A Pakistan Court Monday (June 12) allowed the minor Hindu girl Sohana Sharma Kumari to reunite with her parents after she reportedly gave a statement declaring that she wanted to go with her family.
The 14-year-old Sohana Sharma Kumari was abducted on June 2, 2023, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man. Adding to her anguish, despite her appeals, a Pakistani court for all these days refused to allow her to return to her parents.
Twitter user THE SINDHI NARRATIVE took to Twitter on Tuesday, June 12, to share the information.
Suhana's bravery and determination has forced the state to bow down to her. She was released from her abductor's grip and allowed to reunite with her parents. Unfortunately, no concrete steps taken against the abductors. Also, don't forget other victims of #ForcedConversionshttps://t.co/Fr3nGF7guz
— THE SINDHI NARRATIVE (@TSNARRATIVES) June 12, 2023
Though the Pakistan court allowed Sohana to reunite with her parents it failed to take any concrete steps against her abductors.
Dilip Kumar Sharma, the father of Suhana Sharma, a 14-year-old girl, on Monday, thanked the government, civil society organisations and police for raising the issue of his daughter’s abduction and ensuring her recovery.
He said the Sindh police recovered Sohana by taking immediate action and presented her in a court where the girl recorded her statement and declared that she wanted to go with her family. Following this, her custody was granted to the family.
“I am grateful to all the institutions, including the civil society, media, lawyers community and Sindh police who gave me a lot of support,” the father said.
Pakistani media outlet The News quoted the father of the 14-year-old Sohana Kumari as saying that his daughter was neither married off nor forced to convert to Islam.
Here it may be noted that when the girl was recovered and produced in court, it was her father who had approached the court to get back her custody. Sohana’s father Dilip Kumar, had, in fact, filed a police report alleging that she had been abducted. Later, Sohana appeared in a video clearly stating that she had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man under pressure.
Just see how Sohana Sharma, a minor Hindu girl from Sindh, Pakistan is crying, holding and kissing the hands of her father and saying "papa, papa take me home with you".
14 years old Sohana was kidnapped from her home, at gun point. Her father Dileep Kumar approached the court… pic.twitter.com/OKjHD63ZTI
Now, if the Pakistani media is to be believed, the father is himself negating his daughter’s testimony that she was forcefully converted and married off to her Muslim abductor. It is not known whether what the father said was of his own volition or he was coerced, but it is frequently observed that the persecuted Hindus of Pakistan live in continual terror for their life.
Data has revealed that Pakistani Hindus are known to be one the most badly persecuted minority community in the world. According to research, over 14,000 cases of gang rape, kidnapping, and religious conversion of Hindu girls have surfaced in the last 12 years.
According to a report from the Movement for Solidarity and Peace, about 1,000 non-Muslim girls are converted to Islam each year in Pakistan. Every month, an estimated 20 or more Hindu girls are abducted and converted, although exact figures are impossible to gather, said Amarnath Motumal, the vice chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
Minor Hindu girl Sohana Sharma Kumari abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man in Pakistan
OpIndia reported on June 10, that a 14-year-old girl named Sohana Sharma Kumari was abducted from her home in the Benazirabad district of Sindh province. She was kidnapped at gunpoint by her tutor and his aides in front of her mother. Sohana’s father Dilip Kumar, filed a police report alleging that she had been abducted. Later, Sohana appeared in a video clearly stating that she had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man under pressure. Her parents, on the other hand, argued that she was a minor.
The incident garnered a lot of condemnation on social media. Several Netizens were outraged and criticised the Pakistan government for turning a blind eye towards the atrocities being committed against the members of the minority community in the country. After much outrage on social media, authorities retrieved the minor Hindu girl from a residence in the district five days after she was abducted.
On Friday, June 9, Sohana was brought to the district court in Larkana, where she told the judge in her statement that she had been abducted and forced to convert to Islam. She also expressed her wish to return to her parents.
The judge, however, adjourned the case until June 12 since she appeared to be under ‘pressure’ when giving her statement and remanded her to a women’s shelter home.
Rama of the Axe is a grand emotion once you read it. It is the first full novel by a new author on the block Ranjith Radhakrishnan and is published by Westland Books. The teasers prior to the official release put out by Westland Books piqued the curiosity and one waited to lay hands on the tome. The fantastic teasers can be watched here, here and here. They promised a rich, fantastic and perhaps terrifying saga too.
So, it was with great expectations that I sat down to read a modern retelling of the story of Parashurama. Two chapters into the book and I couldn’t but admire the author for putting in the native names of so many trees in the book, particularly those that grow in the environs of the Narmada. It felt good to see native names unapologetically put in without any attempt at translation. I don’t know most of them but I am sure I can educate myself. Parashurama’s nee Bhargava Rama’s introduction is as an intense, pensive, quiet and supremely fit mortal who also comes across as being innocent in a wild sort of way. The imagery that the author evokes of the surroundings and the jungle, one can practically picture it in the mind’s eye. The imagery is certainly not dainty, pretty and timid but wild and dense and brooding too. This applies to the entire book and one can certainly picture the story in its surroundings with great detail through the author’s articulation.
Devi Chinnamasta’s manifestation in the narrative evokes terror, reverence and awe all at once. The author also wields great prowess with poetry as he does with prose and couches very profound messages in his poetic lines. It is clear that the philosophical tenets of Sanatana Dharma are very clear in him and he evokes those at various points in the story. Another potent moment is the resolution of a potentially destructive moment in the battle between Kartavirya Arjuna and Parashurama, by Parashurama. This is a grand spectacle in the novel and one cannot but be overwhelmed by the intensity of the scene.
The author brings a world of meaning into the word ‘brahmakshatriya’ used to describe Parashurama. The standard meaning of this word is that the person being referred to is a Brahmin plus Kshatriya, but the author goes beyond this and suffuses the word with greater meaning. In the war with the asuras which he fought on the side of the devas, at one point, Parashurama stands still and focuses his yogic powers to make his axe (a divine gift from Mahadeva who is his ishta) accomplish a gigantic feat which results in the destruction of every single asura on the enemy side. The author writes: “He fought a yogic and physical battle simultaneously and destroyed the asura maya and the army at the same time”. This one sentence is quite profound and it makes the reader realise that it is his Brahminical yogic powers that are invoked for destroying the “Maya” that the asuras create while his mortal self adopts the Kshatriya role to vanquish the physical asuras. And both these powers are evoked simultaneously which makes him a brahmakshatriya. This puts paid to the oft-repeated argument that a Brahmin is not involved in war. The Brahmin is just as essential in a war as is a Kshatriya.
