indica News Bureau-
A producer with the US National Public Radio (NPR) has resigned after her tweet lampooning Hinduism outraged people across religions.
“If Indians give up on Hinduism, they will also be solving most of their problems, what with all the piss drinking and dung worshipping,” Furkan Khan had tweeted on Sept 9.
The backlash on social media was immediate. Users slammed Khan for the tweet and drew parallels with the messages of the terrorists who had attacked Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir in February this year and killed 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force.
Khan later deleted the tweet, saying she did not want to be misrepresented. “I have taken the tweet down so that I am not misrepresented,” she said and apologized for her earlier comment.
“I wholeheartedly apologize for my earlier tweet. It was ill-considered and unacceptable. I deleted it. I didn’t mean to disparage Hinduism or hurt anyone’s feelings. It doesn’t reflect my beliefs and principles. Please accept my sincere regret. I’ll be off Twitter for a while,” she said Wednesday.
“You can read that tweet a hundred times. Nothing, absolutely nothing justifies it. I’m a Muslim but even I can’t forgive you for what you said, I doubt Hindus would or even should,” retorted one Twitter user.
NPR said it regrets the unacceptable tweet by the New Delhi-based producer.
“This comment does not reflect the views of NPR journalists and is a violation of our ethical standards. She has publicly apologized for her tweet and resigned from NPR,” the public broadcaster said.
Meanwhile, a few netizens have started an online petition to get NPR to show “greater journalistic integrity” when reporting on Hinduism.
The petition, started by Indu Viswanathan, said the debacle of Furkan Khan’s tweet was only a symptom of a deeper issue with NPR’s journalistic integrity and accused the public broadcaster of being consistently biased against Hindus and Hinduism.
The petition said NPR makes no attempt to include a diversity of perspectives or counternarratives in “any substantial way. The only themes that are represented are Hindu nationalism, the peculiarities and exotification of Hindu worship, and Hindu violence against others.”