Islamophobic Remarks :
Desh Nahi Jhukne Denge (Won’t let the Nation Down), a primetime TV news program, is hosted by Aman Chopra.
He is one of the influential hateful voices in Indian mainstream media who helped normalize the spread of anti-Muslim bigotry on news networks. His performances are an obvious display of Islamophobia and the demonization of Muslims.
Similar to other Indian primetime news programs, Chopra’s program only features anti-Muslim and anti-Hindu conspiracy theories.
For instance, the ‘thook jihad’ (spitting in food jihad) conspiracy served as the basis for one of his presentations. On Chopra’s show dated November 16, 2021, an hour was spent to talking about the “issue” of how Indian Muslims are reportedly purposely weakening India’s efforts to fight coronavirus by spitting into food.
He sycophantically tweeted “Honored” the day after the show aired, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reciprocated by following him.
Chopra showed the video of the beating of the 10 Muslim males who had been viciously beaten by police after being accused of throwing stones at a Hindu gathering in Kheda, Gujarat. He urged the audience to anticipate police beatings of Muslim men as he celebrated the public canning of Muslims.
Chopra frequently referred to the policemen’s performance of the socio-religious folk dance known as “dandiya” (public caning of the males) as being enjoyable. Chopra instructed his crew to turn up the volume and display the images of the policeman striking the men who were tied to a utility pole with “full ambience” in case they weren’t frightening enough already. They were throwing stones at the Hindu festival gathering known as the garba, but the police engaged them in a socio-religious traditional dance known as the dandiya, he claimed in jest.
His official program titles are frequently overtly and abhorrently anti-Muslim. Most of the guests on the show are far-right Hindu leaders, Hindu radicals, or well-known anti-Muslim bigots who often bash and slander Muslims throughout the program with Chopra. As a “representative” of the “other side,” one dummy Muslim Maulana (priest) would be placed on the panel and would occasionally shout, make some absurd remarks, and then sit humbly for the remainder of the discussion.
Few titles of his show
“Bharat ke khilaaf hijabi gathbandhan”
(Hijabi coalition against India)
“Hindu Rashtra par Baba ka kesariya plan”
(Baba’s saffron plan on declaration of Hindu Rashtra (Nation))
“Islamic Kattarta ki Kashmir files”
(‘Kashmir files’ of Islamic extremism)
(Expand army and save Hindus)
“Garba par pathar bazi apradh ya jihad!”
(Stone pelting on Garba (Hindu Festival) congregation, crime or jihad)
“Khane mein thookna, jihad ya jahalat?” (Spitting in food, jihad or barbarism?)
Chopra is at ease using at least derogatory euphemisms to refer to Muslims. He refers to Muslims as “Jihadis,” “Deshdrohis,” “atankwadis,” “agents,” “conspirators,” “tukde-tukde gangs,” and other derogatory terms.
Chopra has been hit on the knuckle more than once in the general climate of impunity. On October 21, 2022, the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) issued a second order about a show he hosted for News18 India, this time regarding a broadcast from April 20 that covered a demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri. With tickers such “JCB = Jihad Control Board,” the show “glorified” the demolition campaign by referring to individuals impacted as “Rohingyas,” “rioters,” and “jihadis.”
Following that, on October 26, 2022, the NBDSA fined News18 India Rs 50,000 for its coverage of the Karnataka hijab prohibition. The panelists who supported the hijab were frequently compared to Al Qaeda by Chopra, the host of the program that aired on April 6, 2022.
When Muslim girls were protesting the ban on the hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women in public, Chopra called them the “hijabi gang” and the “hijab wali ghazwa gang” and made “false allegations that they had resorted to rioting.”
Chopra was fined Rs. 50,000 by the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) for voicing “extreme views” towards the Muslim community in the program.
His views during the program imply that Muslims in India are perfectly safe and that Hindus are at risk from the Muslim population. His social media posts are just as hateful. He makes up for whatever is still at the news studio on Twitter.