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HomeFact-CheckMedia Fact-CheckNewslaundry attempts to whitewash Temple Attack during Delhi riots: Four claims, four lies, two...

Newslaundry attempts to whitewash Temple Attack during Delhi riots: Four claims, four lies, two apparently added as bonus

Essentially, a propaganda outlet that has deep connections with the Aam Admi Party defends a murder and riot accused Tahir Hussain by saying that there is hardly any evidence against, when there is plenty, simply because he is an AAP leader and in the same breath, downplays attacks against Hindus and Hindu Temples by Islamists because to defend Hussain, the Islamist mobs would also need to be shielded.

Ever since India won its independence, there has been an organized effort to whitewash the crimes committed against in the Hindu community. Even when the crime was obvious, an assorted bunch of intellectuals, academicians, activists and ‘journalists’ engaged in complete hogwash to pretend as if nothing ever happened and Hindus did not suffer any brutality. This has been India’s reality since independence.

Over time, such buffoonery has become institutional and we have a generation of completely brainwashed clowns who could not recognize Hinduphobia if it danced in front of them wearing Burhan Wani’s nappies. One of the products of such indoctrination on an industrial scale is Newslaundry. The ‘news outlet’ has made it a habit of peddling politically biased narratives in the garb of neutrality, propaganda under the cloak of objectivity, righteousness over the shroud of Hindu corpses.

On the 6th of March, Newslaundry published a ‘ground report‘ on the basis of which it branded OpIndia’s ground report ‘fake news’. According to Newslaundry, OpIndia made four claims and on the basis of its ground report, it claimed to ‘rebut’ each of these. Together, we shall verify the claims made by Newslaundry one by one on each of these four issues. But first, let us see what OpIndia did say on the matter.

“Local Hindus’ speaking to OpIndia said that a crowd of Muslims, mostly youths, approached through Mustafabad in Delhi. They all gathered on the bridge of Chand Bagh. From there, they reached Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain’s building. They went to the terrace, from where they started throwing stones and petrol bombs.

These locals also revealed to Opindia that the Muslim crowd captured a Shiv temple by climbing on to the roof of the temple, placing ladders at the back yard of the Shiva temple. Apart from forcibly occupying the temple, the Islamist goons also captured the surrounding Hindu houses.

The mob allegedly vandalised the temple, after which they climbed the roof of the Shiv Mandir and started pelting stones on the Hindus from there. On one side there was stone pelting from the roof of Tahir Hussain’s building, and on the other side, there was stone pelting from the temple, divulged the devastated Hindus of Chand Bagh.”

Now that readers have acquainted themselves with our report, let us proceed to debunk Newslaundry’s thuggery one claim at a time. Before we begin, Newslaundry appears to have taken great issue with the fact that we reported that the Shiv Mandir was in Chand Bagh when it was actually in Moonga Nagar. Well, Moonga Nagar is only 750 meters away from Chand Bagh. Chand Bagh and Moonga Nagar are just a drain apart. Since Chand Bagh is the better-known area, Moonga Nagar is often identified with it.

1. A Muslim mob climbed the terrace of the Shiv Temple

Newslaundry quoted Gokul Chandra Sharma, the caretaker of the Temple, to claim that a Muslim mob had not climbed the terrace of the Shiv Temple in question. Where was Sharma when the attack on the Temple occurred? He was locked inside his home because he was scared for his life. Thus, Newslaundry is taking Sharma’s words as the ultimate truth, a man who did not see anything and could not even say who threw the stones at the terrace because he was locked inside his home, scared. We are not making this up, Newslaundry has itself quoted Sharma as saying so.

Newslaundry’s conversation with Gokul Chandra Sharma

Newslaundry also had a conversation with Ram Shamra, a person who lives opposite the Temple, who admitted that Muslims used ladders to climb into the terraces of Hindu homes beside the Temple but not on the terrace of the Temple. Another anonymous source told them Muslims could not even get to the Temple because Hindus were pelting stones at them from the opposite rooftops. Now, let us get to the truth of the matter.

We were not the only ones who reported on the attack of the Temple. Know The Nation, another organization had also reported on the matter. They also talked with the people present in the attack and they gave a chilling account of the events that transpired. Know The Nation was also informed of the terrible nature of the attack, however, the two people who were witness to the attack fled the place because they realized couldn’t help in any manner and they would be risking their lives if they stayed any longer.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny6h2Vz5_N4]

The two youth also said that the ‘Mahommedan mob’ had climbed on top of the terraces but it is unclear from their statement whether the mob climbed atop Sharma’s terrace also. In any case, they were not present during the entire duration of the attack. They also informed that petrol bombs and stones were pelted at the Temple while Gokul Chandra Sharma locked himself up with his daughters in his house. He was quite worried about the safety of his daughters.

