As tensions mounted in Delhi's Uttam Nagar following the death of 26-year-old Tarun Kumar, a video went viral showing a man openly calling for violence against Muslims. An Alt News investigation has now identified the individual as Nayan Markan, a BJP functionary.
On social media, he identifies himself as the "youngest national media panellist/spokesperson Ujjwala Yojna @bjp4delhi" and a former spokesperson of the BJP Yuva Morcha's Delhi unit.
A Death, and a Neighbourhood on Edge
Uttam Nagar was rocked by communal tension earlier this month after a youth named Tarun Kumar died following a scuffle that broke out on Holi between members of two communities.
According to the victim's family, the incident began when a child accidentally dropped a balloon filled with coloured water near a group of Muslim women passing by. The water splashed onto them, leading to a verbal altercation which escalated rapidly into violence. Within minutes, dozens of men — estimated at 50–60 — had gathered. Tarun, who was not present at the initial moment of the dispute, returned to find tensions already high and was allegedly attacked. He suffered a head injury and later died in hospital.
Police, however, suggested the clash did not occur in isolation. DCP Kushal Pal noted that there had been prior disagreements between the families, including over parking — describing such disputes as typical neighbourhood friction.
ALSO READ: Uttam Nagar on edge after Tarun Kumar's death: Claims, counterclaims fuel rising communal tensions
As Eid approached, the incident took on a sharper communal edge.
In the days that followed, Uttam Nagar became a site of mobilisation. Several YouTube channels, many of which describe themselves as "news" platforms, descended on the area, conducting on-camera "interviews" with locals.
ALSO READ: Uttam Nagar before Eid: As fear lingers and hate spreads online, a neighbourhood holds its breath
These videos increasingly framed the incident not as a neighbourhood dispute but as a communal flashpoint. The format was familiar: emotionally charged questions, calls for "justice", and, frequently, demands for retribution.
It is within this environment that one particular clip went viral.
"Goli maaro…" — a Call for Violence
The video, filmed as part of a vox pop by a YouTube channel called Opinion Post and published on March 17, shows a man responding aggressively to the interviewer.
Without any introduction or identification, the man launches into a tirade. He invokes political leaders, warns of retaliation, and targets members of the Muslim community with deeply abusive language, directed in part at Muslim women.
"You simply wait and watch. We have Ashish Sood as the Delhi home minister; they (the perpetrators) will be dragged down, taken away from their mothers, stripped of their burqas and beaten up", he says.
At one point, the reporter asks: "Politicians like Shoaib Jamai are saying that this matter must be bigger than what transpired on the day of Holi, there must be existing personal disputes between the two families already." (Shoaib Jamai is the Delhi state president of AIMIM.)
The man responds, "I have a message for this pet dog of Owaisi, this h***mz**a...". The crowd chants, "Desh ke gaddaro ko", the man completes, "...goli maaro b**dv* ko". (Shoot the traitors of the country).
When the reporter attempts to invoke law and order, he dismisses the idea outright: "There's no need for such law and order." He goes on to justify violence by referencing other incidents, framing retaliation as legitimate.
The interviewer then says, "The administration has taken action; their house has been bulldozed". The man's response to this statement is the part of the video which has gone viral at the moment. As he finishes his statement, the crowd breaks into applause and chants, "Jai Sri Ram", and another man comes forward to click a selfie with the man. After this, he walks out of the frame, and a woman from the crowd comes forward to speak.
This video was shared, among others, by the X page @KreatelyMedia, which amplifies communal propaganda on a regular basis.
At face value, the video appears to show an agitated local resident speaking in anger. But that is not the full story.
Not a Random Voice: Manufactured Outrage, Undisclosed Identity
Alt News traced the individual across multiple videos on YouTube channels posting similar content.
In a video published on March 9 by a channel named Political Adda, the same man appears again — this time in a controlled, indoor interview setting. Here, he is formally introduced by the anchor, Neha Dwivedi, as Nayan Marken, a media panellist.
We traced Marken's social media profiles. They reveal explicit political affiliations. His X bio describes him as a "Youngest National Media Panellist/Spokesperson Ujjwala Yojna @bjp4delhi" and a former spokesperson of the BJP Yuva Morcha's Delhi unit.
The 'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana' (PMUY) is a scheme to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to the rural and deprived households which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes, etc.
That's not all.
His Facebook shows him alongside senior BJP leaders, including Union minister and former BJP president J P Nadda, Murli Manohar Joshi, Nupur Sharma, and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut.
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When he was platformed by the YouTube channel, and in the video that went viral, Marken was presented just another face in the crowd, a supposedly spontaneous participant in a vox pop. Viewers were led to believe that the call for violence emerged organically from "public sentiment", rather than from an individual with clear political positioning and ideological commitments.
On September 12, 2024, he also shared an image of his BJP membership card.
He also shared visuals of himself speaking at the BJP Delhi office. More such posts can be found here.
आज लाभार्थी वर्ग दिल्ली प्रदेश की बैठक BJP Delhi प्रदेश कार्यालय में हुई,जिसमें मुख्य रूप से दिल्ली सरकार सामाजिक कल्याण...
Posted by Nayan Markan on Saturday 19 July 2025
Journalism or Propaganda?
As Uttam Nagar grappled with the aftermath of Tarun Kumar's death, such content did more than report on tensions — it actively shaped them.
This was documented in Alt News's ground report from Uttam Nagar ahead of Eid. We found that as Uttam Nagar stood under heavy police watch, the real battleground might not have been its streets — but the digital ecosystem that was shaping perceptions, amplifying fear, and, potentially, setting the stage for conflict. A local Muslim man told us what had begun as online rhetoric gradually seeped into everyday life. "The talk of 'playing Holi with blood on Eid' is no longer just a rumour — it has entered every home."
By platforming a politically affiliated individual making explicit calls for violence, and presenting him as an ordinary citizen, the channels blurred the line between reportage and mobilisation. Failing to identify Nayan Marken as a BJP functionary was not a minor lapse. It was a fundamental breach of journalistic ethics.
At a moment of heightened communal sensitivity, withholding that information stripped viewers of critical context and allowed incendiary speech to pass off as the voice of the public.
That was certainly not journalism. It was the uncritical amplification of incendiary speech, stripped of context and responsibility.
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