NEW DELHI: Senior journalists from all over India have issued a collective appeal to constitutional institutions to step in and uphold their constitutional mandate in the wake of open calls from various quarters for attacks on India’s religious minorities, especially Muslims.
They said India today stands at a dangerous point, with the founding values of a secular, democratic and republican constitution coming under flagrant assault from prejudiced ideas, acts of prejudice, discrimination and violent incidents, all planned and orchestrated as part of an anti-constitutional political project.
“That is why it is both urgent and crucial that India’s constitutional institutions, and especially the President, the higher judiciary, and the Election Commission, discharge their mandate under our Constitution and that the media perform their responsibility to the people of India by asserting their independence and speaking truth to power,” read the appeal signed by at least 28 media personalities including N Ram (former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu), Mrinal Pande (senior journalist and writer), R Rajagopal (Editor, The Telegraph), Vinod Jose (Executive Editor, Caravan) and others.
They mentioned instances where Muslims were targeted such as at the ‘dharam sansad’ in Haridwar or the screening of the Hindi film 'The Kashmir File'.
It stated that the concerted amplification of hatred has been growing, with the attendant advocacy of violence.
“Sometimes, the occasion is an election, a political gathering, a so-called ‘dharam sansad’, or a controversy over clothing or even the screening of a movie. These calls for violence – which have been widely reported – are met with a cold and calculated silence from the top leaders,” the plea stated.