Another standout feature of the book is the unapologetic use of Sanskrit words without translation for various things described. For instance, it is always “nimisha”, “muhurta” and so on to denote time span. Every page practically is sprinkled with Sanskrit words which Indians would have no trouble to understand in most parts whatsoever because it is part of their spoken language whether it is Hindi or any other regional language. This is refreshing because as Rajiv Malhotra says, translating some words from Sanskrit makes them lose their potency as a lot of meaning is lost in translation. For an Indian audience, the experience becomes much richer when the Sanskrit original is retained. A foreigner reading this book may have to check for the meanings of the Sanskrit words but it will only enrich and deepen his/her understanding of the story than if a glib translation was provided. After all, when one is reading a book that comes from a certain culture, one desires an immersive experience. And Sanskrit does that. It gives that immersive experience of Bharatiya tradition and culture to one traversing through its layered and nuanced meanings.
The one thing that perhaps didn’t fit in the grand old supremely evocative story is three chapters dedicated to Parashurama annihilating some malevolent cults that are threats to Sanatana Dharma. It is not because they are not malevolent but because the author has had to do some extreme mental gymnastics to fit this in. It has meant changing the setting, the timeline, the dress and everything else and it doesn’t actually fit in the story. While it is understandable that the author wants dharma to vanquish adharma through the protagonist wherever and whenever adharma manifests, it just looks incongruous and force-fitted into the narrative. It is a small grouse but a grouse nevertheless.
The book falls right into the fantasy genre but with very deep and profound Bharatiya sensibilities. The scale and imagery are so grand that the book easily and effortlessly lends itself to an adaptation on the big screen. However, it would be a great challenge to recreate some of the scenes that the author has described. One can imagine as vividly as one wants to when seeing through the mind’s eye but to translate that vision onto the screen will be quite a creative challenge but one that can perhaps put Indian cinema on par or perhaps even surpass the creativity of Hollywood.
In conclusion, this book is completely and unapologetically Hindu and yet it can easily capture the imagination of someone who is a fan of the genre to which a book like the Lord of the Rings belongs. It is contemporary and yet ancient and unflinchingly Hindu. It will enthral a Devi upasaka, one who has Mahadeva as his ishtadevata as also a Vishnu bhakta since the protagonist himself is a Vishnu avatara. The book is unputdownable and highly recommended for anyone above 18. It signals the arrival of a new and inspiring author on India’s stage.
On Monday (June 12), Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey courted controversy after he accused the Indian government of coercing him to withhold accounts of journalists, who were critical of the government during the farmers’ protest.
While speaking to the Youtube channel ‘Breaking Points’, he claimed, “India for example is a country that had many requests of us around the farmer’s protest around particular journalists that were critical of the government.”
“And it manifested in ways such as, ‘we will shut put her down in India’ – which is a very large market for us – we will raid the homes of your employees, which they did, we will shut down your offices if you don’t follow suit. And this is India, a democratic country,” Jack Dorsey further alleged.
His outrageous claims were debunked by Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a detailed statement on Twitter. The Union Minister pointed out how Twitter, under the supervision of Jack Dorsey, was blatantly violating Indian laws and had complete disregard for the sovereignty of India.
He added how ‘partisan’ Jack Dorsey was involved in de-platforming and de-amplifying voices that he did not agree with politically. The ex-Twitter CEO’s run-in with India and the incumbent political dispensation at the Centre is not new.
Nonetheless, this gave an opportunity to the usual suspects to resort to anti-India propaganda. After touting Dorsey’s claims as the ‘gospel truth’, left-liberals and Islamists cast aspersions on the integrity of the Modi government.
Islamists, left-liberals endorse claims of Jack Dorsey as the ‘gospel truth’
‘Journalist’ Swati Chaturvedi wrote, “Modi has caused Indian democracy global embarrassment with his dictatorial behaviour here.” She had earlier tweeted, “Shameful by @PMOIndia threats to raid homes of Twitter officials if “farmers protests” & “critical journalists” were not censored.”
Modi has caused Indian democracy global embarrassment with his dictatorial behaviour here https://t.co/b40aDNDozw
Congress ‘troll’ Dr Nimo Yadav shared the contentious video of Jack Dorsey and claimed, “And India is world’s largest democracy. This is not my India.”
This is Jack Dorsey, former CEO of twitter.
Here he is saying “During farmer protest Indian govt pressurised us and said we will shut down twitter, raid the homes of your employees if you don’t follow the suite”
Congress national media co-ordinator, Prashant Pratap, went on to suggest that Narendra Modi is afraid and thus ‘censored’ Twitter accounts critical of the BJP government.
SHOCKING (Not)
‘भारत | ट्विटर अकाउंट जो सरकार के आलोचक थे, किसानों के विरोध के दौरान…
मोदी सरकार ने हम पर दबाव डाला और कहा कि हम आपके कार्यालयों को बंद कर देंगे, आपके कर्मचारियों के घरों पर छापा मारेंगे, जो उन्होंने किया’ – @jack@narendramodi डरता है ? pic.twitter.com/p5Fg26GKZP
Former Twitter CEO @Jack Dorsey in an interview to @esaagar@krystalball on Breaking Points talks about Worlds Largest Democracy, “India for example, India is one of the country which had many requests around farmers protests, around particular journalists which were critical of… pic.twitter.com/unF6dVmv0O
Islamist outfit Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) wrote, “Twitter co-founder Jack tells @esaagar that the Narendra Modi government pressured Twitter to block accounts covering farmers’ protests and criticizing his govt while also threatening to raid and arrest its employees based in India.”
Twitter co-founder @jack tells @esaagar that the Narendra Modi government pressured Twitter to block accounts covering farmers’ protests and criticizing his govt while also threatening to raid and arrest its employees based in India.
“The revelations by Jack Dorsey are neither surprising nor shocking for those in India who ask questions of the government. What is shocking is that more than 12 hours have passed since this video and neither ANI, nor Noida channels nor Goli Maro Thakur or ‘sources’ have lashed out yet alleging toolkit and conspiracy against India,” alleged ‘journalist’ Rohini Singh.
Although Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and others have issued statements, rubbishing the allegations levelled by Jack Dorsey, she did not bother to update or delete her existing tweet.
The revelations by Jack Dorsey are neither surprising nor shocking for those in India who ask questions of the government. What is shocking is that more than 12 hours have passed since this video and neither ANI, nor Noida channels nor Goli Maro Thakur or ‘sources’ have lashed…
“Indian Govt, treating Indian Citizens as hostage, to shut critics,” alleged another left-liberal.
