25, Oct 2022 | CJP Team

Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has filed a complaint with the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) against Aaj Tak’s ‘Black and White Show’ for containing themes of communal divide throughout its narrative. The host, Sudhir Chaudhary, did not try to mask his bias in any manner, manipulated facts and actively participating in the communal diatribe. The organisation has objected to the tone, tenor and choice of words spoken as well as displayed on the screen during the show. Since, this isin direct violation of the code of ethics and broadcasting as laid down by the NBDSA, the organization has escalated the same and filed a complaint.

The show was flagged off by the host with a communally polarising question: Muslim yuvaon ka garba ke pandolon meijaane ka makshad akhir hai kya? (What is the reason for Muslim youth to go to garba pandals?) CJP has mentioned in its letter that the show projects its prejudice against Islam and its followers by questioning why Muslims should take interest in participating in a festival that is celebrated by Hindus.

CJP had first shared our concerns with the Aaj Tak channel as per procedure on October 6, 2022. But after not receiving any kind of a response from the channel till October 20, 2022, we approached the NBDSA.

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Some extracts from the show are mainly comments made by Chaudhary, the host of the show, which clearly make his communal narrative visible and obvious, threatening to mar, even destroy the secular fabric of the country. Examples of these are:

…breaking news to aapne bahut suni hogi, lekin aaj hum aapkeliye ek breaking vishleshan karenge. us khabar ka vishleshankarenge ji par hamare desh mein aaj kal bahut bahas ho rahihai. (You must have heard a lot of breaking news, but today we will do a breaking analysis for you. We will analyze that news, but there is a lot of debate in our country these days.)

…aur vah khabar hai garba karyakramon mein muslim yuvakonke upar lagayi gayi rok.(And that news is the ban imposed on Muslim youths in garba programs)

The brazen remarks that have been made by Sudhir Chaudhary directly fall with offensive and communal lines, which goes against the ethics of journalism and principles of self- regulation, including the code laid down by the NBDSA. The host’s specific questions like Inn garba pandalo mei muslim ladke hi kyu jaa rahe hai? Muslim ladkiyan kyu nahi, are completely unwarranted and baseless. Does the host even know how many Muslim girls are involved in participation/playing garba in these pandals? Is there any data to backup such claims being made on national television? As the anchor of show on a news channel, that is supposed to have a neutral and unbiased theme, the host did not even attempt to have any non-communal theme on the show.

The complaint also brings forward a gross violation on part of Aaj Tak, wherein attempts have been made to pitch the Hindu community against the Muslim community by bringing up issues of conflict during the show. The host has also presented“data” that claimed that the channel’s team went to the pandalsand found that Muslim boys are befriending Hindu girls.Throughout the show, the host was keen on leading the debate with her own set of ideologies and biases, and use their reach to influence the audience.

The complaint can be read here.

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