On Thursday, Hindustan Times said it was suspending a journalist for her tweets on Hindu god Lord Krishna. Several Twitterati had called her tweets ‘derogatory and Hinduphobic’.
HT tweeted, “Hindustan Times does not endorse Srishti Jaswal’s comments which were made on her personal Twitter handle and in her personal capacity. She has been suspended from duties with immediate effect and a code of conduct committee has been set up to look into the matter.”
Srishti Jaiswal had written on June 29: “Because this is what Krishna did. He was a womanizer, a f***boi, and commitment phobic maniac. And I am a Hindu and I’ve read mythology.”
A complaint was registered against her by a man calling himself Gautam Aggarwal, ex-IT Head of BJP IP Extension Mandal, Zila Shahdara, Delhi, who wrote:“Working with such Media platform and having such views being posted publicly can lead communal disharmony and religious animosity.”
Others demanded even stricter punishment:
A few years ago, SC advocate Prashant Bhushan had raised heckles when he called Krishna an ‘eve teaser’. Hitting out at anti-Romeo squads, Prashant Bhushan had written: “Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary Eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?”
He had later apologised and claimed his remarks were misconstrued.
More recently, a Netflix Telugu film 'Krishna and His Leela' starring Siddhu Jonnalagadda, Shraddha Srinath and Seerat Kapoor was accused of Hinduphobia.
A Twitter user had written: "Netflix done it again, Web Series called "Krishna & His Leela" showing Krishna have sexual affairs wth many women & one of them named as Radha. The audacity to openly target #Hinduism wth lies, deceit, propaganda Why always insult our Gods? Because @NetflixIndia is Hinduphobic."
The synopsis of the movie reads, "Torn between his past and present girlfriends, a confused bachelor’s indecisiveness spins a web of lies and cheating as he struggles to commit."