Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, declared on Tuesday that the number of Muslims appearing for and clearing the Union Public Service Exams recently had suddenly risen. “How has the number of Muslim IPS [Indian Police Service] and IAS [Indian Administrative Service] officers increased recently?” he asked viewers. “What will happen if ‘Jamia ke jihadi’ rise to positions of authority in the country?”
His nonsensical claim that students of Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi, which has long been the target of Hindutva supporters, were waging a jihad, joins a long list of other purported struggles that conspiracy theorists believe India’s Muslims are waging: love jihad, in which young Muslim men seduce Hindu women to marry and covert them to Islam; land jihad to build shrines on public land; cow jihad to steal bovines; organ jihad to donate human organs that will then be transplanted into the bodies of Hindus and presumably sully them; and cab jihad to undercut auto rickshaw drivers.
These theories and others are explored at greater length in this article.
Chavanke is known for stoking communal tensions and inciting religious violence, as well as his widespread misinformation campaigns.
The IPS Association has tweeted condemning Sudarshan TV for its “communal and irresponsible piece of journalism”.
RTI activist Saket Ghokhale tweeted that he is in the process of filing a complaint against the news channel editor.
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