Hinduphobic ‘journalist’ Mehdi Hasan has been invited as a speaker at the 14th edition of ‘Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest’. He is set to participate in two sessions, which are scheduled to be held on Friday (27th October) and Saturday (28th October).
Hasan will share the stage with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for an event titled ‘For the love of the Word- The Anil Dharker Session: Inauguration of Tata Literature Live! 2023 followed by in praise of the phrase.’
He will participate in another session titled ‘Turn the Tide’ with ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai. The event will be held at ‘The Tata Theatre’, which is located inside the ‘The National Centre for the Performing Arts’ (NCPA) premises in South Mumbai.
The website of ‘Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest’ describes the Hinduphobic ‘journalist’ as “the British-American host of The Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC and Peacock.”
“He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking. He is a former anchor for Al Jazeera English and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, among other publications,” it further reads.
The event is sponsored by Tata Steel, Tata Motors and is powered by the likes of Godrej and Kotak. The event has been hosted in association with ‘The National Centre for the Performing Arts’ (NCPA) .
Mehdi Hasan and his radical mindset
Hasan is infamous for his 2009 video where he was heard equating non-Muslims with ‘cattle’ and homosexuals with ‘paedophiles.’
He was heard saying, “Once we lose the moral high ground we are no different from the rest, of the non-Muslims, from the rest of those human beings who live their lives as animals, bending any rule to fulfill any desire.”
It must be mentioned that Mehdi Hasan is of Indian descent but was raised in England since childhood. Although he apologised for his remarks in 2019, it becomes clear that his upbringing in a diverse, multicultural society could not rid him of his disdain for non-Muslims.
In April 2022, the MSNBC anchor went on a tirade against PM Modi and cast aspersions on India’s secularism.
“Putin. Orban. Le Pen. We talk a lot in the West about the rise of far-right authoritarians and yet we never mention India’s Narendra Modi and his BJP. I did a deep-dive into India under Modi & new warnings of an anti-Muslim genocide,” Hasan claimed.
In the video, he equated Hindu Nationalism in India (a nation that was divided on religious lines) with white Supremacy in the West, which is an ideology based on race. His sinister agenda was to equate Hindutva with Anti-Semitism.
Mehdi Hasan had also been involved in gaslighting Hindus by suggesting that he differentiates between the good and bad ones – a classical troupe used by Hinduphobes who claim ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Hindutva’ are different. In reality, they do not make any such distinction.
His specific targeting of Hindu world leaders such as Narendra Modi and Tulsi Gabbard was criticised by HAF founder Shuag A Shukla, who called out his Hinduphobic antecedents in 2019.
“Whenever @narendramodi comes to town, Hindus like @tulsigabbard and Hindu orgs come under attack by activists trying to connect them to Hindu nationalism. @mehdihasan takes it further by connecting them to a mass murderer. This is wrong. This is tiring. This is Hinduphobia,” she said in a tweet.
Mehdi Hasan was seen resorting to money balancing after Islamists unleashed mayhem in Leicester in England’s East Midlands region in 2022. Instead of calling out the extremists who attacked the Hindu community, the MSNBC anchor put out a ‘shallow’ tweet appealing for peace.
In 2021, he also provided a platform to George-Soros-funded, anti-India activist Sunita Vishwanath to unleash her propaganda.
Netizens express disgust at Tata’s invite to Mehdi Hasan
Social media users were aghast at the decision of ‘Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Fest’ organisers to invite Hinduphobic ‘journalist’ Mehdi Hasan to the coveted event. Activist Arshia Malik wrote, “What on earth…!Who’s next? Ismail Haniya (referring to Hamas chief)?”
“The ‘god of philanthropy,’ Tata, has invited a hardcore Islamist, Mehdi Hasan, who in turn will engage in a conversation with an author of ‘Why I am a Hindu.’ We’re living on borrowed time. Our annihilation is certain,” wrote one X (formerly Twitter) user.
“Mehdi Hasan who routinely engages in anti India, anti Hindu,anti-Semitism globally is TATA brand’s guest of honor.When are you inviting Hafiz Sayeed
@TataCompanies @RNTata2000 on lecturing the nation after killing Indians?” tweeted one user.
“Take back Mehdi Hasan from Tata literature programme,” wrote another user.
Despite his anti-India and anti-Hindu antecedents, Mehdi Hasan has been invited as a speaker for two sessions at the ‘Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest’ event.