Jack Dorsey reveals that in so called Democratic India, during Farmers Protest, Modi Regime put pressure to block Twitter accounts critical of Government and threatened to raid homes of Twitter India Employees. Indian Govt, treating Indian Citizens as hostage, to shut critics pic.twitter.com/YuIYR3eWNe
This is not the first time that the former Twitter CEO had a run-in with India and its government.Back in May 2018, Jack Dorsey stirred the hornet’s nest by posing with a Hinduphobic placard, designed by an anti-Brahmin activist named Thenmozhi Soundararajan.
“Smash Brahmanical patriarchy”, the placard read. Over the years, ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’ has become the dog whistle, used by liberals and Islamists alike, to openly berate the Hindu community.
Jack Dorsey later claimed to have no knowledge about the content of the placard and even ‘Twitter India’ distanced itself from the controversy.
Around the same time, the US House Energy and Commerce Committee initiated a review of Jack Dorsey’s statements, which he gave under oath before the committee in September 2018. It is a federal crime to provide false testimony to Congress.
The hearing was about Twitter’s alleged arbitrary censorship of content published on the site. US Conservatives had often accused the platform of discrimination and silencing their voices to favour the progressives.
In October 2020, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate approved subpoenas against Jack Dorsey regarding the censorship of anti-Biden stories on the micro-blogging site.
Even the Indian government had sent a strong warning to the Twitter founder for showing Leh as part of China on the social media platform.
In June 2021, Jack Dorsey was heckled by one activist Laura Loomer during the Bitcoin 2021 conference organised in Miami in the United States. The incident took place after Loomer was aghast at the censorship rules of the micro-blogging site.
“Censorship is human rights violation…It’s almost as if Twitter hates Jews and conservatives. When is Jack Dorsey going to stop censoring conservatives? When am I going to get my Twitter back? I’ll be here as long as it takes,” she was quoted as saying.
Jack Dorsey was also caught endorsing tweets hailing Hollywood singer-actress Rihanna’s intervention into India’s domestic politics.
Screengrab of the tweet
Rihanna, along with former porn-star Mia Khalifa and child protestors such as Greta Thunberg, interfered in the country’s internal affairs by endorsing violence in the name of supporting ‘farmer’ protests, causing a massive backlash against these so-called international celebrities.
Around the same time, Twitter removed a tweet by Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, criticising the farmer’s protest. “We have taken action on Tweets that were in violation of the Twitter Rules in line with our range of enforcement options,” it said in a statement.
Twitter and the ongoing saga of Censorship
While Jack Dorsey had been falsely accusing the Indian government of censorship, it must be mentioned that his own platform had been at the helm of arbitrarily suspending/terminating the accounts of right-wing handles.
Listen from the horse's mouth itself how @jack used Twitter to silence the voices of Right Wingerd and interfered in Elections.
Opposition parties & liberals in our country supports them as it helped them against PM Modi Garu and Suppressing RW Voices. pic.twitter.com/0k5ZBtHv11
— Mitta Vamsi Krishna (@MittaVamsiBJP) June 13, 2023
In December 2018, Twitter’s legal team promptly sent official correspondence to two vocal critics of radical Islam, namely, Imam Tawhidi and Ensaf Haider for supposedly ‘violating Pakistani law’.
In March 2019, Opindia reported how Twitter censored the account of history buff ‘True Indology’ for exposing the distorted claims of ‘communal harmony’ in Jammu and Kashmir, as espoused by leftist propaganda outlet NDTV.
‘True Indology’ had simply pointed out that the Muslim population of Jammu and Kashmir never accepted a Hindu Chief Minister and that never even elected a single Hindu from their region.
BREAKING: @Twitter Insider Secretly Records CEO @jack Detailing Agenda For Further Political Censorship
One of the most notable cases of censorship was the termination of the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump. The fourth tranche of Twitter Files revealed how former Safety Head Yoel Roth flouted all rules to ban Donald Trump, despite being alarmed by junior employees.
At that time, Jack Dorsey had revealed that the attempt to silence and ban conservative opinion-makers is not just limited to Donald Trump. He pointed out that the censorship will continue, well past the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden.
He told employees, “We know we are focused on one account right now, but this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it’s going to go on for much longer than just this day, this week, the next few weeks, going on beyond inauguration. We have to expect that. We have to be ready for that.”
Twitter Files had revealed how the micro-blogging platform became a hotbed of censorship through the creation of blacklists, arbitrary prevention of tweets from trending on the platform and deliberate reduction of visibility of trending topics and accounts.
In September 2022, the current Twitter owner Elon Musk even hit out at Twitter Inc. for ‘suppressing’ his tweets. He had also asked Twitter, Twitter Verified and then-CEO Parag Agarwal to fix it.
I'm curious about what role the government played in Twitter's suppression of covid policy discussion. We will see with time, I suppose.
Several accounts were gutted under the pretext of Covid-19 misinformation. In December 2022, American journalist Bari Weiss pointed out how Dr Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University, was one of the victims of the high-handedness of a ‘select few’ employees at Twitter
Weiss highlighted how Bhattacharya’s tweets were blocked from trending because he claimed that Covid-19 lockdowns could harm children.
“Still trying to process my emotions on learning that @twitter blacklisted me. The thought that will keep me up tonight: censorship of scientific discussion permitted policies like school closures & a generation of children were hurt,” tweeted the Stanford professor after learning about the matter.
The blocking of the Hunter Biden story
In the last weeks of the 2020 US presidential elections, the New York Post published an explosive story about Hunter Biden’s problematic emails with a Ukrainian gas company executive from Burisma.
In its report, the news outlet alleged that they had accessed material from a damaged Macbook that was brought to a service centre for repair. The customer who brought the laptop never collected or paid for the services.
The shop owner said he repeatedly tried to contact the client. Though he could not identify the owner as Hunter Biden, he said the laptop had Beau Biden Foundation’s sticker.
The report has several documents and mentions a video that proves that Joe Biden met a high-profile businessman from Ukraine when he was Vice President of the United States.
Column’s up: Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg censored the @nypost Hunter Biden stories before the election to hide the real Joe Biden https://t.co/bjx7cCw0hU
Reports suggested that Biden may have helped his son Hunter using his influence as the VP of the United States in his business in Ukraine. The Biden Camp categorically denied all the allegations.
