Newslaundry columnist asks a Sikh man supporting Hindu festivals to give up Sikhism

On Wednesday, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stirred up a storm after applying restrictive conditions on the immersion of Maa Durga idols this Dashami. According to ANI, immersion would only be allowed till 6:00 PM on Dashami and be resumed only from 2nd October due to the Muharram procession.

This outraged many people online and one of them was Tajinder Bagga, who is the spokesperson of Delhi BJP. Bagga decided to protest against such clamping down on the Hindu festivals by the Mamata government:

https://twitter.com/TajinderBagga/status/900363568809336833

https://twitter.com/TajinderBagga/status/900364843894439936
Bagga, who happens to be a Sikh, in his tweets reiterated that Hindus had the right to celebrate their festivals and dared the Mamata government to stop the visarjan. He also stated that he would personally stay present in Bengal this Dashami to ensure no disruption occurs.

This vocal support for Hindus by a Sikh deeply pained a Newslaundry columnist named Jaspreet Oberoi, who decided to attack him and Hinduism:

https://twitter.com/iJasOberoi/status/900382120450732032
Jaspreet, who goes by the name of Jas Oberoi, was then given a befitting response by Bagga, who also tagged Newslaundry’s Editor-in-chief Madhu Trehan to make her aware about the antics of her columnist:

https://twitter.com/TajinderBagga/status/900384333562650624

https://twitter.com/TajinderBagga/status/900383266032697344
The Hinduphobic and communal comment by the Newslaundry columnist was also bashed by other twitter users:

https://twitter.com/NationalistRavi/status/900386219875377157

https://twitter.com/Kgtheseeker/status/900385733940137985
But rather than apologising for his attack, the Newslaundry columnist made further personal attacks on Bagga and users opposing his bigotry.

Rather than putting the troll columnist in the dock (who might just enjoy the attention), it might be more prudent to ask as to whether Newslaundry approves of his vicious trolling. And if not, does it plan to take any suitable action against him? People might also question as to what did Newslaundry see in the troll, that it decided to make him their columnist?

Questions might be also raised as to why has Newslaundry chosen to give space to his articles such as this, where he demonises legendary police officer KPS Gill, who was one of the key persons responsible for stopping the Khalistani insurgency.

It also remains to be seen if Madhu Trehan and Newslaundry condemn this unsolicited heckling by their troll columnist or whether they choose not to react, which some might consider to be a case of silent approval.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia