‘I hope my Muslim friends can live in peace forever in India’; Times of India removed Zubin Mehta’s comment from interview

Distinguished classic music conductor Zubin Mehta has claimed that The Times of India omitted one line from an interview he recently gave to them. Mehta had said, “I hope my Muslim friends can live in peace forever in India”.

He made the allegation towards the end of a conversation with journalist Karan Thapar. Mehta gave the statement after he was asked about his views on the “sort of country” India was becoming, especially in view of its treatment towards the minorities, particularly Muslims.

“It [the line] was cut off, and the writer couldn’t give me a reason why”, he added, to which Thapar responded, “They don’t want to offend Mr. Modi and the government,”

“How would that offend anybody? …This morning I read that they were burning churches in Pakistan. One has to get over this madness of religious persecution. Hopefully, things will change,” Mehta expressed.

According to The Wire, Mehta’s excluded comment was not incorporated in the print version of The Times of India. But on Monday, August 21, the online version included the quote after Mehta publicly pointed it out.

The Times of India responded to Zubin Mehta’s on X that the interview had been “trimmed to fit the page” and “the line being referred to was towards the end of the interview and got left out in that process”.

The TOI interview with Mr Mehta was long and had to be trimmed to fit the page. The line being referred to was towards the end of the interview and got left out in that process. Subsequently, Mr Mehta spoke to the interviewer about its omission and it was restored online.

— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) August 21, 2023

But The Wire evaluated that the 33 worded line that was cut actually fits and got restored in middle of the interview rather than the end of it.

X users respond

While some praised the censorship, many Indians criticized The Times of India and showed their concern about the increasing hatred towards Muslims in the country.

If the oldest and largest news media house does this what can you expect of others? Zubin was just wishing a peaceful existence for muslims and not particularly targeting anyone. https://t.co/3Dv3pscThZ

— M K Venu (@mkvenu1) August 21, 2023

TOI deletes one sentence from Zubin Mehta's interview, the one where he hopes Muslims are able to live in peace in India! Now we know what TOI thinks of Indian Muslims https://t.co/zojZpMpAmG

— Ziya Us Salam (@ziyaussalam) August 21, 2023

"I hope my Muslim friends can live in peace forever in India" — why should this sentence be struck out of an interview? Like secularism, even peace has become an unwanted word in India? What kind of humans object to quest for peace? https://t.co/1SleQhjQzz

— Sanjay K Jha (@whoskj2) August 21, 2023