release .
