is a senior Indian journalist who has been the editor of national dailies like Mid Day, Hindustan Times (Delhi and NCR editions) and Mail Today. Follow him on Twitter @abhijitmajumder

is a senior Indian journalist who has been the editor of national dailies like Mid Day, Hindustan Times (Delhi and NCR editions) and Mail Today. Follow him on Twitter @abhijitmajumder

Bernie Sanders to UK Parliament, UNHRC to western MSM, all showed deep bias and scant regard for ground facts while sermonising India over Delhi riots and citizenship law.

"What happened in India was a pogrom," proclaimed a headline in US magazine, the Atlantic. It was about the recent communal clashes in Delhi, which claimed more than 50 lives.

"The violence in Delhi is not a riot. It is an anti-Muslim brutality," declared the Guardian of the UK.

"How Muslims' homes were targeted and burned," reported BBC.

US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders glibly pontificated on Twitter, having a swing at Donald Trump at the expense of the majority of Indians: "Over 200 million Muslims call India home. Widespread anti-Muslim mob violence has killed at least 27 and injured many more. Trump responds by saying, 'That's up to India.' This is a failure of leadership on human rights."

Over 200 million Muslims call India home. Widespread anti-Muslim mob violence has killed at least 27 and injured many more. Trump responds by saying, "That's up to India." This is a failure of leadership on human rights.https://t.co/tUX713Bz9Y — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 26, 2020

Labour led the charge in the British Houses of Lords and Commons against "systemic Hindutva violence against Muslims," words like "genocide" were freely bandied about on social media by Western leaders and media.

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Nobody stopped to ask what "pogrom" or "genocide" means.

A heap of twisted words

Pogrom means "an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group." A genocide comprises "acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group."

In what genocide does more than 15 of the 53 killed so far belong to the majority of the 'perpetrators,' as in the case of the Delhi riots? In what pogrom do houses, schools and shops belonging to both sides get charred? How many Nazis did the Jews kill during the Holocaust?

But the Western mainstream media's dangerous role did not end at false equivalences. When Ankit Sharma, an intelligence official, was dragged and killed during the riots, the Wall Street Journal quoted his brother as saying that a Hindu mob shouting Lord Ram's name had lynched him. The next day, the brother said the WSJ was lying and he had given no such statement. Police evidence suggested that Sharma, a Hindu, was murdered by an Islamist mob, and the Journal provided no proof to back its report.

Also on rt.com Police complaint in India targets Wall Street Journal for stoking ‘communal tension’ & ‘defaming’ Hindus amid fatal Delhi riots

The MSM was up to its old tricks, denigrating the people of a nation with sweeping generalizations and one-sided reporting, and politicians were picking up the lies to sermonize in a context they know nothing about.

As the riots were tapering off, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) wanted to file an intervention application in the Supreme Court of India over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). India promptly said the Act was an internal matter and it stemmed from a "longstanding national commitment in respect of human rights issues arising from the tragedy of partition."

The Ministry of External Affairs said: "The CAA is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian parliament to make laws. We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India's sovereignty."

Such sanctimony is rich from the OHCHR, a human rights body which had Saudi Arabia as a member.

How MSM inflicts damage

The Western media and leaders' attitudes only end up deepening divides by angering one side with unjust and sometimes patently false claims. An unintended consequence was US presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard finally standing up against the relentless targeting of Hindus and India in the West. Gabbard, 38, is the first Hindu member of Congress and has served in the US Army as a major. Her nationalistic stance has already upset the MSM and 'liberals.' She sued Hillary Clinton after the latter sought to discredit her by calling her "a Russian asset."

Unfortunately, Hinduphobia is very real. I've experienced it directly in each of my campaigns for Congress & in this presidential race. Here's just one example of what Hindus face every day in our country. Sadly, our political leaders & media not only tolerate it, but foment it. https://t.co/60MDtszQHf — Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 5, 2020

"Unfortunately, Hinduphobia is very real. I've experienced it directly in each of my campaigns for Congress & in this presidential race. Here's just one example of what Hindus face every day in our country. Sadly, our political leaders & media not only tolerate it, but foment it," she tweeted, raising a storm.

Also on rt.com Tulsi Gabbard calls out ‘very real’ Hinduphobia in US, gets branded ‘fascist’ as if to prove her point

And while the British press and parliamentarians were busy looking into others' faults, they were inflicting some of the ugliest racist abuse on their Home Secretary Priti Patel for her Hindu/Indian origins, with the Guardian depicting her as a cow.

The Guardian has special love for Patel. Last year, it carried a story headlined: 'Priti Patel blocks rescue of British ISIS children' for her anti-Islamic State views.

Good grief, I hadn't seen this derogatory caricature of a 'sacred cow', lampooning Priti Patel's Indian/Hindu heritage. Why does @KathViner@guardian not consider this to be an expression of religious/racial 'hate'? https://t.co/haM68t5pRQ — Adrian Hilton (@Adrian_Hilton) March 7, 2020

While the Western public has been electorally speaking up against hypocrisy and elitism, MSM and biased leaders continue to meddle in the affairs of other nations and cultures with their rusty weapons of mass hypocrisy.