It was heavily censored by both Twitter and Facebook and was branded as a piece of fake news. Initially, the left and liberal cabal dismissed the report as a hoax, but it was eventually confirmed that the laptop’s contents did really belong to Hunter Biden.
Following the restriction of the NYP report, Twitter justified the action by claiming that its policies forbid the sharing of compromised information. After the elections were over and Joe Biden was declared president, it later became clear that the NY Post story was true.
Twitter’s former head Jack Dorsey then expressed regret over censoring the story and blocking NY Post from their Twitter account.
When Twitter refused to take down child porn
In 2021, a 17-year-old boy, alias ‘John Doe’, filed a lawsuit against Twitter for not removing two child pornography videos featuring him, despite multiple requests to the social media giant.
The victim informed us that the videos were shot when he was just 13 years old. He accused Twitter of allowing the dissemination of disturbing videos and profiteering from his traumatic experience.
The teen had alleged that sex traffickers, posing as a 16-year-old female classmate, had lured him for a chat on Snapchat. After exchanging nude photos with the traffickers, he was subjected to blackmail.
The accused had coerced him into sending more sexually graphic images and videos by threatening to send the nude images to his pastor, coach and parents. The victim was made to include another child in sexual acts.
The department of homeland security had to step in to get Twitter to remove the video.
Eventually, he mustered the courage to block the traffickers. Later in 2019, the videos of his abuse surfaced on Twitter. They were reported several times to the moderation team, which refused to take them down.
Meanwhile, the victim was subjected to bullying and harassment by his classmates over his child abuse videos. After several requests, Twitter responded to the victim and claimed that the two videos were not in violation of the company’s policies.
By then, the videos were watched over 1.67 lakh users and retweeted over 2.2K times. It was only after a formal complaint to the Department of Homeland Security that Twitter acted against the user that posted the videos.
This individual made 8k selling child sexual exploitation material on Twitter. Some of the videos were of minor survivors crying and begging to not be exploited. Over 40+ minor male survivors.
In August 2022, The Vergereported how Twitter was planning to start a subscription model for adult content creators, along the lines of OnlyFans. At that time, a team of 84 Twitter employees pointed out how the social media giant lacked tools to identify potentially harmful sexual content.
“Twitter cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale,” they concluded. Interestingly, the social media giant was quick to terminate the accounts of those individuals who questioned the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines and the mainstream narrative about the pandemic
‘Human Trafficking Survivor Advocate’ Eliza had documented several cases where Twitter failed to protect minor victims of child abuse. In May 2021, a Russian court fined Twitter for failing to delete illegal content, including posts related to child pornography, drug abuse information, and calls for minors to commit suicide, which was highlighted by the telecom regulator Ruskomnadzor.
Twitter had been challenging the Indian govt for a long time
In August 2022, Opindia reported how Elon Musk flagged Twitter’s risky litigation against the Indian government. “Twitter has terminated its product lead and another key executive, retained a board member whose reelection was rejected by stockholders, instituted a hiring freeze, and disobeyed orders from and initiated risky litigation against the Indian government—thereby placing Twitter’s third largest market at risk,” he had said.
Earlier in February 2019, Twitter CEO and top officials had declined to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology, headed by Anurag Thakur, which had issued a summons to Twitter over the issue of safeguarding citizens’ rights on social media platforms.
It may be recalled how in February 2021, Twitter decided to put its own rules above Indian laws and refused to withhold or suspend accounts that have been accused of inciting violence in the country.
However, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians. We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve, and are exploring options under Indian law.
It cited freedom of speech and expression as per the Indian Constitution for news media entities, journalists, activists and politicians for refusing to take action against the offending accounts.
Interestingly, the Indian Constitution’s Article 19 which serves freedom of speech and expression does not specify the press or associated persons as separate entities.
Having said that, left liberals and Islamists are now trying to use the statement of Jack Dorsey to malign the Indian government. It comes as no wonder that fears about social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook interfering in India’s electoral process have only increased with time.
Remember those Bollywood movies wherein a Hindu is corrupt, a Pandit is a rapist, an Indian soldier turns terrorist, a Baniya is an exploitative cheat, but Abdul is a peace-loving person driven by responsibilities? Well, one can probably give the benefit of the doubt (pains one to say so) for the sake of it to Bollywood in the name of creative freedom.
The Indian mainstream media on the other hand has no such excuse when it starts humanising terrorists. Read how the Times of India published an article talking about how much Umar Khalid’s girlfriend misses him, how much she loves him, how they met and started dating, how they meet in jail, and so on and so forth.
While one could laugh and dismiss these shenanigans, humanising terrorists is a potent tool that has been used by the media and their Islamist-Leftist brethren innumerable times before to ensure that the world disbelieves the facts against the terrorist presented to them because their vision would be coloured by just how likeable and relatable the terrorist is.
The expectation is simple – when one reads this interview, one would imagine oneself in such a situation. What if my husband was thrown in jail? I would feel the same, one would think. I would miss him too, he would get me chocolates too, he would be traumatised as well and you would fight for his release, just like so many people are. The aim is to establish an emotional connection to the average citizen who gets emotionally blinded into supporting a hardened terrorist, ignoring the facts of the case, based purely on emotions and how relatable the terrorist and his friends and family seem. With such articles, the media hopes that Umar’s girlfriend’s cause would become the cause of the average citizen, with the facts being suppressed and summarily ignored – it would not matter what Umar did. It would only matter that he is your average boy next door with people who love him, and he deserves to be freed. The emotionally coloured lens would then result in people not only ignoring the facts but refusing the belief in them altogether.
This emotional blackmailing is almost a pattern with the media, every time Jihadis are caught on the wrong foot – especially those who they wish to project as the voice of the voiceless Muslims. There have been several such incidents in the past where hardened Jihadis and terrorists were humanised so people would forget their crimes and only remember what nice, average, relatable folks they were. Following below are some such reports.
The Indian Express, Huffington Post, and The Wire published articles humanising Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Riyaz Naikoo by identifying him as the “son of a tailor”, “a Math teacher”, and “operational chief” of the terrorist outfit. The Wire went one step ahead and nowhere in its article called the Jihadi a terrorist.
The dead Hizbul terrorist was quite active in the valley and responsible for various abductions and recruitment of fresh blood to the Hizbul Mujahideen over the years. Propagandists sang dirges for the slain terrorist and provided disingenuous accounts of how the terrorist was pushed into “extremism” by the Indian state, thereby whitewashing his terror activities and elevating him to “martyr status”.
