During the G7 Summit in Schloss Elmau, Germany, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández with a Nandi-themed Dokra Art from Chattisgarh as a gesture of goodwill from the people of India. PM Modi is in Germany for two days beginning Sunday for this year’s summit, to which he has been invited as a special guest.
PM Modi gifted Nandi-themed Dokra Art from Chattisgarh to Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández
This particular art-piece is a figure of ‘Nandi –The Meditative Bull’. According to Hindu mythology Nandi is considered as the vehicle (mount) of Lord Shiva, the lord of destruction pic.twitter.com/nzGnzbbmBi
It is worthy to mention that Hindus worship Nandi since it is regarded as the carrier (mount) of Lord Shiva (Mahadev), the lord of devastation. According to the Shivmahapurana, Nandi, who is commonly shown as a seated bull facing the Shivling in a Shiv temple, is Mahadev’s most adored and fortunate follower.
Nandi is often shown seated in many temples. Standing Nandis can also be seen in a few temples, although they are uncommon. Nandi was designated as the primary protector of Mount Kailash, Mahadev’s home. As a result, he is also regarded as the protector of any Shiv temple.
It is worth noting that there is a Nandi in the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir complex, which faces the disputed Gyanvapi complex. Following the discovery of the Shivling in the Gyanvapi complex, people concluded that the 353-year wait for the Nandi statue facing the site where the Shivling emerged was ended.
Also, PM Modi gifted Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa a Dokra Art with a Ramayana theme from Chattisgarh.
PM Modi gifted Dokra Art with Ramayana Theme from Chattisgarh to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa
Dokra Art is non–ferrous metal casting art using the lost-wax casting technique. This sort of metal casting has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used pic.twitter.com/g3kc1TzrxH
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and US President Joe Biden are among the other international leaders attending the G7 Summit.
In addition to India, Germany, the summit’s host, has invited Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal, and South Africa as guests to recognise the democracies of the global south as allies. Prime Minister Modi arrived in Germany on Sunday and was received by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He will leave Germany today and go to the United Arab Emirates to convey his condolences for the death of the country’s former leader, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
On June 28, business tycoon Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry passed away at the age of 93. He was the Chairman of the Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Mistry passed away at his residence on the intervening night of June 27 and June 28. He was known as the ‘Phantom of Bombay House’ for his reclusive nature. Mistry was also the largest individual shareholder in Tata Group.
Condolence messages poured in after Pallomji Mistry’s death
Several leaders expressed Condolences over the demise of an icon of the Indian business world, Pallonji Mistry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Saddened by the passing away of Shri Pallonji Mistry. He made monumental contributions to the world of commerce and industry. My condolences to his family, friends and countless well-wishers. May his soul rest in peace.”
Saddened by the passing away of Shri Pallonji Mistry. He made monumental contributions to the world of commerce and industry. My condolences to his family, friends and countless well-wishers. May his soul rest in peace.
Union Minister Smriti Irani said, “Pallonji Mistry, the end of an era. One of life’s greatest joys was to have witnessed his genius, his gentleness at work. My condolences to the family and his loved ones.”
Pallonji Mistry , the end of an era. One of life’s greatest joys was to have witnessed his genius , his gentleness at work. My condolences to the family and his loved ones.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted, “Deeply saddened on the unfortunate demise of Shri Pallonji Mistry. His invaluable contribution to infrastructure development, commerce & industry will never be forgotten. My condolences to his family & friends. Om Shanti.”
Deeply saddened on the unfortunate demise of Shri Pallonji Mistry.
His invaluable contribution to infrastructure development, commerce & industry will never be forgotten.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur also offered his condolences by saying, “Shapoorji Pallonji Group Chairman Sh Pallonji Mistry Ji was a pioneer of his industry and passionate about the projects he undertook spanning decades. Saddened to hear about his passing away. I express my condolences to his family and friends.”
Shapoorji Pallonji Group Chairman Sh Pallonji Mistry Ji was a pioneer of his industry and passionate about the projects he undertook spanning decades.
Saddened to hear about his passing away. I express my condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/uuvVayPpJ7
Union Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said, “Deeply saddened by the demise of Shri Pallonji Mistry. He contributed immensely to the Indian economy. My sincere condolences to his family & friends. May his soul rest in peace.”
