On January 19th, 2024, the LA Times published an article titled “Grand temple promised by Modi to open before election” by Sheikh Saliq and Biswajeet Banerjee. The article is the usual piece of Hindu-hating invectives, innuendoes, and full of half-truths that we have to come to expect from anti-Hindu media syndicates like the LA Times. The author, in her capacity as the director of communications for Americans for Hindus PAC, wrote to the LA Times objecting to the offending article and pointed out the specific points in the article that were seriously problematic. The LA Times responded with a stand-offish one-liner, “This is an Associated Press story, not one of ours.” The author shot back, noting that regardless of where the story was originally published, the LA Times has the responsibility to check a story’s veracity before publishing it.
Editor’s note: Since the prevalent anti-Hindu bias in the media is a serious issue for the Hindu American community, the entire exchange is reproduced here for our readers. We also ran a cursory background check on one of the writers of the article, Sheikh Seliq. It turns out that this pseudo-journo is running something of an anti-India and anti-Modi cottage industry, as the titles of his past articles clearly indicate:
- Critics of India’s Modi government face sedition charges.
- ‘I am so afraid’: India’s poor face world’s largest lockdown.
- India’s winter of discontent: Farmers rise up against Modi.
- India’s residency law in Kashmir amplifies demographic fears.
- Muslims in fear as police crackdown in India’s heartland.
We could not find a single article in his portfolio that could be considered “balanced.”
Letter from Geeta Sikand <[email protected]> to LA Times ([email protected] <[email protected]>)
Subject: “Grand temple promised by Modi to open before election” Page A2 by Sheikh Saliq and Biswajeet Banerjee January 19th, 2024 [1]
Dear Editor
This article illustrates the failure of the media by allowing the intellectual poison against Hindus to go unchecked. The authors failed to point out that archaeological evidence shows a Hindu Mandir (temple) existed in Ayodhya prior to the mosque since the 2nd millennium, dating back to the 12th century. [2]
Destroyed by Muslims in the sixteenth century, its foundation was used to erect the Mosque. Thus, the site was disputed by Hindus and Muslims for the last 500 years. In 2019, the Indian Supreme Court verdict allowed the Hindus to “re-build” their temple and set aside five acres nearby for the Muslims to build the largest mosque in India. [3]
Cultivated ignorance must stop, defined as deliberately projecting Hindus as “Oppressors” while subverting the findings from respected organizations like the Pew Research Center’s “Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation,” which showed all minorities in India feel free to practice their religion.
Geeta Sikand, Irvine CA; Director of Communications, Americans For Hindus PAC
Response from Canalis, John <[email protected]> of LATimes; Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 8:55 AM
Hi Geeta, this is an Associated Press story, not one of ours, but I appreciate you writing.
Rejoinder from Geeta Sikand to Canalis, John <[email protected]> of LA Times; Mon 1/22/2024 3:39 PM
John, thank you for your response regarding my complaint about the false Hinduphobic article “Grand temple promised by Modi to open before election,” Los Angeles Times, January 19th 2024.
Your response, “This is an Associated Press story, not one of ours.” I am disappointed. I see a total lack of ownership by the Times. Please know, these Hinduphobic articles are having a detrimental impact on my Hindu community. Sadly, six Hindu temples (Mandirs) have been vandalized (hate crimes) in Northern California over the last four weeks.
Honorable Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan, <[email protected]>), Chair of Hindu Congressional Caucus: I am looping you in this conversation.
Below are my comments to John (LA Times)
- Why would the Times publish stories from another platform (AP) without fact-checking for accuracy? Clearly, there is a lack of ownership by the Times.
- On behalf of “Hindu American Foundation” and “Americans for Hindus,” we (Geeta S, Suhag S, Samir K, Neeraj K, Deepak S; copied) met with you and the Times staff (virtual) on October 11th 2023. We agreed, the Times would reach out to the “Hindu American Foundation” (copied) for Hindu resources/authors/scholars. Yet, the Times irresponsibly chose to publish the above anti-Hindu hate article from AP on January 19th 2024.
- On September 2nd 2023, the Times published a Hinduphobic comic that made a mockery of a Hindu Goddess. The Times’ response to our complaint was, “Cartoonists are contractors, not employees.” Again, a lack of ownership by the Times.
- A track record of 33 Hinduphobic articles were published by the Times over the past four years (2019-2024). I submitted my responses to each article at [email protected]. Unfortunately, my 33 letters were not published, suggesting that the LA Times articles are written by agenda-driven activists in the garb of journalists.
Citation
- https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?pubid=50435180-e58e-48b5-8e0c-236bf740270e&edid=07d48a2e-cabe-4781-92e2-f9be8a083d36&pnum=2
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babri_Masjid#cite_note-FOOTNOTEJain,_Rama_and_Ayodhya20139,_120,_164-32/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babri_Masjid#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKunal,_Ayodhya_Revisited2016xv-33/