How ThePrint peddled propaganda to belittle Hindu concerns in Karnataka

In the latest development, the International semiconductor consortium ISMC has announced to invest USD 3 billion (around Rs 23,000 crore) in Karnataka to set up a semiconductor chip-making plant. This comes after Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint published a narrative piece claiming that IT firms reaching out to ‘investment-seeking Tamil Nadu’ amid alleged communal tensions in Karnataka.

ISMC Digital Fab which was one of the three applicants for the Union Government’s USD 10 billion incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, has signed an agreement with the Karnataka government for setting up India’s first and largest semiconductor fabrication unit.

ISMC has sought 150 acres of land in Kochanahalli Industrial Area of Mysuru District to set up its base. The Karnataka Government, already back in Septemeber 2020, had announced fresh incentives to boast the production of Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in the state.

With the new investment, Karnataka’s holds upto 50% electronic product companies of the national share and 40% in electronic design. It is home to more than 300 units export oriented manufacturing units and the largest chip design hub in India with over 85 fabless chip design houses. 

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai welcoming the move said, “This MoU is a significant agreement amid the competition among various states to attract semiconductor fabs. Karnataka understands that it’s not just the fiscal incentives that matter but availability of conducive ecosystem and overall ease in operations are also important.”

The Print propaganda against investment in Karnataka

Last month, ThePrint published a report stating IT companies in Karmataka are seeking to deviate to Tamil Nadu owing to the alleged communal tensions in the state. Earlier, the state saw widespread protest by Hindu students demanding unifrom standards for college uniforms in universities across Karnataka which led to ban on Hijabs and Burqas in certain colleges. ThePrint’s premise that IT companies were seaking to leave Karnataka was built on three things – Its interview with Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan (PTR), Business tycoon Kiran Mazumdar’s tweet urging CM Bommai to resolve the supposed “growing religious divide” in the state and other reports of Tamil Nadu becoimg a sought-after investment destination in the country.

Nowhere in its report could ThePrint establish that investors in Karnataka are unhappy with the envirnoment in the state. Had it been the case that new investors being paranoid over investing in Karnataka, ISMC would not have set its USD 3 billion partnership with the state. Furthermore, when Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was caught in the controversy for calling out rightful protests by Hindu groups ‘communal’, she replied to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s tweet saying she has full confidence in the the BJP-led Bommai Government.

I can assure you that my comments are not politically coloured. I have full confidence in the BJP Govt led by @BSBommai My comments were to expedite the resolution on these growing incidents which is bringing undue attention. I’m sure the matter will be resolved peacefully

— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) March 31, 2022

How ThePrint article belittles local Hindu concerns and paints them as communal

The report starts with a claim that the state of Karnataka has become the “epicentre of a number of campaigns that are fuelling communal tension, be it the hijab row, the controversy over ‘halal’ meat, the boycott of Muslims at Karnataka temple fairs and festivals, attacks on Christians, and Hindu vigilante groups assaulting inter-faith couples.” It looks like the media house deliberatly chose legitimate concerns by Hindus who were seeking answers for unjust practices – be them forceful penetration of Halal meet to admancy over wearing Hijab instead of school uniforms to tarnish Karnataka’s image.

In April, Muslim vendors and businessmen met with National Commission for Minorities, to lodge a complaint in the midst of a social media campaign warning a Hindu ice-cream shop owner in Mangaluru to remove the Halal certification from their products within a month or face a boycott. It was found that a Hindu organisation had started a nationwide agitation against Halal meat terming it inherently discriminatory against Hindu butchers. The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti called for a boycott of halal meat as it launched a nationwide campaign demanding a ban on Halal products.

The hijab controversy in Karnataka gained momentum since the first week of January after eight Muslim girls were denied entry to classes in a Udupi college because they were wearing hijab. The Muslim girls, adamant about wearing hijab, then filed a petition in High Court seeking permission to attend classes in hijab stating that wearing the same wwas their ‘fundamental right’. In the tensions that prevailed at some educational institutions in Udupi, Shivamogga, Bagalkote, A Hindutva activist Harsha was hacked to death by Islamists amidst the row.

To rest the onus of the communal cauldron singlehandedly upon Hindus was reflected in ThePrint’s report. The irony being the report was published at a time when Hindu processions on Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti were being attacked in the country with instances of stone pelting including violence in Karnataka’s Hubli. Communal tensions also prevailed in Mulbagal town of Kolar district in Karnataka after a Sri Ram Shobha Yatra was attacked using stones. 

With Karnataka continuing its steady rise with its attractive investment potential, it is imperative that narratives of alleged communal disharmony grappling the state should be called out. ThePrint’s report did not hold much water when it came to facts and appeared like a blurred eulogy of Tamil Nadu’s investment potential.