As the residents in Gurugram continue to protest against Muslims offering Namaz at public places in their areas on Fridays, some of them today took the matter into their own hands to prevent the same. As the police have refused to stop namaz at public places despite opposition from the locals, some activists spread cow dung cakes on the ground at Gurugram’s Sector 12A, which prevented the Muslims from offering their Friday prayers there.
The members of Hindu groups also gathered at the spot, and said that they are planning to set up a volleyball ground there. “We are sitting here quietly… but will not allow prayers. We will plan for a game here,” one activist Pramila Chahar said, according to an NDTV report. Another activist named Veer Yadav said, “We will set up a net… will build a volleyball court here, children will play. Will not allow namaz, no matter what.”
Photographs from the place show rows of cow dung cakes spread across the ground. Reportedly, the Hindu activists had held a puja last week which included covering the ground used by Muslims to offer Namaz with cow dung cakes, which have not been removed after that.
As a result, even though Muslims had assembled at the spot as per routine, they could not offer Friday prayers today. “We have told everyone that until we have an agreement with our Hindu brothers, we will not be offering prayers here… DC saheb has also given us a week,” the Muslim organisations said.
The spot at Sector 12A is among the sites in Gurugram “designated” for Namaz by Muslims, which was granted to Muslims after an alleged agreement with Hindus in 2018. But for the last few months, residents in several of those areas have been opposing this. Protests by Hindu groups have become a regular affair in those Namaz sites every Friday, and police forces are being deployed to prevent any clash and to ensure that Muslims can offer their prayers.
The NDTV report adds that the Gurugram authorities have told the Muslims that the permission granted for Namaz will be cancelled if there are objections from locals. Notably, Last week permissions to offer Namaz at eight of those “designated” places were cancelled due to this reason.
“Consent from the administration is necessary for namaz in any public and open place. If local people have objections at other places also, permission will not be given…” the authorities reportedly said. The administration also said a committee to be constituted by Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg will hold discussions on identifying alternative sites for Friday Namaz. Gurugram Police spokesperson Subhash Boken had stated that Namaz could only be offered at mosques and select places.
A high-intensity bomb blast has occurred at a mosque in Traili town in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan on Friday afternoon. The explosion occurred in front of a mosque in the Spin Ghar district at around 1.30 pm, during the Friday Namaz. Though the exact numbers are not yet known, it is being anticipated that the explosion has left at least three people dead and more than 35 were wounded, including the imam of the mosque.
At least 3 killed and 35 injured following an explosion during Friday prayers at a mosque in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. Reports say, the priest of the mosque has also been injured. @AnasMallick brings you the details
Spin Ghar district of the eastern province of Afghanistan has been a hotbed of ISIS activity since the Taliban seized power in the country in August. Footage of the blast was shared on social media in the aftermath.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) has quoted a Taliban official as saying: “I can confirm a blast during Friday prayers inside a mosque in Spin Ghar district. There are casualties and fatalities.”
The international newspaper further quoted a local activist named Walli Mohammed as confirming that the bomb was hidden in a loudspeaker near the imam’s rostrum. When the speaker was switched on to sound the Azaan, the device detonated, he added.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the incident, it is the latest in a series of such blasts that have targeted Mosques in the war-torn country. In the recent past, the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), an affiliate of ISIL militant group, has claimed responsibility for a number of terror attacks in Afghanistan.
On October 9, hours after a suicide bomber targeted a Shia mosque in Kunduz, where 300 Muslims were offering their Friday prayers (Jumma Namaz), the Sunni terror outfit Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) had claimed responsibility for the dastardly attack.
ISKP and the targetting of Shia Muslims in Afghanistan
The recent rise of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan has accentuated the fear of the Hazara community who had earlier been targeted by ISKP. Islamic State of Khorasan Province follows the extremist Sunni ideology and has been involved in several terror activities, including the bombing at the Kabul airport on August 26 that claimed the lives of 13 US soldiers. ISKP is an offshoot of the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) that operates in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
A contentious Malayalam film titled, ‘Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham‘ is set to hit the theatres on December 2 this year. The movie is based on the ‘heroics’ of Mohammed Ali, the fourth Muslim naval chief (Kunjali Marakkar) of the Zamorin (hereditary ruler) of Calicut. It is the most expensive Malayalam film to date, produced with a budget of ₹100 crores.
