Former parliamentarian and leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Prof Rakesh Sinha recently said that an anchor of a prominent news channel had once asked him to use derogatory language against a Muslim man during a televised debate following which he stopped making appearances at the channel in question.
The news anchor had said that mocking the Muslim panelist for his “darhi and topi (beard and headgear)” would make the debate “a hit”, Sinha further claimed.
Speaking at a seminar on “The future of Muslims in today’s India” on Wednesday. Sinha, whose Rajya Sabha term ended last year in 2024, said that the incident was from the time before he had become an MP. In a clip shared on social media, Sinha can be heard saying in Hindi: “I received a call from a TV channel…It had become a business for me to sit on TV channels from 4 pm to 11 pm…They [the anchor] said he would start the debate with me, and I was happy because when the debate starts you get some importance.”
RSS नेता राकेश सिन्हा ने क्यों बंद किया टीवी डिबेट में जाना? बोले- न्यूज़ एंकर ने मुझसे कहा आपको डिबेट के दौरान 'मुसलमानों की दाढ़ी और टोपी' के बारे में अपशब्द बोलने है, इससे हमारी TRP बढ़ जाएंगी, सुनिए TV डिबेट की सच्चाई.@RakeshSinha01 #Media #Muslim #RSS
— Journo Mirror (@JournoMirror) January 17, 2025
पूरी वीडियो यहां… pic.twitter.com/xUag3g2Tt5
Sinha said the news anchor told him to be “aggressive” in the debate. “I have spoken to my friend Ansar Razaji, who will join the debate. I have told him what has to be said…You are very calm, you need to be a little aggressive,” the news anchor is said to have told Sinha.
“The anchor asked me to use an indecent, abusive word against [the panelist’s] headgear and beard. I said, tell me if I need to say something else too. I called him again after half an hour and said these words are not enough and I should use stronger language. The anchor said that I should say whatever I want, you both will fight and I will intervene,” he said.
According to Sinha, the anchor then said that “the debate would be a hit” both of them would trend on social media.
Sinha also claimed that when the news channel sent a car to take him to the Noida studio, he had to tell them that he needed to skip the debate to go to Mumbai on urgent work.
When the news anchor asked what was so urgent, Sinha replied, “...I am tall enough and not bad to look at. I should go to Mumbai and start acting. I wasn’t born in this country to pull someone’s beard and remove their headgear.”
He added: “I will fight those who will remove someone’s headgear. I am a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and understand my responsibilities.”
Sinha, who is a former DU professor, said that after this incident from 2016 he stopped making any appearances at the channel in question. However, he did not reveal the name of the news channel or the anchor.
The former MP has been a member of BJP’s ideological parent RSS for decades and has even authored a book on its founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar. The BJP nominated Sinha to the Rajya Sabha in 2018.
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