Indian newspaper “The Hindu”, on March 26, published an extremely distasteful Cartoon showing the novel Coronavirus in a Muslim attire with a gun put over the world.
It clearly meant, either Muslims are like Coronavirus destroying the world or the virus is like Muslims killing humanity.
More interestingly, the cartoon was in an attire called ‘Pathani dress’. It disturbed peace-lovers, obviously Muslims and the Pathans (Pashtun) as well.
However, social media users responded with immediate criticism and said that The Hindu was fueling hate.
Dear @the_hindu
— Einstein 🇮🇳 (@DesiPoliticks) March 26, 2020
This is indeed Despicable! Pretty much Rwanda Radio!
You are normalizing Islamophobia & fuelling hate!
Many of us have been ardent fan of your journalism and ethics. Please take this down unless you endorse stereotypes & “recognise them by their clothes”!
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After the backlash, The Hindu replaced the Pathani dress with a stick figure. The newspaper expressed regrate but did not apologize.
“Some readers have objected to the cartoon published on March 26, 2020 as Islamophobic. Any link to Muslims in the attire of the virus was completely unintentional. The point of the cartoon was to show the world being taken hostage by the virus. However, we agree that the virus should have been shown as just a blob or a stick figure and we express our regret for the hurt or unhappiness caused. Accordingly, we are taking down this cartoon online and replacing it with one that has a neutral representation of the attire.”