With just 3 weeks away from its scheduled release, the film has courted controversy over its ‘glorification’ of Kunjali Marakkar IV. A Twitter user named Kamath (@durga_dasa) pointed out, “Funny to see Hindus obsess with movie Kunjali Marakkar: The Lion of Arabian sea glorifying Kunjali Marakkar IV who betrayed Zamorin, tried to establish an Islamic regime in Malabar with help from Bijapur Sultan & other Islamists.”
Kunjali Marakkar : the rabid jihadi traitor! Funny to see Hindus obsess with movie Kunjali Marakkar : The Lion of Arabian sea glorifying Kunjali Marakkar IV who betrayed Zamorin, tried to establish an Islamic regime in Malabar with help from Bijapur Sultan & other Islamists. pic.twitter.com/X4pGcLBcNI
Kunjali Marakkar IV, betrayal to Hindu Samoothiris and downfall
As per a research article in Swatantra, the Zamorin (also called Samoothiri) were the hereditary rulers of the Kingdom of Calicut in the Southern Malabar region of Kerala. During the 16th century, the Hindu monarch had permitted Muslims to settle down, preach and propagate Islam with absolute freedom within the Kingdom. The Samoothiris had appointed four Muslim naval commanders (also called Kunjali Marakkar) between 1507 and 1600 to defend the Kingdom against attacks by a strong Portuguese navy.
The Malayalam film named, ‘Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham’ is based on the ‘heroics’ of Mohammed Ali, who was the Kunjali Marakkar IV between the period 1595 – 1600. Although the Kunjali Marakkars are celebrated in the Southern Malabar region for their valour and often dubbed as ‘freedom fighters’, it is not commonly known that they had betrayed the Samoothiris. After defeating the Portuguese, the Kunali Marakkar IV became arrogant and declared himself as the ‘independent ruler’ of the Malabar Muslims.
Historian KV Krishna Ayyar stated, “The implicit confidence and the wholehearted loyalty of the former days had been gradually impaired by jealousy, fear and uncertainty. Further, the behaviour of the Moplah hero also tended to precipitate a crisis. Success turned his head. He was indiscreet enough to style himself king of the Moors and Lord of the Indian Seas, and to waylay ships bound for Calicut and levy blackmail. He had even the audacity to cut off the tail of one of the elephants belonging to the Zamorin. And when asked to explain his conduct, he added insult to injury by ill-treating the Nayar whom the king had sent.”
“None could number the cruel barbarities practised by him and his against all sorts and conditions of men, without distinction: among others, against his own neighbour, the Nair king Auriole, already mentioned, whom he robbed and pillaged and drove from his kingdom: he cut off the nose and breasts of that prince’s queen, and had himself acknowledged as king. At length, puffed up with prosperity, he would no longer recognise the Samory, and rebelled against him, refusing to deliver up some vessels of his subjects that he had taken; and when commanded so to do, he set all such commands at nought,” read the brief account of French navigator François Pyrard de Laval.
Swatantra highlighted how the same naval commander had not only challenged the authority of Samoothiris but also attacked the subjects of the Kingdom of Calicut. Mohammed Ali also regarded himself as the Lord of the Indian sea and the King of the Moplahs. As such, the Samoothiris forged a treaty with the Portuguese and defeated Kunjali Marakkar IV and brought an end to the saga of Muslim naval commanders. 500 years later, the betrayal of Mohammed Ali is being celebrated in the form of the upcoming film ‘Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham.’
Twitter user Kamanth (@durga_dasa) had shared an article by Deepa Thomas where it was suggested that Kunjali Marakkar IV was not patriotic or anti-imperialist, as propagated in the media. Instead, Deepa Thomas had stated that there was enough evidence to suggest that Mohammed Ali betrayed the Hindu Samoothiris in the interest of religion.
Unfortunately movie itself is made by Director Priyadarshan & has superstar Mohanlal – bothHindu nair (the community who with nambudiris were the ones who suffered the most at the hands of jihadists from Marakkar through Tipu Sultan to the 1921 hindu genocide).
Kamath also highlighted how Malayali director Priyadarshan and actor Mohanlal had made the film,’ Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham’ with little regard to their Hindu Nair ancestry, which had suffered genocide at the hands of the Malabar Islamists.
Family of Kunjali Marakkar IV had raised objection against the movie
In March last year, one descendant of the Islamist Kunjali Marakkar IV had moved the Kerala High Court to stop the release of the Malayalam film. The petitioner, Mufeeda Arafath Marakkar, had accused the filmmakers of portraying a distorted version of history and presenting the Muslim naval commander in a ‘perverted light.’ He had alleged the 16th century Islamist had been presented as a romantic hero and a ‘dancer who sang songs with women.’