We were told by eyewitnesses that the Muslim mob had climbed on the terrace of the Temple. That is what we stated in our report. It is unclear to us how on earth Newslaundry could accuse us of spreading ‘fake news’ when we reported what the eyewitnesses said. Unless, of course, the preconceived agenda of the ground report was to engage in the denial of the crimes suffered by the Hindus.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PN988ta2mo]

2. The Muslim mob captured the Temple

Newslaundry claimed that Gokul Chandra Sharma ‘refuted’ the claim saying, “There was no attack inside the temple. Nobody came here nor did they break anything. All our idols are fine. They have not been harmed.” Nowhere in our report did we claim that the inside of the Temple was vandalized, nowhere did we claim that the idols were damaged either. It doesn’t say anything about whether Sharma refuted the claim of whether the Mandir was captured. Newslaundry appears to be putting words into Sharma’s mouth.

Furthermore, it appears that Sharma himself realized that the Newslaundry journalist was acting in bad faith and therefore, he was reserved in his words. While he told Newslaundry that he wasn’t aware of who were pelting the stones, he did tell Know The Nation that the mob pelting the stones and attacking the Temple was ‘Mahomeddan’. We were told by the eyewitness whose statement has been attached above that the Temple was captured by the mob.

Also, it is interesting the NewsLaundry says that the temple was not captured. Picture this. There is a Muslim mob that has surrounded the temple from all sides, some also say there were atop the temple terrace. The Muslim mob was also pelting stones and petrol bombs from the surrounding building. Nobody could go in, to rescue anyone, and the ones inside could not escape. In such a scenario, would the temple be considered captured or not? Or is it NewsLaundry’s contention that only if Namaz was read inside would the temple be considered captured?

And really, how many IQ points does it take to realize that the Temple was indeed captured when Sharma who had locked himself up in his home fearing for the life of his family? Sharma told Newslaundry that he was not even living in his home when he had the conversation with the ‘journalist’. But even then, Newslaundry was busy claiming that the Idols were not vandalized, a claim we had not made in the first and on the basis of it, declared that the Mandir had not been captured. It is truly some remarkable journalism we witnessed here.

3. The mob allegedly vandalised the temple

If you believed Newslaundry has hit the pits already, we assure you will be surprised. The mob pelted stones and petrol bombs at the Temple. This much is not disputed by anyone, not even the NewsLaundry report. Sharma was forced to lock himself up in a room to ensure the safety of his family, especially his two daughters. Is the terrace a separate entity than the Temple? Does the terrace in a vacuum? From the Know The Nation report, the extent of the stone-pelting is quite clear.

Petrol bombs were hurled, a huge amount of stones were pelted, things got burnt but Newslaundry reached the conclusion that the Temple was not vandalized because it occurred primarily on the terrace and the terrace, as we all know, is entirely a separate entity from the Temple which floats on the ocean of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. It seems according to Newslaundry, it doesn’t matter if petrol bombs were hurled at the Temple and the terrace was strewn with stones, we cannot call it vandalization. Why? Because it hurts Newslaundry’s agenda of whitewashing the suffering of Hindus.

The intelligence of Newslaundry is at its glorious magnificence when it asks its readers, “Yet in the video, the reporter himself said people did not allow stone-pelters to enter the temple. So, why is the story saying the exact opposite, with its claims of vandalism and a mob “forcibly occupying” the temple?” This, dear readers, is the level of intelligence of the average Newslaundry journalist. It would have been hilarious if their agenda wasn’t so sinister.

Someone should probably inform Newslaundry that if you climb on the top of a building and pelt stones and petrol bombs in the surrounding places, it is convention norm to consider that you have captured the building. The same rules apply to Temples as well. Apart from that, the eyewitnesses themselves said that the Temple was captured by the Muslim mob.

We were told by another individual that the Shiv Mandir was attacked with stones. We were also told a furniture shop close adjacent to the Temple was vandalized as well. The locks of the shop were forced open before it was set on fire. Furthermore, he clearly calls it an attack on the Shiv Mandir. The building adjacent to the Temple share a common wall and it was gutted by the fire.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFCicCtNObk]

Our precise words were, “The mob allegedly vandalised the temple, after which they climbed the roof of the Shiv Mandir and started pelting stones on the Hindus from there.” We reported what we were told and what we were told can be heard in the video.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWBaDqAcmr8]

4. The Islamist mob hurled stones at Hindus from the roof of the temple

Newslaundry says that the claim contains only a ‘quarter of the truth’. We have eyewitnesses who have said that the Islamist mob indeed pelted stones from the roof. It did happen. And Newslaundry’s efforts to whitewash the event will not alter reality.