Shahrukh Pathan
As the law began to take its course and charges were framed against 2020 Delhi riots case accused Shahrukh Pathan, there were attempts to create confusion around him by Ravish Kumar and The Quint. The now-jobless NDTV anchor Ravish Kumar spread misinformation by identifying Pathan as Anurag Mishra.
For the 26th February 2020 show, Ravish claimed that police had not yet arrested him while he was arrested on 25th February itself, good 24 hours before his show aired. “Police ki haalat yeh hai ki abhi tak giraftar nahin hua hai. Police saaf kehti hai ki Shahrukh hai magar aap social media mein dekhiye Anurag Mishra bataya jaa raha hai. (Situation of the Police is such that they have not yet arrested him. Police says his name is Shahrukh but if you see on social media, he is called Anurag Mishra),” he spoke in his characteristic drawl during the show.
Meanwhile, The Quint started by describing his menacing march as ‘brazen confidence in his gait’. “Unfazed by the policemen in riot gear, he shot bullets in the air while media persons captured his acts in astonishment. The fact that the gym enthusiast, who was also a local, did not wear a mask to hide his identity, made his ‘bravado’ seem peculiar and odd,” they wrote. The writer went to great depths of his mind for this creative writing which The Quint passed as news.
Yasin Malik
For Hindustan Times, Yasin Malik, killer of the Indian Air Force personnel and terrorist who worked hands in glove-with Pakistan, “has a long history of struggle.”
Yasin Malik has waged attacks on Indians in Kashmir with the intention to rip apart the valley from India. He has now been separated from Kashmir by the Indian state and is now successfully rotting in jail.
Sharjeel Imam
This Hindu-hating bigot’s statements about wanting to isolate Assam from India have fallen on Quint’s deaf ears. The Quint’s Legal writer Mekhala Saran in her article makes a defensive case for Sharjeel Imam accused in the Jamia violence case. More than a legal news analysis, she attempts to school the justice system as if it needs her validation.
Saran writes while critiquing the Delhi HC judgment calling Sherjeel Imam the “main conspirator”,.”The judge has to reflect on the material at hand and decide if there’s even enough ground to sustain the charges. Anything less than that can result in a gross violation of right to liberty”, the article read.
Zakir Musa
Zakir Musa, the jihadi terrorist head of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, was killed by the security forces on May 23. Musa’s terrorist organisation was supported by Al-Qaeda and he was being hunted by security forces for a long time.
However, Indian mainstream media and some so-called ‘secular-liberals’ never fail to mourn the slain terrorists and are often seen whitewashing their crimes, even giving them the ‘hero’ or martyr status.
The report by News 18 attempts to highlight information like how Musa’s father Abdul Rasheed Bhat, an engineer by profession, had received a packet containing an iPhone, iPod, and three debit cards in 2013. Zakir Musa’s decision to become an armed terrorist has been represented in the report as a father’s sorrow of his son ‘sacrificing’ luxury.
Osama bin Laden
Typically, The Guardian interviewed the mother of Osama bin Laden in 2018. Describing every detail that no one asked for, painting a sympathetic picture of the Al Qaeda terrorist’s family. The article talks about his family, his home, his childhood, his training, and his inclinations but tries to paint a sorry image as if waiting for the reader to buy into the narrative. Titled “My Son, Osama”, the article conveniently draws and withdraws links to his family.
It reads, “Bin Laden remains a popular figure in some parts of the country, lauded by those who believe he did God’s work. The depth of support, however, is difficult to gauge. What remains of his immediate family, meanwhile, has been allowed back into the kingdom: at least two of Osama’s wives (one of whom was with him in Abbottabad when he was killed by US special forces) and their children now live in Jeddah.”
This is a trend that has been followed by the mainstream media for decades, and in all that time it was unchallenged. Even the sympathies of India’s mainstream media for Jihadis are not original work. Notably, cheap copies have been published by Indian mainstream media inspired by the appalling love for jihadis in the Western media.
A privilege only reserved for Muslim accused
For the liberal media, the privilege of being seen as cherubic saints is only reserved for hardened criminals who work against the interest of India, murder Hindus, and for Jihadis who actively work towards ‘teaching Kafirs a lesson’. When a Hindu is brutally murdered by these very jihadis, they not only proceed to humanise the murderer but dehumanise the Hindu victim.
During the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, IB official Ankit Sharma was brutally murdered. He was stabbed so many times that his intestines lay outside his body. On the other hand, Dilbar Negi, another Hindu, was murdered mercilessly. His hands and legs were chopped off while he was alive and then he was burnt to death. In both these cases, the accused were humanised and the victims, dehumanised.
There is no low, it would seem, that the liberal, corporate media and their paymasters would not fall to. The mandate has been clear for decades and what we see with Umar Khalid and the Delhi anti-Hindu riots is merely a repeat of it – humanise terrorists and Jihadis, dehumanise their victims and always.. always blame the Hindus while shielding the Muslims. There is no mandate greater. There is no treachery more sinister.
On June 10 (local time), President Joe Biden hosted the largest Pride celebrations in White House history. He called for new measures to protect the rights and safety of the LGBTQ+ community, claiming the states that are bringing legislation to ban teachers and children from discussing gender or sexuality in school are “terrifying”. However, the event was clouded by controversies, including a group of transgenders shooting videos topless and accusations of violation of the Flag Code during the event.
Violation of Flag Code
Soon after photos and videos of the celebration were shared on social media, netizens suggested that the White House violated US Flag Code Section 7(e), which requires the American Flag to be at the centre of any display featuring multiple flags. It reads, “The flag of the United States of America should be at the centre and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.”
This is a disgrace.
Not only is it in breach of US Flag Code, but it’s a glaring example of this White Houses’ incompetence and insistence on putting their social agenda ahead of patriotism. pic.twitter.com/Hn2jART16m
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) June 11, 2023
However, reports claimed the flag code was not violated as an American Flag was hoisted at the top of the building that was not shown in most images and videos. Furthermore, some netizens claimed as per Section 10 of the Flag Code, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States has the right to alter the Flag Code as it is appropriate and desirable. Being Commander in Chief, Biden can display the flags as he sees fit.
The topless transgenders at the White House
A shocking video of three topless trans people at the White House is making the rounds on social media. One of the trans persons, who identifies as Rose Montoya, shared the video on her TikTok account. In the video, Rose was seen covering her nipples while another trans person was “flaunting” surgery scars after breast removal.
