5 channels spun NCERT textbook poem into ‘love jihad’ plot. Watchdog orders takedown

The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority has issued an order directing five news channels to take down eight shows that accused an NCERT textbook of a ‘love jihad’ conspiracy.

The order signed by Justice AK Sikri (Retd), chairperson of the NBDSA, directed India TV, News 18 MP/Chhattisgarh, Zee Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh, Zee News and ABP News “to remove the videos of the impugned broadcasts, if still available, from the website of the channel(s) or YouTube, and remove all hyperlinks, including access,” within seven days of the order and confirm the same to the media watchdog.

The shows had referred to a chapter titled ‘Chitti Aayi Hai’ (letter has arrived) in an “outdated NCERT class 3 EVS” textbook. These were aired in September 2024, and the complaint with the NBDSA was filed later that month by Indrajeet Ghorpade and Utkarsh Mishra. 

In its order on Tuesday, the NBDSA argued that merely because a girl wrote that letter to a boy, both of whom belonged to different religions, there was “no reason to give the narrative of ‘love jihad’,” and that “India is a secular country, which is the constitutional mandate as well”. Thus, the “giving of this slant to a particular chapter in an NCERT book by the broadcasters would amount to the violation of the Code of Conduct.” 

The order acknowledged the essential submission of these channels – that one parent had “made a complaint in respect of the aforesaid chapter by raising a grievance”, following which they decided to cover it as a “news item”. 

The order explained that “had the telecast been limited to covering the said complaint as news”, there may not have been any objection to it. “Instead, this complaint was turned into a debate by the broadcasters with a specific narrative, and while doing so, the broadcasters did not take the interviews of any other persons or parents,” the order argued. Moreover, these channels failed to account for “persons holding different views” as well. “Thus, the way programmes were structured [by these broadcasters] clearly showed a lack of objectivity,” it added.        

Many channels are repeat offenders. In early October, nearly a year after they invented the “mehendi jihad’ conspiracy, the NBDSA reprimanded them for breaching journalistic ethics and directed them to take down all videos carrying this content. Newslaundry had detailed how Zee News wasn’t alone in propagating such theories. 

Several other channels had amplified claims by Hindutva outfits about “garba jihad”. Even channels like ABP News, India TV and organisations like Network 18 have repeatedly alleged ‘love jihad’ conspiracies in their coverage.  

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