Newslaundry further states, “The mob did not climb onto the temple terrace. Hindus were not just hapless victims of stone-pelting. They were pelting back.” The entire objective of the groud report is summarized in this single line. It was to prove that Hindus were not victims. Everything else was just a charade, Newslaundry set out from the very beginning to prove that Hindus are not victims. Because that is the foundation upon which the edifice of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb is built upon. That Hindus under no circumstances can be victims.

Thus it happened that Newslaundry completely ignored the plight of Sharma who was forced to live away from his own home for the fear of his life. He is not a victim according to Newslaundry. The entire area which was attacked with stones and petrol bombs, the numerous Hindu houses which were attacked, none of them are victims. Why? Because they are Hindus.

While certain people were claiming that Tahir Hussain was acting in self-defense and went on to defend the AAP Councillor, legitimate Hindu victims are being ignored because some people pelted stones at the Muslim mob, and every piece of evidence points towards the fact that it was in retaliatory. But that is not enough to whitewash the victimization of Sharma and other hapless Hindus. This was Newslaundry’s objective from the very beginning. Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb commands it and thus, Newslaundry complied.

Newslaundry’s claim 1: “No attacks on temples in the area”

Newslaundry has indeed said such a thing. It has said this in the same report where Sharma said that petrol bombs and stones were being hurled at the terrace of the Temple. But sure. believe Newslaundry when it says, “No attacks on temples in the area”. Is it supposed to be some kind of a stupid joke?

Newslaundry just reported on an incident where the caretaker is forced to live away from his home on the terrace of the Temple after surviving a horrid attack. And then Newslaundry says in the same report that no Temples were attacked in the area. We have no explanation for this unbelievable crazy behaviour apart from the obvious fact that Hinduphobia has a way of making you mad. The Gods are not very forgiving, it seems.

Newslaundry’s claim 2: OpIndia propagated fake news right as Delhi burned

Someone should inform Newslaundry that facts are not fake news and they cannot be altered through manufactured propaganda. The Temple was captured, it was attacked, it was vandalized and they could try but they will not be able to alter the series of events that transpired during the Anti-Hindu Delhi Riots.

Newslaundry goes on to boldly assert, “Our conclusion? OpIndia propagated fake news right as Delhi burned. Meanwhile, people are returning to work, roads are being cleaned, destroyed property is being rebuilt. Despite a Hindu nationalist blog’s attempt to fan flames, life might limp back to normal.”

The propagandists’ ode to Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb really warmed our hearts because we were told by their comrades that we were living under a fascist regime where people don’t have freedom of speech and expression, our civil rights are being curbed and the Modi-Shah duo is only one step away from locking all the Indian Muslims in concentration camps. But sure, we are the ones fanning flames here. Because, obviously.

Meanwhile, ’eminent peace-loving intellectual activists’ are busy on the streets inciting Muslim mobs and undermining the institutions of the country. They are not the ones fanning flames. Oh, no. OpIndia is. How? By reporting on the atrocities that Hindus suffered in the wake of the communal riots in Delhi. Because the crimes of Hindus must never be told.

Our Conclusion?

The employees at Newslaundry are a bunch of propagandists with IQ levels that would shame baboons. They have been brainwashed to an extent that they do not recognize petrol bombs and stones being pelted at a Temple as a legitimate attack on a Temple. In fact, there was not a hint of concern or sadness over the fact that a Temple was attacked and that its caretaker is forced to live away from his home for the fear of his life and that of his family.

It’s only natural that there was not a hint of sadness or concern. Newslaundry did not go there to listen to the story that the Hindu residents had to share. They went there to whitewash the atrocities that Hindus suffered. Thus, when they could see that they had achieved their objective, it was pretty hard to hide the glee. When your heart’s rotten to the core by Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb, no amount of atrocities against Hindus could possibly melt your heart.

Meanwhile, Abhinandan Sekhri is a long-term aide of Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. He had co-founded the NGO ‘Public Cause Research Foundation’ which eventually evolved into ‘India Against Corruption’ movement that gave birth to AAP. He also co-founded Newslaundry, a self-declared media watchdog, which has till now deleted at least two of its own reports as they went against self-declared ‘liberal’ journalists. Unsurprisingly, Newslaundry is also busy defending Tahir Hussain, the AAP Councillor, who is a prime accused in the murder of Intelligence Bureau Constable Ankit Sharma.

Essentially, a propaganda outlet that has deep connections with the Aam Admi Party defends a murder and riot accused Tahir Hussain by saying that there is hardly any evidence against, when there is plenty, simply because he is an AAP leader and in the same breath, downplays attacks against Hindus and Hindu Temples by Islamists because to defend Hussain, the Islamist mobs would also need to be shielded. It is rather amusing that NewsLaundry, which is a failing outlet clutching on to straws, could not even produce one article that doesn’t turn them into a joke.

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Editorial Deskhttp://www.opindia.com
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