This is what happened at the White House pride event. A disgrace to our country. pic.twitter.com/QmXVIdmOPr
Following the controversy, Rose uploaded another video on TikTok claiming to show breasts in Washington is legal. They further claimed to have covered nipples just to be on the safer side.
Biden’s address at the event
During his address at the event, Biden urged Congress to pass the “Equality Act” to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The amendment proposed will include gender identity and sexual orientation for protection alongside religion, national origin, sex and race.
At the invitation of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, thousands of guests arrived at the White House and picnicked on the South Lawn. Pete Buttigieg, who is the first openly LGBTQ US Cabinet secretary, and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Admiral Rachel Levine, attended the event alongside President and the First Lady. Survivors of the Club Q (LGBTQ club) nightclub shooting in November 2022 and the Pulse (Gay club) shooting in 2016 were invited to the event.
According to Joe Biden, Republican-led states are targeting transgender youth by banning teachers of younger children from discussing gender or sexuality in the classrooms. These states have either proposed or passed laws banning drag performances at the schools that Biden termed a “threatening environment for LGBTQ people”.
Notably, such events are often highly sexualised, and parents are primarily kept in the dark about the discussions on sexual orientation and gender in the classrooms. In recent years, parents have come out publicly denouncing the actions of the schools and states to create a fissure between children and parents. Several states have pushed legislation banning teachers from informing parents about transitioning their children, leading to protests by the parents.
Biden said, “When families across the country face excruciating decisions to relocate to a different state to protect their child from dangerous ant-LGTBQ laws, we have to act. We must push back against the hundreds of callous and cynical bills introduced in states targeting transgender children, terrifying families, and criminalising doctors and nurses. These bills and laws attack our most basic values and freedoms as Americans.”
Biden has recently announced more measures aimed at providing help to transgenders to access better care and increasing federal coordination to protect Pride celebrations, LGBTQ-owned or linked marches, community centres, healthcare providers and small businesses.
The books that are either banned from school libraries or facing protests by parents contain sexual content that is not fit for young children. These books often depict oral sex, underage sex and gay sex, to which parents have objected profusely.
Last week the Delhi police blew the lid off a major conversion racket that was being carried out in a shelter home in the national capital’s Turkam Gate area after it arrested the main accused Mohammad Kaleem on 9th June 2023. The arrest was made based on a complaint filed by the shelter’s caretaker Sandeep Sagar, who accused Kaleem of exerting pressure on him to embrace Islam and enticing him with promises of a government job and financial incentives.
The Delhi police probing the case have revealed that accused Md Kaleem had created five Whatsapp groups where he use to share Islamic propaganda videos and audio to radicalise the people who were seeking shelter at the Rain Basera or at the night shelters in Delhi and then either coerce them or force them to convert to Islam. These WhatsApp groups were created in the name of welfare programs to mislead people into conversion.
The Delhi Police are now interrogating the WhatsApp group members. Additionally, the Delhi police are also going through Kaleem’s bank accounts to ascertain whether he was receiving foreign funding to facilitate the conversion racket.
The news that religious propaganda items were discovered on Kaleem’s mobile was released to the media by DCP Central Sanjay Kumar Sain. He said that the probe has revealed that the accused was associated with WhatsApp groups that he used to spread religious propaganda. Kaleem was the group administrator for these groups. Several pictures, videos and radical propaganda literature have also been found in Kaleem’s phone gallery.
Kaleem is currently in police custody and will be placed in detention and interrogated if necessary, said the DCP.
#WATCH जांच में पता लगा कि जिस व्यक्ति का संदर्भ हुआ था वह व्यक्ति पहले हिंदू था अब मुस्लिम नाम है। इसे इसके घरवालों ने घर से निकाल दिया था। आगे की जांच में और जानकारी पता चलेगी: कथित धर्मांतरण की धमकी की प्राथमिकी पर संजय कुमार सैन, डीसीपी सेंट्रल-दिल्ली pic.twitter.com/QoLUUduhHN
According to the employees of the night shelter, Kaleem used to pay a visit there looking for needy and distressed individuals, whom he then brainwashed and tried to convert to Islam by luring them with government jobs and money.
धर्मांतरण की साजिश का नया मामला दिल्ली से आया सामने…कलीम नाम का शख्स गरीब और कमजोर लोगों को निशाने पर लेकर रच रहा था धर्मांतरण की बड़ी साजिश…#delhipic.twitter.com/MyQgcPywru
The police investigation has also revealed that Kalim used to befriend new people on social media. Later he used to send religious literature etc. to these people with an intention to radicalise and subsequently convert them to Islam.
धर्मांतरण की साजिश का नया मामला दिल्ली से आया सामने…कलीम नाम का शख्स गरीब और कमजोर लोगों को निशाने पर लेकर रच रहा था धर्मांतरण की बड़ी साजिश…#delhipic.twitter.com/MyQgcPywru
It may be noted that the shelter’s caretaker Sandeep Sagar, in his complaint had said that the accused allegedly made derogatory remarks about the Hindu religion and promoted its boycott by sharing religious videos on YouTube. In response to these allegations, the Delhi Police have filed a case against the accused and subsequently apprehended him. The accused has been charged under Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to the complaint, Kaleem allegedly compelled the caretaker to recite Islamic phrases before commencing work and would show YouTube videos promoting the Islamic religion. He reportedly made derogatory remarks about Hinduism, suggesting it lacked uniqueness, and advocated for the boycott of the Hindu faith through these videos. Moreover, it is alleged that Mohammad Kaleem promised the caretaker marriage, a sum of Rs 1 lakh, and assistance in securing a government job if the caretaker converted to Islam.
Accused Md Kaleem threatened to get people beheaded if they would not convert to Islam
Sandeep Sagar also revealed that when he refused to accede to Kaleem’s conversion demands, he filed a false case of theft against him. Kaleem accused Sandeep of stealing his mobile phone and cash and also threatened to implicate him in other cases as well.
Kaleem allegedly threatened to get people beheaded if they would not convert to Islam and referred to India as the Islamic nation of the future. He also used to show videos of the Indian fugitive and radical Islamist preacher Zakir Naik to radicalise youths and coerce them to convert to Islam.
As per the caretaker Sandeep Sagar, Mohammad Kaleem allegedly converted a young man named Sanjeev Kumar, who now goes by the name Abbas. Additionally, Kaleem was exerting pressure on two other individuals, Sujit Kumar and Vicky Sharma, to embrace Islam under his influence.
On Tuesday, Khadim of Ajmer Sharif Dargah Sayed Sarwar Chishti released a video apologising for blaming women for the Ajmer Sharif rape scandal. This is days after his video went viral over the internet in which he could be seen trying to justify the 1992 Ajmer Sharif rape scandal.
