German State Broadcaster's Documentary On 'Hindutva Pop Music' Is One-Sided, Biased, And Riddled With Flaws

German state-owned public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), the name of which translates as ‘German Wave’ in English, released a documentary on alleged hate-mongering ‘Hindutva pop’ songs on Monday (30 January) on their YouTube channel.

The documentary, available in both German and English, comments on songs by independent Hindu singers themed around the Hindu-Muslim conflict.

The broadcaster has called these songs “anti-Muslim hate music”.

What the documentary shows

DW journalist in India, Akanksha Saxena, met the singers, and took bytes from a journalist and a controversial commentator named Apoorvanand Jha, for the report. Throughout, she refers to these singers as “hate mongers” and a part of “divisive Hindutva politics”, and comments that these songs are widening the Hindu-Muslim divide in the Indian society.

The presence of these songs is compared to the rise of “Hindu nationalism” and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Centre in 2014. She says she found links between two singers in the report with Hindu Yuva Vahini, which was once headed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Visuals of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath have been used towards the end of the video.

The first singer shown is Sandeep Acharya, who is native to Ayodhya.

Soon after introducing his native place, DW mentions the Babri mosque and Ram Janmabhoomi controversy, like this: “In 1992, a mosque called Babri masjid, which was originally constructed during the Islamic Mughal reign in 16th century, was demolished by Hindus who believed it to be the site of Ram’s birth. This triggered riots across the Indian sub-continent…And this shaped Acharya’s ideology.”

When the Journalist met Acharya, he was performing at a fair in Ragadganj (almost 190 kilometers from Ayodhya).

The journalist interviews him and, during a conversation, he tells a story from his childhood that when his mother was admitted to a hospital and required blood urgently, she told his father to not get the blood of a Muslim. Acharya says this is the reason he is so inclined towards his ‘dharma’ as it is in his genes.

She met another singer from Lucknow named Prem Raghuvanshi who is a computer graduate by profession, but taking inspiration from Sandeep Acharya, has become a writer and singer. His songs have content similar to Acharya, and the DW journalist calls him ‘vicious’.

She says his lyrics draw from fake news circulated on Whatsapp.

Raghuvanshi tells the journalist that “if there are 57 Islamic countries in the world, then why can’t Hindus have a nation of their own?”.

Later in the documentary, the journalist blames these ‘Hindutva pop’ songs for 2022 communal clashes in Khargone, which is a town in Madhya Pradesh.

As per the documentary, the clashes broke out after Hindus played ‘hateful’ songs during a procession. It claims Hindus vandalised Muslim properties and looted them.

The documentary quotes a professor from Delhi University named Apoorvanand Jha. “When such songs are played and tolerated and enjoyed, then young people and not-so-young people think that this is something one can do…The do lead to actual acts of violence," he says.

The journalist says these songs must be banned as they are spreading hatred in the society. At the end of the video, a BJP spokesperson named Anila Singh has been quoted as saying, “Those who have problem with such music must file a complaint against the singers. The party does not endorse such music at all.”

You can watch the documentary in English here.

What the documentary does not show

This highly selective report on so-called ‘hate speech’ in India is also riddled with errors. Below is a Swarajya rebuttal of the report.

The Muslim community has its own mushaira and qawwali programmes similar to Hindu jagrans and kirtans. However, while the latter is a butt of jokes of entertainment industries such as Bollywood and stand-up comedy, the former is spared that scrutiny and mockery.

Such events often feature songs that seem to challenge the majority Hindu community.

“Mere khwaja ke ghulamon se ulajhna chhod de, phenk denge kaat kar aadha idhar aadha udhar”

(Translation: Stop meddling with the followers of Khwaja, they will chop you into pieces and throw here and there)

This is a popular qawwali in such programmes. You can watch one rendition of it at a qawwali programme in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur area here. The singer in this video, Anish Sabri, has about 7 lakh subscribers on YouTube.

Watch the use of this song in a Muslim street procession in front of a Hindu temple here.

"Jo topi wale ko lalkarega zinda gaad ke rakh denge; agar kaafiron ne sar uthaya to unka sar kaat ke rakh denge"

(Translation: If anyone dares to challenge those wearing skull cap, we will bury him dead; if non-Muslims raise their head, we will chop their heads off)

This is another popular song in the community. You can watch the song’s use for posting videos of Muslim religious processions here, here and here.

“Jis din hum maidan me aayenge..."

(Translation: The day we will enter the battlefield...)

Sung by one Waseem, this song was released on 3 October 2022 from a YouTube channel named R Music which has around 44,000 subscribers.

The lyrics say:

"Tarikh utha kar dekho hum ghazi kehlate hain, hum apne deen ki khatir toofan se lad jate hain; zulm sitam dhaane walo ko, dehshat failane walon ko, hum kya hain ek roz batayenge”

(Translation: Look at history, we Muslims are called Ghazi; we fight against storms for the sake of our religion, we will show our oppressors who we are one day)