Deeply saddened by the demise of Shri Pallonji Mistry.
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) June 28, 2022
Who was Pallonji Mistry?
Pallonji was born to a Parsi family from Gujarat in 1929. He was into the construction business. He completed his schooling at Cathedral & John Cannon School in Mumbai and gained graduation from Imperial College in London. Pallonji took Irish citizenship through marriage in 2003
He joined his family business in Shapoorji Pallonji Group at the age of 18 and helped in expanding the business to Dubai, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi during the 1970s. Notably, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group was founded in 1865. It has since expanded its construction business not only in India and the Middle East but also in South Asia and Africa.
Several iconic buildings in Mumbai were built by Shapoorji Pallonji Group, including the Reserve Bank of India building, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, Brabourne Stadium and others. Mistry owned several companies, including Shapoorji Pallonji Construction Limited, Forbes Textiles and Eureka Forbes Limited, he was also former chairman of Associated Cement Companies (ACC).
For his contributions in the field of trade and industry, Pallonji was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in the year 2016. Pallonji is survived by his wife Patsy Perin Dubash and four children Shapoor Mistry, Cyrus Mistry, Laila Mistry and Aloo Mistry. Shapoor manages Shapoorji Pallonji Group, and Cyrus served as Chairman of Tata Group from 2012 to 2016.
Following the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair by Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, so-called liberals came out in his support and demanded his release. One of the arguments they put forward was that the netizen whose tweet initiated action against Zubair had a low follower count.
Pro-AAP propagandist YouTuber Dhruv Rathee questioned the validity of the complaint because the user had only one follower before Zubair was arrested. He said, “According to Delhi Police, Zubair is arrested because an anonymous Twitter account with one follower complained that his sentiments are hurt. But Komal Sharma couldn’t be arrested despite video evidence of violence. What a joke this whole system is!”
Dhruv Rathee questioned how Zubair could be arrested on complaint of twitter user who had one follower. Source: Twitter
Newslaundry columnist Meghnad tracked when the account was created and pointed out that the tweet on which action was taken against Zubair was a screenshot from a Hindi movie from 1983. He said, “Here’s what Delhi police is acting on. An anonymous account is created in Oct 2021. Puts out a single tweet in Jun 2022 complaining that Zubair has insulted Hindus. The “hurtful” Tweet is from Mar 2018. The screenshot in Zubair’s tweet is from a 1983 move.”
Meghnad tracked the account creation and pointed out he posted only one tweet in months. Source: Twitter
There are a few points that need to be mentioned here. First of all, it was not just the screenshot but also the text Zubair had put out with it that made it derogatory. Secondly, he completely ignored the fact that the demand for action against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma was called because of the text written hundreds of years ago in Islamic scriptures. If the action can be demanded on something that was written centuries ago, why not someone could demand action for something that was written five years ago?
Another Twitter user Katyusha user also drew conclusions over the low follower count of the account. She said, “This is the basis on which Zubair was apparently arrested!! One follower handle claimed his sentiments were hurt in his only tweet. The account was obviously created to tweet this. The whole thing was engineered!”
Katyusha raised objection on Delhi Police’s action on complaint of someone who had one follower. Source: Twitter
This is also untrue since multiple Twitter users have expressed their religious feelings were hurt by the mockery of Hindu gods and goddesses by Mohammed Zubair.
Law does not check social media followers
Everyone, who has been raising doubts over the account that demanded action against Zubair because of the lower follower count, is missing out on the fact that there is no condition in the law that requires someone to have a large follower base on social media to file a complaint. Law follows its process irrespective of the person’s status on social media.
Mohammed Gurfan, who filed a complaint against Nupur Sharma, has no Twitter presence. At least OpIndia counts not found any trace of Mohammed Gurfan on Twitter, who had claimed Sharma’s remarks hurt his religious sentiments. Going by the logic laid down by so-called liberals, Gurfan should have been shooed away by the Police, and no complaint should have been filed against Sharma as Gurfan has zero followers on Twitter which was even less compared to Twitter user Balajikijaiin.
