New Delhi: A month after he tried to demonise Muslim journalists covering the Bahraich violence, Shalabh Mani Tripathi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, has done it again. On Thursday (November 21), Tripathi circulated a list of Muslim journalists accusing them of spreading falsehood during bypolls underway in the state.
The voting process for the nine seats in UP was marred by large-scale allegations of police misconduct and discrimination against the Muslim community. The Election Commission (EC), which took cognisance of some of the complaints raised by the Samajwadi Party, suspended five police personnel for violating its guidelines and arbitrarily checking the identity cards of voters.
However, Tripathi, a former television journalist who entered politics with the saffron party, was more bothered by the identity of some of the journalists covering the bypolls. In a post on X, Tripathi singled out Muslim journalists, accusing them of spreading lies.
“Just look at the list of journalists covering Moradabad from where most lies were spread in the UP by-elections through edited videos and pictures,” said Tripathi. He used the hashtag ‘media jihad’ with the post, to imply that the Muslim journalists named by him were acting in a systematic, coordinated manner to spread misinformation.
Tripathi, however, did not specify what “lies” the journalists named by him had spread. His list also featured 100 Youtubers of a “specific community,” a reference to Muslims.
The list of 32 journalists included reporters from some prominent television channels and newspapers such as ABP News, NDTV, PTI Video, News18, Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, News Nation and TV9.
Tripathi’s unsubstantiated claims stood in stark contrast to the EC’s action on the numerous complaints of “arbitrary checking and prevention of voters from voting” in certain constituencies in UP. After a thorough enquiry, five police personnel were suspended in Moradabad, Kanpur and Muzaffarnagar for violating the norms and guidelines regarding checking of voters, the panel said. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar strictly directed all concerned district election officers and 13 central observers to ensure a free, fair and impartial election process without any bias against any communication.
Moradabad has a high concentration of Muslim population. And the SP’s candidate in the Kundarki seat in Moradabad, Mohammad Rizwan, also belongs to the community.
The local administration in Moradabad acknowledged complaints that barricades had been put up in some localities, causing trouble to voters. Senior Superintendent of Police Satpal Antil said wherever they received such complaints against the police, the concerned personnel were removed from duty immediately. Departmental action would also be taken, said Antil. A sub-inspector and two constables were removed from their duty in Moradabad, said the officer.
Tripathi, known for posting communal vitriol on social media, is a repeat offender. Last month, even as the police and the administration in Bahraich tried to contain communally-targeted mob violence during a procession for Durga idol immersion, he circulated a list of Muslim journalists casting doubts over their coverage of the incident.
Tripathi was Adityanath’s media advisor during his first tenure in power from 2017 to 2022.
“Just read the names of the journalists sending news from Bahraich, you will understand how unbiased and true the news is. A group of YouTubers is also engaged. The whole system is engaged in saving the rioters and in spreading lies,” Tripathi had posted then.
With his post, Tripathi attached a list of 13 journalists – all of them Muslims – along with the media group they were associated with. The list included journalists linked to NDTV, PTI, India TV , ANI, News 24, Bhaskar TV and Bharat Samachar.
