Ummehaanee Ali
India has long been celebrated for its rich heritage and cultural diversity. However, beneath the illusion of unity in diversity, deep-seated fissures have emerged, exposing fault lines that were once hidden from the mainstream discourse.
Over the past decade, hate has become more visible than ever in a country that once prided itself on its multicultural ethos. The rabid spread of hostility, fueled by ideological and political motivations, has led to minorities being pushed to the margins—socially, politically, and even physically displaced from their lands.
Today, India wrestles with loaded questions of “true” loyalty to the nation. The state’s definition of patriotism is no longer implicit but instead comes with prescribed conditions—conditions that minorities, particularly Muslims, are expected to fulfill to prove their allegiance. Increasingly, they are cast as “illegal” or “outsiders,” burdened with the constant need to validate their belonging to the land they have inhabited for centuries.
The Role of Media: Truth or Manufactured Perception?
Journalism, once seen as a profession dedicated to truth, has now become a key player in shaping national consciousness. It holds the power to inform, influence, and challenge narratives. However, in contemporary India, mainstream media has often chosen to amplify propaganda rather than present an unbiased reality.
Hate speeches by politicians in positions of power, coupled with blatant Islamophobia in public discourse, have led to a surge in violence—lynchings, targeted assaults, and social ostracization. Rather than acting as a counterbalance to such rhetoric, much of the media has become complicit in manufacturing narratives that reinforce existing prejudices.
The language used by Indian media in its coverage of Muslims reveals a clear bias. The framing of news stories, the selective choice of words, and the overall tone contribute to a climate where Muslims are vilified as the “other.”
A study titled “Uncovering the Essence of Diverse Media Biases from Semantic Embedding Space” explores how media bias shapes public perception. It states:
“Media bias potentially hinders readers from forming objective judgments about the real world, leading to skewed public opinion and even exacerbating social prejudices and unfairness.”
The power of media lies in its language, and language, as history has shown, is a tool of both communication and manipulation.
A Deliberate Demonization
Indian media, through calculated narratives, has successfully influenced a large section of the majority by portraying Muslims as threats to national security and social harmony. Terms like “ghuspetiye” (infiltrators) and “illegal immigrants” are frequently used in political debates and news coverage to paint an entire community as unwanted outsiders.
The cognitive miser theory in psychology suggests that humans tend to process information in simplified ways to avoid cognitive overload. This means that repeated exposure to biased news narratives leads audiences to internalize stereotypes without questioning them. A group of researchers explains:
“Faced with endless information, ordinary readers will tend to summarize and remember the news content simply, leading to a skewed judgment.”
This is particularly evident in the Indian media’s framing of issues such as ‘Love Jihad’, ‘UPSC Jihad’, ‘Corona Jihad’, and ‘Islamic Terrorism.’ These terms, devoid of factual basis, create fear and paranoia among the majority while dehumanizing an entire community.
Rather than offering critical analysis, the language used in these reports reinforces dangerous stereotypes, reducing Muslims to a monolithic entity associated with extremism.
The mainstreaming of anti-Muslim rhetoric is not limited to media channels—it is echoed in political speeches that further legitimize Islamophobia.
A study by Mohibul Haque and Abdullah Khan titled “Mapping Islamophobia: The Indian Media Environment” examined a political statement made during a TV program on August 31, 2014. In a rally in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath declared:
“Hindu culture and Muslim culture can never co-exist, and a religious war is inevitable, for which Hindus need to get organized and face this challenge aggressively. We want you (minorities) not to kill anybody and live peacefully and concentrate on progress … If the other side does not stay in peace, we will teach them how to stay in peace … in the language that they understand.”
Such statements, when amplified by the media, not only justify discrimination but also normalize the exclusion of Muslims from the national fabric.
Echoes from History
A glance at history reminds us of how propaganda has been used to justify persecution. The dehumanization of Jews in Nazi Germany was systematically executed through state-controlled media, creating a hostile public perception that ultimately facilitated the Holocaust. Similar patterns can be observed in India today. Author Arundhati Roy, reflecting on the rising tide of Islamophobia, noted:
“…efforts were being made to normalize Islamophobia…”
This normalization is dangerous. Once a prejudice becomes socially acceptable, it emboldens hate crimes, policy discrimination, and institutionalized segregation.
As citizens of a democratic nation, it is our responsibility to demand ethical journalism—one that prioritizes facts over fear, truth over propaganda. Journalism must return to its fundamental purpose: to inform and not to manipulate, to challenge power and not to serve it.
For India to reclaim its identity as a pluralistic society, media houses must recognize the power they wield and use it responsibly. They must choose to heal rather than divide, to report rather than incite, and to challenge prejudice rather than propagate it.
Only then can the nation move toward a future built on truth, justice, and inclusivity.
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