Who Is Saba Naqvi? Journalist Booked By Delhi Police For Hate Speech

The Delhi police on Wednesday booked suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma and journalist Saba Naqvi for their social media posts which allegedly hurt religious sentiments, as per reports.

Saba Naqvi is the former political editor of the Outlook magazine who now writes columns in leading Indian dailies including the Times Of India, The Tribune and other websites. As an author, journalist and commentator, Naqvi is also a political analyst and a publisher of three books.

Who Is Saba Naqvi?

In her book In Good Faith published in 2012, she documents a two-year-long journey across India and pluralist communities. Her second book Capital Conquest in 2015 follows the emergence of the Aam Admi Party, AAP. In her third book, Shades of Saffron released in June 2018, she records the truths of the BJP covering it for two decades. A firsthand account of Naqvi being the primary source of news and information. Having profiles of all the leading figures throughout the BJP’s ascent to power, Saba’s other book on coalition governments in India was out in 2019.

Known as a television and political commentator, Saba has been a Reuters fellow at the University of Oxford, and a Jefferson fellow at the East-West Centre in Hawaii. She was also selected for the Asia Leadership Fellow Award given by the Japan Foundation in Tokyo and the US State Department’s fellowship for leading professionals from all over the globe.

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Very discerning in observing how Kejriwal changed the backdrop from Bharat Mata to Gandhi between Jantar Mantar and Ram Lila Maidan as the politician began distancing himself from Anna. Comparing Kejriwal with Gandhian piety, she concludes by saying that not having a piece of ideological baggage liberates Arvind Kejriwal. Critics of her book have said that she failed to see a pattern in which Kejriwal jettisons Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan and in the latter half, she sided with Kejriwal. She, however, produced verbatim the exchange of similarities between the two parties. According to her judgement, Kejriwal’s critics within the party would have been “comfortable” with a narrower win or even a defeat as “that would have given them greater leverage.”

The Delhi Police has named Naqvi along with BJP's Nupur Sharma and one other politician in an FIR for allegedly spreading hate on social media. The FIR is connected to the recent Prophet row which started with Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks. The BJP member had made a hurtful statement against Prophet Muhammad and this had invited criticism from several Gulf countries. Saba Naqvi was one of the many social media users who were making posts about the controversial nature of the tweet and asking for strict action against Nupur Sharma for hurting religious sentiments of Muslim community.

Feature Image Credit: TOI.