“The movie shows the perverted attire of Kunjali Marakkar. He was a pious Muslim and his attire was according to the religious tenets of his time. However, the leaflet shows him sporting an image of Lord Ganapaty in the centre of his turban. As pointed out by Portuguese historians, Kunjali Marakkar and his 40 lieutenants were promised pardon by the Portuguese if they embraced Christianity but they opted death to conversion. In movie, fiction is allowed to a lesser extent, but it cannot distort the original history,” the petition read.
The petitioner had claimed that Mohammed Ali was a bachelor and had no love affairs. He had accused the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) of awarding U/A certification to the film without any application of mind.
A special court on Friday sentenced former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati, a key figure in Akhilesh Yadav’s cabinet, to life imprisonment in a gang rape case. Prajapati, along with two of his accomplices, were on Wednesday convicted on charges of gang rape and under sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.
The court had on Wednesday said it would decide the quantum of punishment on Friday, November 12. It had also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the convicted SP leader.
One of the linchpins of the Samajwadi Party, Prajapati held key portfolios of the transport and mining ministries during the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh. The leader was arrested in March 2017 on charges of gang-rape of a woman and sexual harassment of her daughter. Special judge PK Rai on Wednesday pronounced Prajapati and two other accused, Ashok Tiwari and Ashish Shukla, guilty and asserted that the prosecution was successful in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court, however, acquitted Vikas Verma, Roopeshwar, Amrendra Singh alias Pintu and Chandrapal, for lack of adequate evidence. The prosecution had produced as many as 17 witnesses in the case.
The court had also ordered the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, to investigate as to what led the rape victim and witnesses, Ram Singh Rajpoot and Anshu Gaur to change their statements.
Gayatri Prajapati arrested in rape and molestation case
A Chitrakoot-based woman had accused the SP leader and his accomplices of raping her and molesting her daughter. The FIR was filed with Gautampalli police station on February 8, 2017, after the intervention of the Supreme Court hearing the petition of the woman.
Gayatri Prajapati was arrested and sent to jail on March 15, 2017. He was charged with rape, criminal conspiracy, and criminal intimidation. The former minister, along with others, is accused of raping a woman and attempting to molest her minor daughter. He is currently undergoing treatment for various ailments at the KGMU in Lucknow.
It might be recalled that in January 2017, a woman from Chitrakoot had alleged that Prajapati, then a Minister in SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s cabinet, along with his men, raped her and attempted to rape her minor daughter. Prajapati reportedly took photos and continued to rape her for two years by threatening to leak the photos. He also falsely promised to give her an important position in Samajwadi Party and a mining contract. The victim later filed a complaint. However, the UP Police refused to file an FIR. The woman then approached the Supreme Court, which directed the police to lodge a report. In February 2017 he absconded but was later arrested in Lucknow.
Advocate Arshad Shaikh, appearing for Dhyandev Wankhede, father of NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, has submitted 28 annexed documents of his client in the Bombay High Court to substantiate their claim that NCP leader Nawab Malik’s remarks, insinuations, imputation etc that he made against his family in whatsoever way— in writing, oral, press releases, interviews and likes were defamatory in nature.
Advocate Arshad Shaikh submitted the caste certificate of Dhyandev Wankhede in the court in which it was mentioned that the latter belonged to the Hindu Mahar caste, which is listed as scheduled caste in 16 states including Maharashtra.
Besides the caste certificate, Shaikh submitted the school leaving certificate of Sameer Wankhede in the Bombay HC that showed his father’s name as Dhyandeo and his caste as Mahar.
This came in response to Nawab Malik’s ad hominem attacks against NCB officer Wankhede, where he had questioned his caste and religion besides the integrity of Sameer Wankhede and his family members.
As per a birth certificate released by Nawab Malik earlier, Sameer Wankhede was a Muslim by birth but appeared for civil services examination in the reserved category as Scheduled Caste and became the IRS. As per Malik, Wankhede forged his birth certificate to pass the exams and land a job through reservations.
The annexed documents submitted by Advocate Arshad Shaikh in the Bombay HC included Dhyandev Wankhede’s passport, caste and birth certificates, degree certificate, mark sheets, PAN cards- old and new, Aadhar Card, election card, amongst others.
