IMW
Indian Media Watch
"The Hindu" Newspaper
N.Ram Threatens to Sue 'HINDU VOICE'
'Hindu Voice' To Sue 'The Hindu'.
Dear Hindus,
The time has come that we Hindus have to be on the offensive. I have sent the following NOTICE (a signed letter) to "The Hindu" (Original letter by courier on 1st Oct. and email today). I propose to file a Writ Petition in a High Court, restraining The Hindu from using the word
'Hindu', which is sacred to us, and a paper which is writing against Hinduism or Hindutva has no right to have the title "The Hindu". The Registrar of Newspapers for
India, Govt. of India, will also be a respondent. The recent court decisions on the definition of "Hindu", "Hindutva", "Hinduism", etc. have to be
pointed out to support our case. Any help from Hindu lawyers and legal experts is welcome. Group members can also submit details of anti-Hindu writings of The Hindu, which can be used for substantiating our case.
P. Deivamuthu
Editor, Hindu Voice.
4, Alakjyoth, Aarey Road
Goregaon East, Mumbai.
Tel: 022-28764418, 28764460, 28742812
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1st October 2003
Mr. N. Ram
Editor-In-Chief
The Hindu, Published by
Kasturi & Sons Ltd.
Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai
Chennai 600002
Dear Sir,
As a citizen of India, strongly believing in Hindutva (Hinduism), and also as the Editor & Publisher of HINDU VOICE, a monthly espousing the cause of Hindutva, I am addressing this letter to you, as you are hurting my
religious feelings.
You are editing a newspaper titled "The Hindu" which is a well known English daily, head quartered in Chennai. It has a wide circulation. I am also reading your newspaper whenever time permits. Although your paper is titled
"The Hindu", I observe that there is nothing in your paper to show anything resembling Hinduism. The views expressed in the paper are anti-Hindu. I have
also noticed that you are publishing letters and articles which are promoting anti-Hinduism. Many times, the news reporting is also biased against Hindus. Sometimes, you suppress news which is in favour of Hindus. I
was also shocked to note that recently one of your authors has described India, a nation with 85% Hindu population, as an Islamic nation.
As a citizen of India, you too have every right to have your own views. You have also the right to propagate your views through publications. But, don’t you think that it should be done under an appropriate banner? I am promoting and propagating Hindutva, and have therefore decided on a title "Hindu Voice". Similarly if you wish to propagate anti-Hindu ideology, you should
select a title which is other than the word "Hindu". The simple logic is that the title should give an indication to the readers of what you are doing. You have no moral right to have a title "The Hindu" and then demean
Hindus and Hinduism. This is a clandestine act - similar to the one being used by a few Christians in TN to convert Hindus by advertising their name as "Iyer", "Iyangar", "Mudaliar", "Acharya", etc. This amounts to cheating your readers. Presuming that I have a title named "The Chennai", but write everything against Chennai, how does that stand to reason? In that
case, should I not have gone for a title say "Dirty Chennai" or "Bad Chennai", which will show to the readers what I am writing about. Since 95% of
your subscribers are Hindus, you are taking your gullible reader for a ride.
You claim to be a neutral newspaper. But leave alone neutrality, yours is nothing more than a "Viewspaper", promoting anti-Hindu and sometime anti-National views.
Since freedom of speech is your fundamental right, we have no right to question your views. But we have the right to question (which I hereby do) the title you have selected, i.e. "The Hindu", which is conversely related
to the views you hold. Also, the title "The Hindu" might have been appropriate when it was allotted many decades ago. But since your editorial policy is not what it was then, a change in the title is also warranted. As
my religious sentiments are hurt, I demand that you immediately change this title. As I am aware that changing the title of a newspaper is a lengthy
procedure, I am prepared to give you some time to do so, provided that you immediately confirm that you are taking steps in that direction.
I would like to receive your confirmation within 10 days from the date of receipt of this notice, failing which I will take legal action to enforce my right, as an aggrieved Hindu.
Yours
Sd/-
P. DEIVAMUTHU
Editor-Publisher
Hindu Voice.
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