“No Food To Eat But Produce Children”: Kannada TV Anchor Spews Hatred Against Muslims, FIR Filed

A complaint against Public TV anchor Arun Badiger has been filed at Mulki Police Station in Dakshina Kannada district for delivering incendiary and provocative statements against Muslims in a debate show aired by the channel.

Badiger, an anchor and presenter with the Public TV channel delivered a hate-fuelled monologue on air during one of his debate programs broadcasted on February 22. During the program, which was on the murder of Bajrang Dal worker, Harsha, Badiger made insulting remarks targeting the community.

Under the guise of targeting the Congress party and questioning the opposition, Arun Badiger’s provocative monologue ignited prominent stereotypes attached to the community with statements such as “Although they have no proper clothing to cover themselves, no food to eat, they still want to produce more children”.

The complaint against the anchor was filed by S Abdul Khader, a resident of KS Rao Nagar in Mulki.

What Did Arun Badiger Say?

In his 5 minutes long tirade against Congress and its alleged appeasement of the Muslim community, Arun Badiger said the following:

“Since the Congress folks are here, there are some questions for them, how much should we tolerate? In 1947, when the partition occurred during the time of independence Pakistan was given as an Islamic country and our nation was made into a secular country. More than the Hindus, the Muslim side was appeased to, that too we tolerated. Hindus have to follow the country’s law, but Muslims have both the country’s law and the Shariah law as well, that too we tolerated. To spread the religion of Muslims, Madrasas were made available to teach the Quran and government-funded them as well, that too we tolerated.

Although they have no clothing to wear, food to eat, they were not advised to obtain education and grow economically, they were given opportunities to marry 4 – 5 times and also allowed to make 4 -5 children increase their population, that too we tolerated. Pandits were murdered in Kashmir, they were chased away from there, that too the people of this nation tolerated.”

You all stood in support of the ‘Tukde’ gang, with the gang who want to divide this nation, even that was tolerated by the people of this country. Including PFI, when various organizations created trouble, their cases were withdrawn, which was also tolerated by the people of this state and country. If anybody talks in support of the Hindu religion, then they are called communal and if one speaks in support of Muslims then they are secularists, as labelled by you, is this your stand?

If the Saffron cap is worn, it is thrown away and they wear Muslim caps, and call themselves secularists, should you be called secularists? In 2008, serial blasts in Ahmedabad, you stand in support of Abu Bashar, calling him innocent. Recently it was shown he was involved in that and punished, we tolerated this as well. 

Even in Kashmir, what was your stand about a terrorist? It was that he is not one but that he is innocent, that too was tolerated by this country. By planting seeds of poison between castes in the Hindu religion, you tried breaking the Hindu religion, which too was tolerated by this country, because that is this India’s culture.

Those talking about the Hindu religion, threaten them and maim them. That too is tolerated by this country. The girl children in the Muslim faith must live comfortably, and should not be subjected to exploitation by men, so they live in complete freedom is what this country’s culture hoped for them. That is because these girl children are honoured in this country as they are given the status of goddess, despite this, you stand in support of the men and not in support of the women. 

However, today those girl children are asking that you should not wear vermilion or bangles, which too is being tolerated by us. An MLA states that if Burkha is worn, it results in rape, even that was tolerated by this nation. If Burkha isn’t worn, it results in rape. By making claims about intolerance, this nation’s dignity was tarnished and now murders are happening, isn’t this intolerance? Why, have you locked your mouth now? Speak today. 

Those that cried intolerance that day, can’t they see this intolerance today? Those that were protesting for the Hijab claimed that they have a right to wear it and amid their fight, they pointed fingers directly saying ‘Yours is a despicable culture’ when girls were passing when other students were passing by. That too was tolerated by the girls who were there. Why? It’s because of this trait, the cultural trait. It is an Indian trait, to tolerate. It’s because we tolerated that we have reached this situation. 

Your stand about distributing eggs in school will be different and Hijab will be different. We tolerated that as well. Why? Because we have to tolerate. ‘There are 15 crores of us and you are 100 crores in number, but we are at par with you. Leave and watch, Give us 15 minutes and withdraw all police, see what we are capable of, we’ll show you what is our strength’, when this statement was said by a Muslim leader in the country, that too was tolerated by this nation.

‘For 800 years, we have ruled this country, this is our country and we will establish this country’, a Muslim leader said this, and that too was tolerated by this nation. How much more should be tolerated in this country? Decide that. After having tolerated this long, why wasn’t a Muslim leader criticized by the community when he said, ‘watch what happens once Muslims become 40%, we will enter Hindu homes and rape their girls”, he has said it openly in the nation, and still this nation tolerated. Why? Because this nation’s soil holds an attribute of tolerance. They won’t even accept Bharath Mate or the constitution or the law of this nation. Sad part! I don’t know what response the Congress will give”, he berated. 

Islamophobia In Kannada Media – A Rising Phenomenon

Recently, in the background of the Hijab controversy in the state, various Kannada media channels were reprimanded by citizens and social collectives for their unethical reporting and harassment of the Hijab-clad students. 

However, this is not the first time that this section of the mass media has indulged in blatantly Islamophobic reportage. In 2020, the citizen’s collective known as Campaign against Hate Speech had done extensive work towards media accountability in the background of media’s Islamophobic coverage targeting the Tablighi Jamaat during the pandemic. 

Based on the complaints filed by the Campaign against Hate Speech, the NBSA had issued orders against News18 Kannada, Suvarna News, and Times Now in 2021. 

The campaign had moved the NBSA against these channels for the hateful coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in which they had targeted members of Tablighi Jamaat as well as the entire Muslim community.

In their comments against the perpetrating channels, the NBSA had pointed out the basic principles of accuracy, impartiality, neutrality, and objectivity that must be adhered to and stated, “The anchor must be balanced and cannot push a debate towards a certain agenda”.