Media framing and the myth of religious violence: The othering of sikhs in The Times of India

ABSTRACT

This article employs theories of media framing to ‘the crisis in Punjab’ in 1983 and 1984. I argue that The Times of India frames Sikhs and the crisis in such a manner as to generate a stereotype of Sikhs as inherently violent, pre-modern and dangerous to the Indian state. Such a framing, I argue, mimics stereotypes of religion and violence critiqued by William Cavanaugh [2009. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. New York: Oxford University Press.]. I employ Cavanaugh’s critical lens on the myth of religious violence to demonstrate that this framing of Sikhs is a tool of media and the state to justify illegitimate violence again Sikhs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 In another article currently under preparation, I will examine the treatment of Sant Bhindranwale in Indian and International media sources.

2 To my knowledge, Sandhya Jain is not a direct relative of Girilal Jain.

3 See King (1999) on the impact of the idea of ‘religion’ in South Asia and Mandair (2009) on the complex questions of Sikh identity during the colonial period.