Sudarshan News ([सुदर्शन न्यूज़] Error: {{Langx}}: transliteration text not Latin script (help)) is an Indian right-wing[5]news channel.[6] It was founded in 2005 by Suresh Chavhanke, the chairman and editor-in-chief.[7]
Chavhanke was a long-term volunteer of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), also associating with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of RSS.[7] He asserts that he practices ideology-driven journalism[8] and prefers that the news programs on his channel be viewed as opinionated campaigns.[7]
The channel has been widely criticised for blatant communal broadcasting.[6][7][8]
Reception
Hate speech
In April 2017, Chavhanke was arrested for allegedly inciting communal hatred through multiple episodes of a flagship program.[7][8] He secured bail two days later.
Chavhanke claims to have contributed towards the ochlocratic atmosphere that led to police complaints and death threats against M. F. Husain for allegedly violating Hindu sentiments. As a result, Husain left India on a self-imposed exile until his death.[7]
Anti-Muslim fear-mongering propaganda
Dissemination of anti-Muslim content to manufacturing actual news with neutral overtones has been alleged.[8] Critics allege the channel as "bigoted" and "dangerous" for its communal-toned fake news.[11][12][13] Hilal Ahmed, a professor of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, alleges a call for extrajudicial lynching of Muslims, who refused to chant a particular slogan in praise of the motherland, whilst discussing the context of Islamophobic discourse in media and its role in creating the stereotypical image of Indian Muslims.[14]
In June 2018, the Delhi Minorities Commission issued a notice to the channel after it broadcast a program that claimed a Muslim-dominated region was inhabited by illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators.[8][15][16]
On 25 August 2020, a Sudarshan News trailer uploaded by Suresh Chavhanke suggesting that Muslim students were infiltrating administrative services as "UPSC jihad," became viral. It was heavily condemned, including by former senior bureaucrats, judges, and the Home Minister. Broadcast of the actual TV programme was stayed by the Delhi High Court and the matter is sub-judice.[17][18][19][20][21][22]
Fake news
On multiple occasions, Sudarshan News was found to be spreading fake news.[6] In 2019, the channel broadcast an old video, which was morphed with slogans calling for the killings of RSS workers. In 2014, fake quotes were attributed to Shahrukh Khan by the news channel.[6] During the Delhi riots of 2020, the channel was found to be spreading communally charged fake news.[23]
In March 2019, a Kozhikode district court ordered the channel to pay a compensation of ₹50 lakh (US$60,000) to Malabar Gold in a defamation suit, after it broadcast edited visuals alleging the company of having celebrated Pakistani Independence Day.[24][25]
References
^Jafri, Alishan (28 June 2021). "The 'Hindutva Ecosystem' Has a New Anti-Muslim Narrative. This Time Street Vendors Are the Target". The Wire. Retrieved 19 February 2022. Sudarshan News, a far-right TV channel often accused of broadcasting hatred against Muslims, reported the Uttam Nagar protest in an extremely inflammatory manner. Throughout the show, Sudarshan reporter Sagar Kumar and anchor Shubham Tripathi referred to Muslims as 'jihadis' and used other derogatory terms.
^Nair, Anagha Subhash (18 January 2022). "Hindu extremists in India escalate rhetoric with calls to kill Muslims". NBC News. Retrieved 19 February 2022. Speaking in Delhi, Suresh Chavhanke, editor of the right-wing outlet Sudarshan News, administered an oath to attendees that "until our last breath, to make India a Hindu nation, keep it a Hindu-only nation, we will fight and die, and if required we will kill as well."
^Mehta, Archit; Zubair, Mohammed (9 December 2021). "How disinformation led to the attack on missionary school in MP by right-wing groups". Alt News. Retrieved 19 February 2022. Several other right-wing channels have also amplified the false "conversion narrative", including Sudarshan News. The disinformation led to violence when Class XII students were giving a mathematics exam and barely escaped the attack.
^Hassan, Jakir (18 October 2021). "Sudarshan News Shares Video Of Teacher Punishing His Student With False Communal Narrative". The Logical Indian. Retrieved 19 February 2022. Sudarshan News, an Indian right-wing news channel, posted a video on Twitter with a communal narrative. The video shows a classroom where a boy is being brutally beaten by the teacher with a stick. The video shows the teacher repeatedly kicking him with his feet.