Since Delhi Police named balajikijaiin in its statement, the Twitter user has gained almost 2,000 followers on the social media platform. He has also demanded action against Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
Amidst Maharashtra political turmoil, violence broke out on the streets of Kolhapur as supporters of rebel Maharashtra minister Rajendra Patil (Yadravkar) and some Shiv Sena workers met face to face. Workers of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party attacked even the police when they intervened to bring the situation under control, as shown in videos viral on the internet.
Uddhav Thakrey’s supporter beaten by Rajendra Patil’s supporter. Rajendra Patil is an independent MLA who support Eknath Shinde. pic.twitter.com/C20RSf4g1J
According to reports, followers of Yadravkar, an independent MLA from Shirol in Kolhapur, came out to support him in Jaysingpur town. Following that, a group of Shiv Sena supporters attempted to conduct a demonstration nearby. Shiv Sena workers were halted roughly 200 metres away by police, according to Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Shailesh Balkawade. After that, the confrontation turned violent, with workers and volunteers from both camps hitting each other. When policemen attempted to contain the commotion, they were also attacked.
It is worth noting that Shiv Sena MP and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Sanjay Raut recently made veiled threats of violence against the rebel MLAs who have joined Eknath Shinde’s ‘rebel’ camp. In an interview with ANI on Friday, Raut stated that the (Eknath Shinde) group that is opposing them must understand that Shiv Sena workers are yet to come on the streets. He stated that such wars are fought through the courts or on the streets.
Earlier on Thursday, while speaking to NDTV, Sanjay Raut had directly threatened the rebel MLAs with street violence. When questioned about whether or not Uddhav Thackeray will stay the chief minister, he stated, “Let all the MLAs come to the floor of the House. We will see then. These MLAs who have left… will ultimately have to come back to Maharashtra. They will find it difficult to return and move around in Maharashtra.”
Last week, Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale walked out of the Thane Central Jail after spending over a month in custody for a social media post. Now, Chitale has got further relief in the remaining 21 FIRs lodged against her for allegedly posting derogatory remarks against Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar. The Bombay High Court ruled that police should not take any coercive action against her.
According to the reports, there were 22 FIRs filed against the actress from various parts of Maharashtra. Ketaki Chitale, who was arrested on May 15 for sharing an allegedly derogatory post on Facebook against Sharad Pawar was granted bail in one of the cases on June 16. Following that, on 23rd June, Chitale walked out of jail after having spent nearly 40 days in custody.
Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale has been granted interim relief in 21 pending FIRs registered against her by Maharashtra Police over her post against NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The High Court instructed the police not to take any coercive action against her.
The Court on June 22 released her on a Rs 20,000 bond and slammed the State Police for not following proper procedure while arresting Chitale. Reports mention that Chitale was not sent a pre-arrest notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure which is mandatory. Further, the state police had applied section 66A of the IT Act which the Supreme Court has already scrapped.
The Court pulled up the police for violating norms and stated that severe action should be initiated against the investigating officer for not following the rules. Pertinently, on Monday, the Maharashtra Government told the Bombay High Court that it won’t arrest the Marathi actress under these 21 FIRs.
The 29-year-old actress was arrested on May 15 for a Facebook post where she had shared a verse, allegedly written on Pawar, calling him a person who hates Brahmins. Soon after the post was shared, the actress got several cases registered against her under charges of defamation and promoting enmity between 2 groups. A case under the SC-ST Act had also been filed against her. The cases were filed in multiple police stations in Mumbai and its suburbs.
Ketaki Chitale was charged under sections 500 (defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 505 (2) (making, publishing, or circulating any statement, rumour, or report promoting enmity, hatred, or ill will between classes), 153 A (spreading disharmony among people), of the Indian Penal Code. The complaints noted that the post was likely to cause conflict between political parties.
The Police are meanwhile tracing Advocate Nitin Bhave who had originally written the poem shared by Chitale on her Facebook wall. During the investigation, though Chitale stated that she didn’t know who Bhave was, the Police confiscated her gadgets including the laptop and phone to find any evidence related to Bhave. The authorities are investigating the case to find clues about Bhave. “Our cyber team is working on it and when we submit our charge sheet in the case, we will mention it”, the crime branch officer from Thane had said.
