Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Election Commission urged to ban Tarek Fatah's programme on Zee News: 'Inflammatory statements aimed at polarizing voters ahead of UP polls'

TV channel Zee News is facing flak from Muslim groups for regularly inviting Tarek Fatah, a Pakistani-Canadian who is critical of Islam and Muslims.

Rashtriya Ulama Council (RUC), a UP-based political outfit has now made a formal complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Terming him as an instrument of agencies who want to sow seeds of communal discord in the society and spreading hate among religious communities, the RUC has urged ECI to ban 'Fatah Ka Fatwa' programme.

"Just when five states are going to polls, the programme where Fatah insults Islamic figures, consistently targets Islam, tries to provoke people and uses inflammatory language, is being aired".

"The programme Fateh Ka Fatwa should be stopped in national interest", says RUC.

"It seems a conspiracy that Fatah would be allowed to air his inflammatory comments on a regular basis. These comments hurt crores of people, also poison the minds of rest of the society and lead to communal disharmony", the representation reads.

"Freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom to hurt sentiments and such statements that intend to divide the society on communal lines. It is a clear attempt to polarize voters on the eve of the crucial state assembly elections", the RUC has said.

What makes Tarek Fatah a favourite for right-wing in India? Though a Pakistani, Fateh has been living in Canada. He has earlier said that he wished to see India divided. Yet, right-wing seems to be in love with him.

The reason is apparently his diatribe against Islam and Muslims. Of late, a campaign has also begun on social media--to unsubscribe Zee News and write to Asian Paints that sponsors the 'Fatah Ka Fatwa' programme.

For example, see this petition addressed to KBS Anand, the managing director and CEO of Asian Paints, urging him to stop sponsoring the programme. There are several other campaigns on social media, against Zee News and Tarek Fatah, these days.