BJP leader Shazia Ilmi on Tuesday slammed journalist Rajdeep Sardesai for sharing an old video. Captioning the video ‘Sept 2001: blast from the past. Four days after 9/11. Worth a watch', Sardesai can be seen asking Narendra Modi to give assurance that he will not use the 9/11 attack in the United States during Uttar Pradesh election campaigning for spreading communal instability.
Soon after, Shazia Ilmi took to Twitter to slam Sardesai saying. Ilmi wrote: "With due respect, Modi Ji rightly slammed you. 4 days after the 9/11 tragedy why would you ask him about UP elections and ‘vilification of Muslims’. Would you ask the same question from Mulayam (Maliana), Veer Bahadur Singh (Meerut), Jagannath Mishra CM (Bhagalpur), Akhilesh (exodus, Mass rapes Western UP, Akhlaq) Shouldn’t Nellie massacre, Bhagalpur blindings, Meerut, Hashimpura be revisited or were they any LESS Muslims because they were killed in the watch of ‘Secular’ regimes. Have you ever done a follow up on any of these killings? if so pl share!"
Replying to Ilmi, Rajdeep Sardesai said, "Ma’am, I cut my early teeth on covering the Mumbai riots of 92-93.. suggest you see our reporting and read a book we wrote When Bombay Burned. Find out who was ruling Mumbai/India at the time also. When it comes to communal politics, zero tolerance is mantra. Hope we agree.," he tweeted.
The conversation didn't end there. Adding to Sardesai’s response, Ilmi said, "Thanks! But I wonder why NCP, Cong, SP et al become ‘Secular’ parties by default? And BJP has to deal w the ‘communal’ tag adnauseum! Will send you daily reminders! Let’s keep the conversation alive!"
The video, which was from 2001, Rajdeep Sardesai asks Narendra Modi to give assurance that he will not use the 9/11 attack during Uttar Pradesh election campaign to stir a communal divide and label every Muslim in this country as an Islamic terrorist. After which Modi had slammed Sardesai and said it is a tragic condition in Indian media that when we are facing such grave danger to humanity, they are talking about footpath politics.
Earlier on March 31, Rajdeep Sardesai was trolled for calling Tableeghi Jamaat's religious gathering as a meeting. Rajdeep Sardesai wrote, "6 people who attended a religious meeting in Delhi in mid-March have died of coronavirus in Telangana. Tragic and extremely worrying.. several hundred others who attended will be tracked/quarantined.. FIR being filed in case.. area sealed." After which netizens slammed Sardesai.