On Monday night (June 27), the Delhi police brought Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to the IFSO Delhi Police Special Cell in Dwarka after he was sent to one day in police remand.
Dwarka, Delhi | Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair who has been sent to 1-day police remand brought to IFSO Special Cell, Delhi Police
He has been arrested over allegations of hurting the religious sentiments of a community pic.twitter.com/Zi0ZHWdjdD
How Alt News’ Mohammed Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police
On Monday (June 27), Mohammed Zubair was arrested for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu community. He was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 (provocation to cause riot) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings).
A case was lodged against him on the basis of a complaint by a Twitter user (@balajikijaiin). While tagging the Delhi police, the user had pointed out how Zubair was deliberately linking Honeymoon with brahmachari Lord Hanuman from an old movie clip.
In his objectionable tweet, Zubair claimed that a hotel named ‘Honeymoon’ was changed to ‘Hanuman’ in 2014 to keep up with Indian values (sanskaar).
Screengrab of the tweet
While speaking to ANI, the Delhi police informed, “The said post of Mohd. Zubair containing picture & words against a particular religious community are highly provocative & done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity.”
On the basis of the said post above case has been registered: Delhi police senior officials
Besides, Opindia had earlier reported how Zubair had unleashed his troll army on ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma by sharing partial clip of hers with comments on Prophet Muhammad. Subsequently, Islamists got triggered and calls for her beheading were made. Violence erupted in India for days, especially after Jumma Namaz, by Islamist mob and even terror organisations like Al Qaeda issued terror attack threats on India.
The Delhi police found Zubair to be non-cooperative and evasive during interrogation, following which they sought his custody.
He was evasive on the questions and neither provided the necessary technical equipment for the purpose of the investigation nor cooperated in the investigation: Delhi Police senior officials
“During investigation, conduct of Mohd Zubair was found questionable, which warranted his custodial interrogation to unravel conspiracy in this matter. Accordingly, he has been arrested & is being produced before court for seeking police custody remand,” the cops stated.
Delhi Police Special Cell has asked for a 4-day remand before the duty magistrate.
As such, the police sought 4-day remand before the Magistrate. However, Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha had claimed that the police sought 7-day remand.
Screengrab of the tweet by Pratik Sinha
Although the counsel for Zubair tried to secure a bail, it was rejected on grounds of having no merit.
Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair has been sent to 1-day police remand for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of a particular community
Mohammed Zubair was taken to Burari from Dwarka. Pratik Sinha was spotted alongside him. “The court has allowed accused Mohammed Zubair’s counsel’s plea to meet him once a day for half an hour in police custody for providing legal assistance,” informed the Delhi police.
#UPDATE | The court has allowed accused Mohammed Zubair’s counsel’s plea to meet him once a day for half an hour in police custody for providing legal assistance: Delhi Police officials
Earlier, netizens on Twitter had dredged up old tweets of Zubair after a social media user highlighted how the ‘fact-checker,’ who instigated the blasphemy threats against Nupur Sharma, had a history of making derogatory posts over Hinduism and Hindu Gods.
After being exposed for his posts which hurt religious sentiments of Hindus, Zubair quickly pulled down his Facebook account, perhaps to scrub it clean of its controversial content. However, social media users pointed out how Zubair had been a serial offender, and his offences were not restricted to Facebook alone but extend well into the Twitter realm.
Social media users dug up old tweets from the AltNews co-founder, where he made uncharitable comments on Hindu beliefs and made Hindu Gods the object of his ridicule, and had demanded his arrest.
On June 28, following the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair by Delhi Police, the user whose tweet led to the arrest sought action against the co-founder of Alt News, Pratik Sinha. Zubair was arrested over allegations of hurting religious sentiments and provocation with intent to cause riot under Sections 295(A) and 153 of the Indian Penal Code.
In his tweet, Twitter user balajikijaiin, while quoting Sinha’s tweet, said, “What would you call it? This person openly hurting the religious freedom of Hindus. Delhi Police, DCP Cyber Crime Cell, Kindly take action.
Tweet by balajikijaiin seeking action against Sinha. Source: Twitter
In September 2015, Sinha had mocked Lord Ganesha and questioned whether a man with elephant head existed.
