Shameless whitewashing of Sheikh Shahjahan and the plight of Sandeshkhali women by The Hindu: How they chose to protect Mamata Banerjee

 

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

Every Saturday, the English newspaper The Hindu publishes a full-page story titled “Ground Zero”. On February 24th, 2024, they decided to finally honor us with their version of the horrors of Sandeshkhali, in West Bengal. 

The headline is not the only thing that will throw you off. But let’s quickly discuss the disgusting nature of the headline. In the English language, Fire and smoke are terms often used to justify page-3-type gossip and political rumors. Not to justify serious criminal complaints of rape, gang rape, violence and harassment. The dreaded editors of The Hindu have no qualms though in resorting to such cheap headlines. Like I said at the beginning of this paragraph, the headline is not the only thing that will throw you off. 

At the center of all the serious criminal complaints of rape, gang rape, violence, and harassment is the dreaded criminal Sheikh Shahjahan. According to The Hindu, who is Sheikh Shahjahan? Let’s take a look at the image below (which is a snippet from the article).

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

When do you use phrases such as “humble beginnings” and “rose to prominence”? These are phrases that have a positive connotation and are used when describing inspiring stories of heroes in our society. However, in our country, we have these brain-dead editors in the English media who possess this petulant penchant for romanticizing the lives of dreaded criminals and terrorists. After everything that we have heard about this hard-core criminal, can you imagine that The Hindu actually wants us to be in awe of how Sheikh Shahjahan “rose to political prominence”. Shahjahan is so awesome that “Mamata Banerjee had once described him as “popular”. 

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

It took an ED raid for the world to unearth the dreaded empire of this criminal, Shahjahan. “Little known” Shahjahan was so awesome that when ED raided him, bringing him into the limelight, he ensured that his mob attacked and injured the officers. And the brave man that he is, he ran away!

You may argue that The Hindu has graciously given space to a full page for this story and I am nitpicking on a small paragraph. I will make it a little easier for you to understand how The Hindu story is structured. If it was not for social media (especially OpIndia), I would have easily thought that this whole ruckus about Shahjahan is just about land grabbing from poor people. Because everything that I have marked in the pink shade in the article (image below) talks about land grabbing “allegations” by villagers against Shahjahan.

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

The elaborate introductory paragraphs describe how a woman bravely recorded her statement before the magistrate, and only towards the end of this section (the small patch of red I highlighted), we are told as a matter of fact that the allegations were about how she was raped, 5 months ago. 

Everything that I have marked in the red shade is actually instances when the article refers to the multiple horror stories of rape that the women of Sandeshkhali have poured out. You can easily notice how The Hindu has taken elaborate pains to make this issue more about land grabbing and less about rape and violence. 

After elaborately explaining to us the land grabbing and violent stories that the villagers are “alleging”, The Hindu begins a section titled “The political flashpoint” (the 2nd patch of the red box I highlighted in the above image)

Snippet from the article by The Hindu on Sandeshkhali

We were told that the “floodgates opened” only after “a woman from Sandeshkhali told…”. Please notice the absence of any adjectives to describe the bravery of this woman and every woman who spoke after this. The section very quickly transitions to how the police have dutifully informed the press that no rape complaints were ever filed before February 15th and hence they didn’t know about this. And then how various political leaders are trying to make a beeline to this area. 

And then the article amazingly moves back to the stories of land grabbing and arrests. You would think many culprits have been arrested, but according to this story – more than 10 BJP workers, 1 television journalist (The Hindu doesn’t even want to say Republic TV!), and a former MLA come CPI have been arrested, in addition to just 2 Trinamool leaders. The article ends with how the woman who recorded her statement before the magistrate continues to live in fear.

It’s not as if they can’t use better adjectives or writing skills to accurately describe the pain and the courage that is currently on display by the residents of Sandeshkhali. It’s just that they chose to save the incumbent TMC government from any bad imaging. It’s just that the editors chose to tell the world that they have no conscience.