NPR Producer Furkan Khan Tweets Hinduphobic Message; Retracts Later For The Fear Of Being ‘Misrepresented’

A producer with NPR network, Furkan Khan created controversy over her tweet targeting Hindus. Khan posted that a tweet implying that Hinduism was the source of all the problems of Indians.

“If Indians give up on Hinduism, they will also be solving most of their problems. What will all the piss drinking and dung worshipping,” she tweeted on 9 September.

The tweet invited backlash from social media users who pointed out that similar bigotry was visible in the messages of Pulwama terrorists who rammed a car laden with explosives into a vehicle carrying CRPF jawans, killing 40 of them.

Recent rhetoric emanating from Pakistan in the aftermath of abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir is also filled with similar comments expressing Hindu-hatred.

However, this is not the first time Khan has posted Hinduphobic material online. In the past, she called the genocide of Kashmiri Pundits as the “normal conflict collateral damage”.

After her tweet caused outrage, Khan took it down, with a simple statement that she did so in order to not be “misrepresented”. Around 10 hours after this, she put out a tweet today, apologising.

“I wholeheartedly apologise for my tweet earlier. It was ill considered and unacceptable. I deleted it. I didn't mean to disparage Hinduism or hurt anyone's feelings. It doesn't reflect my beliefs and principles. Please accept my sincere regret,” she wrote, adding that she will stay off Twitter for a while.