Earlier, Delhi Police had mentioned in a statement that his tweet had become base for Zubair’s arrest. Delhi Police cited his tweet where he demanded action against Zubair had hurt his religious sentiments. The Police said, “The said post of Mohemmad Zubair containing picture and words against a particular religious community are highly provocative and done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity.”
The said post of Mohd. Zubair containing picture & words against a particular religious community are highly provocative & done deliberately which are more than sufficient to incite hatred among people which can be detrimental for maintenance of public tranquillity: Delhi Police
In his tweet seeking action against Zubair, balajikijaiin had said, “Delhi Police Linking our God Hanuman ji with Honey Moon is direct insult of Hindus because he is brahmchari DCP Cyber Crime Cell, kindly take action against this guy.”
Tweet by balajikijaiin seeking action against Zubair. Source: Twitter
The arrest of Alt News co-founder Zubair
On June 27, Delhi Police arrested Zubair for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and provocation with intent to cause riot. He was sent to one-day police custody by a magistrate late at night. Zubair will be presented in the court of a regular Judge after completion of one-day custody.
On June 27, an FIR was registered against Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma for posting alleged controversial tweets against NDA’s Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu at Hazratganj Kotwali Police Station of Lucknow under the relevant sections of Information and Technology Act, 2000. On June 22, Varma had posted a tweet, “If DRAUPADI is the PRESIDENT, who are the PANDAVAS? And more importantly, who are the KAURAVAS?” His tweet had stirred controversy and attracted a sharp reaction from the public.
Tweet by RGV targeting Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. Source: Twitter
In a follow-up tweet two days later, he said, “This was said just in an earnest irony and not intended in any other way. Draupadi in Mahabharata is my favourite character, but Since the name is such a rarity, I just remembered the associated characters and hence my expression. Not at all intended to hurt sentiments of anyone.”
Tweet by RGV targeting Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. Source: Twitter
When the controversy did not water down, the director got irked and published more satirical tweets against the Presidential candidate and BJP. On June 25, he wrote, “The TREMENDOUSNESS of this INCREDIBLE icon the EXTREMELY honourable DRAUPADI being PRESIDENT is that both PANDAVAS and KAURAVAS will forget their BATTLE and TOGETHER worship her and then MAHABHARAT will be REWRITTEN in NEW INDIA, and the WORLD will be proud of INDIA ..JAI BJP.”
Tweet by RGV targeting Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. Source: Twitter
On the same day, he posted another tweet saying, “Post the extensive research I did on the honourable Draupadi Ji and studying the nuances in the intensity of her eyes and the depths of both her smile and facial contours, I have no doubt that she will be the GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD..Thank u BJP.”
Tweet by RGV targeting Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. Source: Twitter
Earlier, a complaint was filed against him at Abid Road Police Station by G Narayan Reddy, a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Telangana. Reddy said in his complaint that Varma’s remarks on Twitter were extremely insulting and degrading for an experienced female politician and former governor of Jharkhand. Along with the police complaint, the BJP politician provided the tweet as proof. He insisted that the SC/ST Act should be invoked by the police and that the director should get harsh punishment. The police stated that the required action would be done once a legal opinion was available.
Draupadi Murmu is NDA’s Presidential candidate
On June 21, Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced former Governor of Jharkhand Draupadi Murmu‘s name as its Presidential candidate for the upcoming elections scheduled for July 18, 2022. BJP Chief JP Nadda announced Murmu’s candidature in a press conference following the board meeting. On June 24, she filed her nomination for the elections. If elected as President, Murmu will be the first Tribal leader to become President in India.
On June 26, a tweet by Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub was withheld by Twitter in response to legal demand by the Government of India. In the tweet posted last year, Ayyub had cast aspersions on the judiciary in connection to the disputed structures called mosques. After she published a tweet about the action taken by Twitter, several ‘journalists’, ‘activists’ and ‘prominent personalities’ came out in her support. Out of those, people linked to Soros and Open Society stood out from the crowd.
Former President of Open Society Patrick Gaspard wrote, “We need a response immediately from Twitter as they appear to be censoring journalist Rana Ayyub on behalf of the Govt of India. Outrageous.”
