OpIndia And Guardian's Exchange Of Words Over Interview With Kajal Hindusthani (image:instagram.com/officialkajalshingala/)Since its election season, controversies are abound. Currently, an exchange of words between journalists in the media establishments OpIndia and Guardian over an interaction with Kajal Hindusthani is gaining attention.
Right-wing activist Kajal Shingala, alias Kajal Hindusthani, is a known face of Hindutva hate politics in India. Recently, she hit headlines as the Congress leader filed a complaint against her for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Patidar women in Morbi over her inciting speech. On April last year, Gujarat Police arrested her in connection with the FIR filed against her in a hate speech case. Kajal’s speech on the occasion of Ram Navami allegedly caused a communal clash in Gujarat’s Una.
In a social media post on Sunday, OpIndia’s Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma slammed the Guardian for allegedly using Kajal Hindusthani’s name to advance their divisive views. Nupur Sharma writes that the Guardian apparently picked up the illusion sold by Congress that “Hindus are divided and can be exploited.” She stated that two Guardian journalists Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Kyri Evangelou guided by independent multimedia journalist Ahmer Khan, wanted an interview with Kajal, and “They think we won’t know how it would play out,” editor argues.
Guardian seems to have bought into the illusion sold by Congress – That Hindus are divided and can be exploited. @ahmermkhan has been hounding @kajal_jaihind for an “interview” on behalf of Gaurdian. He claims two journalists – @HannahEP and @kyrievangelou – have flown to India…
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) March 24, 2024
Continuing further, she said that the attempts at turning Kajal Hindusthani into the next Nupur Sharma will fail. The Guardian should stop haranguing Kajal, she added. “You can’t justify Jihadi aggression against her by twisting her words and blaming her – like you did to Leicester Hindus. Dear @guardian – you won’t succeed. Not this time,” editor tweeted. Nupur Sharma is the former national spokesperson of BJP.
In 2022, Nupur Sharma, has made controversial remarks about Islamic prophet Muhammed on a national television channel debate and it has garnered massive criticism and protest. Her comments outraged Islamic nations including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. Following, the party suspended Nupur Sharma from the position of national spokesperson.
The Muhammed remarks controversy has been carried by international media outlets including Guardian. The Guardian‘s writings were in the lines of how Hindu hardliners frequently targeted Muslims, minority population in India. So in reference to such incidents particularly, prophet remarks row, OpIndia editor argues that Guardian‘s attempt to interview Kajal is a propagandist move.
However, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, one of the two journalists Nupur J Sharma mentioned in the tweet, dismissed latter’s claim and responded that interviewing Kajal Hindusthani was part of their election coverage. “Yes, we wanted to interview Kajal: as part of our election coverage I believe it’s important to speak to people on all sides of the political spectrum. It was a perfectly ordinary journalistic request and our interactions have been very cordial,” she wrote in the tweet.
This is a deeply odd tweet. Yes, we wanted to interview Kajal: as part of our election coverage I believe it’s important to speak to people on all sides of the political spectrum. It was a perfectly ordinary journalistic request and our interactions have been very cordial. https://t.co/sH7tpMoLOf
— Hannah Ellis-Petersen (@HannahEP) March 24, 2024
Also, in another follow-up tweet, Hannah Ellis-Petersen added, “I should add that she had initially actually agreed to speak with us. Also I’m not “flying in”, I’ve lived in India for over four years.”