81 Final Country Report

As mentioned in my draft, am going to discuss the anti- Muslim hate within the country of India and the new forms of media literacy when it comes people speaking out against the government and how new forms of media such as apps can aid in the anti-Muslim hate. In March of 2022 a hijab ban would be put into motion in the state of Karnataka, which would prohibit female Muslim college students from wearing them to class. Which would cause outcry from the Muslim community in the country. This is just one of many instances of the anti -Muslim hate. For this specific assignment I’m going to be discussing a situation that would take place previously.

This information coming from the site Global Voice and author Ananya would report on February 14 that on  January 1st of 2022 more than a hundred Muslim women journalist, activists, lawyer’s social media workers would wake up to see photos of their faces edited onto lewdly posed women on an app called Bulli Bai stating that they were for sale.  A similar situation would also take place in July of 2021 , which was also reported on by Ananya , talks about an app named the “Sulli deals” that showed 80 Muslim women edited onto to the app hosted by Github stating that the women were “deals of the day”. The words used in the names “Sulli”, and “Bulli” are common derogatory terms that are used by right-wing people and groups that want to denote Muslim women. Police would arrest four young college student men that had connections to the incident. The “ringleader” of the group of boys, Niraj Bishnoi who is a 21-year-old second- year college student is mentioned to be a repeat offender. He has been accused of harassing people, leaving inappropriate comments on photos and even send threats online. Another Shweta Singh, 19, used a fake twitter handle to share hate online and posting offensive photographs.  Vishal Kumar Jha and Mayank Rawat, both 21, would each share screenshots from the app and showcase them on social media.

Government-

As previously mentioned before the Bulli Bai app case is not a stand-alone situation. Hate crimes against Muslims in the country of India has steadily on the rise. The current prime minister of the country Narendra Modi leads the Bharatiya Janta Party, which is a right-wing activist group.Wikimedia foundations says that t the party stands for the “People’s party”, and it seeks to make sure of the Indian governance of culture and values that are shaped and ruled by that of Hindu religious values.  Hindutva organizations are associated with the Bharatiya are some of the main preparators or anti- Muslim hate in the country. Since the Party has been ruling next to the National congress since 2014, anti- Muslim hate is steadily rising most likely due to the support of the government.

Religion-

When it comes to the religion in the country of India, it has been known as the birthplace for mean of the world’s biggest and major religions. This would include Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. In India’s Constitution mention on Wikimedia Foundation, says it would define freedom of religion as “fundamental right” and it is a “secular state.” On July 28 of 2020 Right-wing Hindu groups would plea for the supreme court of India for the removal of the words Secular and Socialist for the constitution.

News/Media

When it comes to critical independent news and media in the country of India, it can be difficult to take stances that are against the government. Majority of the media and news in the country is funded by advertising and mainly government advertising.  So, with the pressures from the government and the quest to gain larger audiences, this can force news and media outlets to make sure they are presenting sensationalist news.  When digging deeper into looking for websites and sources for the information network assignments, I would look more into the media outlets I had previously mentioned: Deshbhakt, The Wire India and News Click.  Each of – these sources are either non-profit or independent media sources, which means they are not funded by the Indian government. The Deshbhakt is a YouTube channel that aims to make politics and social issues easier to understand and believe in equal opportunity offenders and that one must question everything. It is mainly funded by their patreon members. News click is similar, and it aims to always report in depth on news and views that can be ignored by corporate media. The wire is also a non-profit opinion site that is very similar to that of New Click.

In the New York times , Asian pacific on April 2, 2022 by Vindu Goel and Jeffrey Gettleman would  discuss that since current prime minister Narendra Modi came into power in 2014  “ His government has tried to control the  country’s news media , especially the airwaves , like no other prime minister in decades”  (  Goel and Gellelman) the Article “ Under Modi, India’s Press Is Not So Free Anymore” talks about a situation where anchorman Vinesh Kunhiraman went on air as usual and would be cut off just a few mins into the broadcast.  This order would come from that of the India’s ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and stated it was since the channel would broadcast one of its biggest new stories over a mob attack that would take place against Muslims in New Delhi. This shows not only how the current leadership within India is in support of the anti- Muslim hate but also the pushback to stop press freedom within the country.

citations

Civic Media Observatory. (2021, December 6). Undertones: A deep-dive into Indian hyper-nationalism. Global Voices. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://globalvoices.org/2021/12/06/undertones-a-deep-dive-into-indian-hyper-nationalism/