George Soros is the founder and Chairperson of Open Society Foundations. Billionaire Soros is known for his anti-India propaganda and has launched a war of misinformation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Tweet by former President of Open Society Patrick Gaspard. Source: Twitter
Replying to Gaspard, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Global Director of Research Dr Julie Posetti said, “This is outrageous Twitter. Nick Pickles – please act!” Nick leads Twitter policy Strategy, Development and Partnerships team. ICFJ has worked extensively with Open Society Foundations and collaborated with other organisations to work on OSF projects. For example, they teamed up with Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and worked on Investigative Dashboard (ID) project that was sponsored by the Open Society Foundation.
Tweet by International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Global Director of Research Dr Julie Posetti. Source: Twitter
In another post, Posetti said, “Outrageous censorship of investigative journalist Rana Ayyub in India. She struggles to get @TwitterSafety to act against perpetrators of the serious online violence she experiences, but Twitter India appears to have silenced her account at the behest of the Indian authorities.”
Tweet by International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Global Director of Research Dr Julie Posetti. Source: Twitter
Secretary-General, Amnesty International Agnes Callamard said, “Seriously @Twitter? Rana Ayyub has spoken truth to power, denouncing hatred, discrimination, and religious violence – and for these, you are silencing her? Shame.” Amnesty International is heavily funded by George Soros. In 2018, it was reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars were donated to Amnesty by George Soros’s foundation. Additionally, in 2017, Amnesty was ordered to return donations received from Soros.
Tweet by Secretary-General Amnesty International Agnes Callamard. Source: Twitter
President of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Jodie Ginsberg, said, “So Twitter is censoring journalist Rana Ayyub’s account in India at the behest of the authorities whom her work seeks to hold to account…Meanwhile, the relentless #onlineviolence she faces largely goes unpunished.”
CPJ is funded by OSF. The website of OSF reads, “Our Program on Independent Journalism supports both global freedom of expression organisations, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and IFEX, as well as several regional and national press freedom organisations.”
Tweet by President of the Committee to Protect Journalists Jodie Ginsberg. Source: Twitter
Who is George Soros?
George Soros is a Hungarian-American businessman and a self-proclaimed philanthropist who had vowed to ‘fight nationalists’ and conservative governments worldwide, which he often refers to as ‘authoritarian governments’. During the course of his life, if there is one thing George Soros has hated the most, it is India and its nationalist government led by Prime Minister Modi.
In his much-publicized WEF speech delivered at WEF, Soros made his views known to the world when he singled out rising nationalism as the greatest enemy of the open society. He had deliberately singled out India and blamed PM Modi’s Government for trying to create a Hindu state.
Terming India as the “biggest and most frightening setback occurred”, Soros had made plans known to everyone in no uncertain terms. Soros has been instrumental in propagating the anti-Indian government narrative in the international press by using his influence and trying to create anarchy on the streets of India.
In the name of freedom of expression and the western style of liberalism, a coalition of forces represented by billionaire investors like Soros, Omadiyar and Berggruen are leveraging India’s democracy and its institutions to leverage its fault lines for fueling the discontent against the popular Government. Through his Open Society Foundation, which started its operations in India first in 1999 by offering scholarships and fellowships to pursue studies and research at Indian institutions and his ecosystem, Soros has been largely successful in creating misinformation warfare on a massive scale by putting out negative and false narratives against the democratically-elected government with the help of left-liberal media outlets.
It is therefore interesting that those who work for George Soros or are funded by him have come out in support of Rana Ayyub for merely a tweet, that could cause communal unrest, being withheld.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday threw his weight behind Alt News co-founder after Delhi Police arrested him under sections 153 and 295A for hurting religious sentiments and attempting to incite riots.
Taking to Twitter and sharing an infographic by far-leftist portal The Wire, the Gandhi scion tweeted, “Every person exposing BJP’s hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them. Arresting one voice of truth will only give rise to a thousand more. Truth ALWAYS triumphs over tyranny. #DaroMat.”