“Man may not be corrupted by money, may not be morally corrupt even. But ‘Ladki cheez hi aisi hai…’ (a girl is such a thing) that can corrupt anyone. Just like Menaka disrupted Vishwamitra’s ‘Tapasya’. All the ‘Babas’ in jail have been incarcerated in cases involving women. Even the most prominent men fall into this trap,” he was quoted as saying on June 10. He said this while he was reacting to the questions regarding the upcoming film ‘Ajmer 92’ which is based on the 1992 scandal.
Releasing a video, Chishti said that the video was shot as a part of a sting operation which he had no idea about, and that he did not actually mean what he said. “I didn’t mean what I said. I meant that the activities of the culprits in the rape scandal are criminal and so they are in jail. If I have unknowingly hurt the sentiments of women in any manner, I express my apology for that. I in no way am justifying the incident. Those are criminal activities. My tongue might have slipped. But I didn’t mean what is being said and spread in the media,” he said.
He, meanwhile, also tried to brazen it out in the video and counter-questioned asking that if people are really so much concerned about the women, why is nobody talking about the women wrestlers who are protesting for justice in Delhi.
It is notable that the trailer of the film Ajmer 92 has created a stir since its release. This hard-hitting picture, produced by Reliance Entertainment in collaboration with U&K Films Entertainment, Sumit Motion Pictures, and Little Crew Pictures, will be released on July 14, 2023. Based on true events, Ajmer 92 tells the story of the plight of as many as 250 girls who were trapped, sexually exploited, and blackmailed for years in Ajmer by several influential men in the city.
Some of the Chishti Khadims (caretakers) of the Ajmer Dargah were among the accused in this case. The accused Chishtis included Anwar Chishti, Farooq Chishti, and Nafees Chishti.
After the recent love jihad cases that were reported from the Purola, Arakot and Chamoli districts of Uttarakhand, a new similar case has emerged from the Dehradun region of the state where a Muslim man was caught by a local Hindu organization while he was taking derogatory photographs of a Hindu medical student. The man also blackmailed the female student using the photographs and forced her to change her religion to Islam.
According to the reports, members of the Hindu organization caught the accused near Jollygrant and took him to the Police station. The organizations and the enraged locals have demanded strict action against the accused. SSP Dilip Kunwar Singh took cognizance of the incident and said that the incident is true but the victim has not yet come to the fore. Both, the accused and the victim are residents of Doiwala.
The Police also meanwhile commented on the action by the Hindu organization and said that nobody is allowed to take the law into their hands. Some members of the Hindu organization are said to have thrashed the accused before getting him to the police station. “The victim has not yet come to the fore. The investigation is underway and is being conducted by CO Doiwala,” SSP Dilip Kunwar Singh confirmed.
Further, as per the police, some people in the case have been detained and are being questioned. He also has assured that strict action will be taken against the accused involved in the case. Members of the Hindu organization complained that the accused identified as Ashif Manan lured and trapped the Hindu girl by posing as a Hindu and then forced her to convert her religion to Islam.
In the recent past, several cases of Love Jihad have been reported from the state of Uttarakhand. As per the reports, around 48 cases have come to the fore from the state which mostly includes the abduction of minor girls.
Earlier, it was reported that a Muslim individual identified as Uved Khan from the Purola region was caught abducting a Hindu girl with the help of another person named Jitendra Saini. The two accused were arrested after the locals launched a massive protest against the accused and the outsider businessman, most of whom belong to the minority community. In a recent update to the case, the protests have reached Gangotri town and several shops continued to remain closed on June 10.
Also, one other case was reported from Gauchar town in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand where two Muslim youths attempted to elope with a minor Hindu girl. Two Muslim youths who have been identified as Gulzar alias Nitin (26) and Aslam (21) lured a 15-year-old Hindu girl and took her to a hotel on Tuesday, June 6. They told the hotel staff that the girl is the daughter of their maternal aunt. However, the hotel owner grew suspicious and informed the police about it. Meanwhile, one of the accused escaped along with the minor girl.
On June 12 (local time) former CEO and founder of Twitter accused the Indian government of threatening Twitter during farmer protests and projected himself as a ‘free speech’ warrior. However, the truth is far from what he has projected. Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, he had accused the platform of suppressing his tweets. Interestingly, his accusations came at the time when Musk was in a legal battle with Twitter over the proposed purchase of the social media platform.
On September 13, 2022, Musk wrote, “My tweets are being suppressed!” and asked Twitter, Twitter Verified and then-CEO Parag Agarwal to fix it.
Several people had confirmed that Elon Musk’s account had been suppressed. A USA based commentator had also confirmed that he was not being able to see tweets by Musk.
I hadn’t been seeing them and thought you weren’t posting. Only saw it at someone quote RT’ed Lex’s reply to you. Definitely something is up.
Notably, Musk had desired to buy Twitter, and the deal was in place. However, Musk allegedly found discrepancies in the dealings that he mentioned in his submission at a US court after Twitter sued him for trying to back from the deal.
Later, on October 28, 2022, Elon Musk officially “took over”freed the bird” and made it a Private Company. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has unsuspended hundreds of accounts suspended for no concrete reasons or because of ideological differences.
Changes Musk brought to Twitter for better user experience
Musk has brought many changes to the platform, including ending the “verified” and replacing it with “Twitter Blue”. Previously, only “notable” people were verified by the platform, and it was a biased process that Musk pointed out several times. On the contrary, anyone with real credentials can now get verified by purchasing Twitter Blue Subscription. Only government handles are provided free verification under Grey Checkmark.
Furthermore, Musk has brought long tweets, high-resolution videos, and options like long videos, business account verification and monetisation options for creators as a step further to make the platform a one-stop solution for all.
Jack Dorsey lies, blames Indian govt – what Union Minister said
A video went viral on social media on Tuesday, 13th June, where in an interview, former CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey went on a tirade against India, claiming that the Indian govt had threatened Twitter with a shut down if they did not withhold accounts that were critical of the government of India during the extremely violent farmers protest.
Responding to Jack Dorsey, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said:
This is an outright lie by @jack – perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of twitters history Facts and truth. @twitter undr Dorsey n his team were in repeated n continuous violations of India law. As a matter of fact they were in non-compliance with law repeatedly from 2020 to 2022 and it was only June 2022 when they finally complied. No one went to jail nor was twitter “shutdown”. Dorseys Twitter regime had a problem accepting the sovereignty of Indian law. It behaved as if the laws of India did not apply to it. India as a sovereign nation has the right to ensure that its laws are followed by all companies operating in India.
