Hindu journalist pressured to hide sacred Kalava on air during UPA era

Case ID : 0b66aae | Location : India | Date of Incident : Mon, 13 May, 2024

Case ID : 0b66aae

India

13 May, 2024

Hindu journalist pressured to hide sacred Kalava on air during UPA era

Restriction/ban on Hindu practices

Restriction on expression of Hindu identity

Case Summary

On May 14, a video went viral on X (formerly Twitter), featuring senior journalist Ashok Shrivastav of the state-owned DD news channel. In the 38-second clip, shared by Anand Ranganathan, Shrivastav discusses the Congress party's anti-Hindu policies and Muslim appeasement. Recounting an incident from the UPA administration in 2006-2007, he recalls being summoned by a top Doordarshan official who instructed him to hide his "kalava" (a sacred Hindu thread) on screen. Shrivastav refused, stating that the kalava is part of his identity and a matter of pride.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been placed under the sub-category 'Restriction on expression of Hindu identity' under the prime category, 'Restriction/ban on Hindu practices' of the hate tracker. An example of the state-affected prejudicial and targeted orders against the Hindu community would be a government denying the right of a Hindu or a group of Hindus to hold a religious procession owing to the animosity of non-Hindu groups. Denial of the religious right of the Hindus to assuage the non-Hindu group which harbours animosity to a point where it could lead to violence against Hindus is not only a failure of law and order but is a prejudicial order against Hindus, denying them their fundamental rights to express their religious identity. An example of a hate crime against Hindus by a non-Hindu would be a non-Hindu institution forcing its Hindu employees to abandon religious symbols that a Hindu would wear as an expression of faith owing to inherent prejudice against the faith professed by the victim or a non-Hindu group of people restricting a Hindu group from constructing a place of worship simply because the demography of the area in which the temple is being built is dominated by non-Hindus. Such actions are driven by religious animosity and/or prejudice against Hindus and their faith and would therefore be categorized as a hate crime. Here, senior journalist Ashok Shrivastav of the state-owned DD news channel, himself, testified that when Congress was at the helm of affairs in the country, he was summoned by a top Doordarshan official who instructed him to hide his "kalava" (a sacred thread tied on the wrist as part of Hindu religious practices) on screen. This is a clear display of religious intolerance. The Kalava holds deep religious and cultural significance in Hinduism, symbolising devotion and protection. The kalava is an outward expression of one's faith, and demanding its concealment is an infringement on an individual's right to express their religious identity. Given that the initial motivation for the imposition of this anti-Hindu diktat was hatred for Hindu religious practices, this can be called a religiously motivated hate crime and has been added to the tracker.