Source: Twitter
Even as Gandhi came out in support of Mohammed Zubair, it is worth noting that the arrest of the Alt News co-founder came weeks after his old social media posts where he had made derogatory references against Hindu Gods and Goddesses surfaced online. Facing online outrage and perhaps fearing legal action, Zubair quickly deleted his Facebook page. Days later, he also removed disparaging tweets that insulted Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
Mohammed Zubair’s old Hinduphobic posts surface online
On 13 June 2022, days after India witnessed violent protests that saw Islamists running riot, indulging in violence over the alleged insult of Prophet Muhammad, Twitter user The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeye) shared a collage of past tweets and posts by Mohammed Zubair mocking Hindu Gods and beliefs.
In one of the tweets shared by The Hawk Eye, Zubair is seen mocking Shivling and comparing it with the top view of the Vatican City. He said the post comparing Shivling with the Vatican City inspired him to come up with a parody Facebook page ‘Unofficial: Subramanian Swamy’ in 2014.
Apparently, one of the posts on the Facebook page ‘Unofficial Mohammed Zubair‘ mocks Arun Govil to take a swipe at Lord Ram, suggesting that ISRO must consult the actor because he would know more about the rocketry.
Another post by ‘Unofficial Mohammed Zubair’ shows an aeroplane under the water with the caption: “Breaking: Underwater Pushpak Vimana used by Raavan 5000 years found in the Indian Ocean.”
Besides ridiculing Hindu Gods, Zubair has also poked fun at Hindu beliefs and took a dig at Sanskrit, regarded as one of the most important languages of Hinduism and the means of communication by the Hindu Gods.
As his Hinduphobic posts started getting traction, with netizens sharing screenshots to highlight how Zubair has been moving and hurting the sentiments of Hindus, the AltNews co-founder quietly pulled down his Facebook page. A few days later, he deleted the controversial tweets as well.
The symbiotic relationship between Congress and Alt News
Despite his Hinduphobic posts, the Congress party and one of its foremost leaders, Rahul Gandhi, have firmly stood with the Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair following his arrest. This generosity, in part, stems from the pro-Congress reportage of Alt News, which was admitted by none other than its other co-founder, Pratik Sinha.
In May 2022, Sinha took to Twitter to publish a tediously long thread to insist that his organisation is not partisan. However, in doing so, he inadvertently revealed the innate favouritism his organisation has routinely extended to political figures, parties and communities such as Rahul Gandhi, TMC and Muslims, under the pretext of carrying out dispassionate “fact-checks.”
In a string of tweets, Sinha explained how his organisation has been at the vanguard in fighting “misinformation” targeting senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Curiously, Sinha did not elaborate on how his organisation has been averse to fact-checking misinformation peddled by Rahul Gandhi. For that would have proved it beyond a shred of doubt how loyal AltNews has been to the Congress party.
While Sinha took strenuous efforts to paint AltNews as a bastion of truth and neutrality, in reality, Sinha’s tweets revealed that his organisation is anything but. Instead, his inordinately long Twitter thread only ended up reinforcing the prevailing belief around AltNews: that is a propaganda website with a strong predilection for Congress, Rahul Gandhi, TMC and Muslims, and a deep aversion to the BJP, Hindus and PM Modi.
While the symbiotic relationship between Congress and Alt News is not openly marketed to help the latter maintain the charade of neutrality and objectiveness it routinely lays claim to, the close association between the two entities was out in the open when the self-described ‘fact-checking’ website rushed to defend the Congress party after ‘toolkit on Central Vista and defaming PM Modi were leaked in the public domain.
A day after social media was awash with a toolkit document, allegedly linked to the Congress party, which entailed a detailed plan of action for the Congress leaders and supporters to exploit the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in the country and target the Modi government, the Congress party used the so-called fact-checker Alt News to declare the toolkit ‘fake’. The party gave documents to the propaganda website to make its case, and the site made some dubious analyses to claim that the document allegedly prepared by AICC Research Department is forged on a real letterhead.
An article published on Alt News, notorious for peddling propaganda and fake news, gave a clean chit to the Congress party by declaring that the ‘toolkit’ was created on a forged document. According to them, AICC Research Department chairman Rajeev Gowda had given documents and statements to Alt News to proclaim the toolkit to be fake.
Given Alt News’ historical antagonism toward PM Modi and the BJP, it came as no surprise that Rahul Gandhi chose to support Mohammed Zubair, perhaps to return the favour his organisation has been doing for the Congress party, and in the process, attack the Modi government.