During the protests in January 2021, there was a lot of misinformation and even reports of genocide which were definitely fake. GoI was obligated to remove misinformation from the platform because it had the potential to further inflame the situation based on fake news. Such was the level of partisan behaviour on Twitter under Jack regime, that they had a problem removing misinformation from the platform in India, when they did it themselves when similar events took place in the USA.
To set the record straight, no one was raided or sent to jail. Our focus was only on ensuring the compliance of Indian laws. There is ample evidence now in public domain abt Jacks twitter’s arbitrary, blatantly partisan n discriminatory conduct and misuse of its power on its platform during that period. Twitter under Dorsey was not just violating Indian law, but was partisan in how it was using “deamplify” n deplatforming of some arbitrarily in violation of Art 14,19 of our constitution and also assisting in weaponising of misinformation. Our govts policies remain clear for all Intermediaries operating in India – compliance with laws to ensure Internet is Safe&Trusted, Accountable”.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is a union minister and Member of the Consultative Committee on MoE & IT, Ministry of Communications, essentially said that Twitter under Jack Dorsey was partisan, de-platformed those from India who they thought did not conform to their partisan and ideological view and refused to accept the sovereignty of Indian laws.
On Sunday (June 11), Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee was allegedly denied entry into the sacred Harichand-Guruchand temple of the Matua community in Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. As per reports, he was stopped by a section of the Matua community and was greeted with black flags and ‘go back’ slogans. Abhishek Banerjee however alleged that it was the handiwork of BJP MP Shantanu Thakur and his followers.
He accused them and CISF personnel, accompanying the BJP MP, of forcibly closing the gates of the main temple and preventing him from offering prayers. The TMC leader also claimed that the central forces assaulted women devotees, who came to pray at the Matua temple.
“The Harichand Thakur temple has been desecrated by Santanu Thakur and his cronies. CISF jawans assaulted women devotees who had come to visit the shrine while throwing out the common people out of the compound,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the BJP has rubbished the allegations levelled by Abhishek Banerjee. While speaking to the media, BJP MP Shantanu Thakur said, “Abhishek Banerjee had brought in goons to foment trouble but he was thwarted by members of the Matua community.”
He further added, “TMC general secretary was not allowed to use the Matua community for political gains.” Thakur informed that BJP workers and MLA Ashoke Kirtaniya sustained injuries after they were attacked by TMC goons prior to the arrival of Abhishek Banerjee at the Harichand-Guruchand temple.
Some goons of the TMC mishandled the 'purohit'. As soon as I got to know about the altercations, I went to the temple, & there I was also abused & thrashed by TMC workers. Many were critically injured in this incident: @Shantanu_Bjp
He said that the local police and TMC workers manhandled him when he went to meet the injured party workers at the Chandpara Hospital. Thakur also told Times Now that TMC leaders such as Jyotipriyo Mallick, Bratya Basu and Sujit Bose and their supporters assaulted the temple priest.
“They threw the purohit (temple priest) out and prevented the devotees from visiting the main temple…When I was informed about the matter, I reached the temple premises. TMC goons pushed me and abused me verbally,” he narrated.
Shantanu Thakur emphasised, “I am a member of the Matua family. I belong to the 6th generation of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur ji. It is my duty to protect the temple at all costs. And TMC goons were trying to stop me from entering the temple.”
TMC goons have attacked the Holy Shree Dham Temple; Thakurbari of the Matua Community, in front of the Police. I request the Hon'ble Union Home Minister; Shri @AmitShah Ji & @HMOIndia to kindly intervene urgently & provide protection to the members & office bearers of the All… pic.twitter.com/lE1icS68TY
— Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) June 11, 2023
Meanwhile, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari shared a video of TMC workers assaulting devotees of the Matua community in the presence of the police. He requested the Union Home Ministry to intervene in the matter immediately and provide protection to members of the All India Matua Mahasangha.
Abhishek Banerjee had claimed that he could have forcibly entered the Harichand-Guruchand temple with his supporters but supposedly chose to not do so to avoid a clash at the holy site.
“If we wished to do so, I could have forced my way in. But this is not the place for display of power, as it is a holy place. But this temple is not anybody’s paternal property,” he had remarked.
It must be mentioned that the TMC leader later visited the Thakurnagar Thakurbari Matua Dham in Gaighata. The official handle of the party posted pictures of him offering prayers at the temple.
On Day 46 of #JonoSanjogYatra, Nat'l GS Shri @abhishekaitc offered his humble prayers at Thakurnagar Thakurbari Matua Dham in Gaighata.
Praying for the well-being of every single individual, he wished for peace and… pic.twitter.com/SPRXji8rI7
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) June 11, 2023
Old video of Mamata Banerjee calling Matua spiritual leader ‘cow’ goes viral
In the meantime, a video of Mamata Banerjee distorting the names of the Holy leaders of the Matua community, namely, Sri Harichand and Sri Guruchand, is going viral on social media.
The video is originally from February 2023 wherein the West Bengal CM is heard mispronouncing the name of Sri Guruchand as ‘Goru-chand (which translates to dumb/cow). She also pronounced the name of Sri Harichand as ‘Roghuchand’.
At that time, International Matua Parishad had given an ultimatum to Mamata Banerjee to apologise for distorting the name of their spiritual leader.
The Matua community paid back the insult done by Mamata Banerjee few months ago by not allowing Abhishek Banerjee to enter the temple today and showed black flag towards him. pic.twitter.com/xsULImCpLV
“The chief minister has insulted the entire Matua community by mispronouncing the names of the most respected spiritual leaders, Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said in February this year.
Who are the Matuas
Matuas are ‘lower-caste’ Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh who have migrated to India, owing to religious persecution. The community was founded by Harichand Thakur (1812-1878) and his son Guruchand Thakur (1846-1937), who lived at Faridpur in Bangladesh.
Although their families came to Bengal in 1946, most of their community members entered India ‘illegally’ after 1971. They hold influence in over 40 constituencies in the State. While they have supported the TMC in the past, the BJP has witnessed a voting shift towards them in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Matua community in West Bengal is awaiting the implementation of CAA, reports suggest. BJP chief JP Nadda had earlier assured that the rules were being framed for implementation of CAA.
Matuas forms a sizeable vote bank in Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas and can prove to be a game-changer in the ongoing West Bengal Panchayat elections.
