Swara Bhaskar on ‘Love Jihad’ and the growing intolerance

The tirade against "love jihad " recently on a prominent news channel (where panelists were heard asking that cross-communal marriages be forbidden by law) provoked strong protests from all corners.

Reacting to these protests Zomato has agreed to “look into” its advertorial stakes in the Republic TV channel.

But activist-actress Sawara Bhaskar says she is not convinced by Zomato's liberal leniency. “I think that was just a standard response. I think what is more telling is the kind of trolling it generated from Right Wing trolls and so-called fans of the particular channel. We live in times when hate and lies have been normalised by the very people whose job is to report so-called facts.”

Swara accuses mainstream news of fanning and fuelling hatred. “The mainstream news media today has become the most unreliable and irresponsible source of rabble rousing. When they are called out and their hate and bullying is held accountable they respond with trolling and more hate. But this is the pushback to hate from normal rational citizens. We must hold the media and the government accountable as citizens and as taxpayers.”