The documents were submitted while Bombay High Court was hearing out the defamation suit filed by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede’s father, Dhyandev, against Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik.
The suit is filed by Wankhede’s father seeking Rs. 1.25 crore in damages for defaming him and his family, and interim directions to restrain Malik from posting anything “defamatory.”
On Monday the Bombay High Court had asked Wankhede to prove that Nawab Malik’s tweets are false. The court had also asked the NCP leader to demonstrate he verified the information against the Wankhedes before posting or giving interviews.
In a point by point rebuttal, Advocate Arshad Shaikh produced 28 documents that further attested how Nawab Malik had meted out false allegations to tarnish the image of the Wankhedes. Advocate Arshad Shaikh told the court that the documents submitted by his client, like the caste certificate and passport, prove that his name has always been ‘Dhyandeo’ and not ‘Dawood’ as was claimed by Nawab Malik.
The certificate which is a photocopy has an asterisk on Dawood. So that document which he is relying on has been rectified. And there are 35 other documents to show the name, submitted Advocate Arshad Shaikh in court adding that the birth certificate has the date December 31, 1971, mentioned, whereas his birth year is 1979.
On his part, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik has told the Bombay High Court that he had “reasonably verified” the documents and information relating to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede before putting it out in the public domain via his Twitter handle.
Nawab Malik has been constantly making allegations on the personal and professional life of Sameer Wankhede and his family right after he arrested star kid Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in the Cordelia Cruise drugs bust case on October 2.
On November 7, Dhyandev Wankhede, father of NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede finally filed a defamation case against the Maharashtra government minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik for maligning the image of his family by making false allegations.
Social media is awash with a video where a TV9 Marathi journalist is seen interviewing Advocate Indrapal Singh after a special PMLA court on Friday sent his client, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, to further ED custody till November 15. Deshmukh was arrested on November 1 in a money laundering case.
In the video that is attracting criticism from Marathi viewers, the journalist could be seen asking the lawyer why the ED is bent on getting Deshmukh’s custody extended even though he is fully cooperating with the investigative agency and is not keeping good health in judicial custody.
“The ED had already sought the custody of Anil Deshmukh earlier this month. What is the need for extension of his custody even though we have been told that his health is deteriorating inside the prison. We are told he has extended his full cooperation to ED in their probe, then what’s the need for this extension of his custody?” the journalist asks Deshmukh’s lawyer.
Singh, however, corrects the journalist, saying Deshmukh is in good spirits and that he has himself accompanied the former Maharashtra Home Minister in hours-long interrogation where he appeared energetic and in good health.
“Mr Deshmukh is absolutely fine. He is in good spirits and quite energetic during his interrogation with the probe agencies. I have myself attended those examinations with him,” Singh clarifies.
The lawyer also spoke on why the Enforcement Directorate keeps seeking extension of the custody of suspects. “It is how Enforcement Directorate operates. It is their routine procedure. Their scope of investigation is broad, so they keep asking for the extension of custody until they are satisfied with the thoroughness of their probe,” Singh said.
PMLA court extends ED custody of Anil Deshmukh till November 15
Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody has been extended to November 15 by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court. Mr. Deshmukh has been in ED custody since November 2 after being questioned for 12 hours on charges of money laundering and corruption.
On October 29, the Bombay High Court rejected his plea seeking to quash five summons issued by the ED.
The case pertains to the letter written by former Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in March 2021, alleging Mr Deshmukh of abusing his position and powers to seek illegal monetary benefits. The letter referred to alleged instances of Mr Deshmukh directing suspended police officer Sachin Vaze and others to collect ₹ 100 crore from bars and restaurants over a month.
Soon after the letter was made public, the High Court had ordered a preliminary enquiry against the former Maharashtra HM by the CBI. The Enforcement Directorate(ED) then stepped in and initiated a probe into charges of money laundering against the NCP leader.
A Myanmar military court has sentenced US journalist and managing editor of online site Frontier Myanmar Danny Fenster (37) to 11 years in jail for breaching immigration law, unlawful association and encouraging dissent against the military.
Fenster was slapped with two additional charges of sedition and terrorism earlier this week. He was detained at the Yangon international airport by the military in May and was one of the hundred local journalists detained since a military coup in February.
American journalist Danny Fenster was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Myanmar, his magazine said, describing the sentence as ‘the harshest possible under the law’ https://t.co/DeKzKSU35mpic.twitter.com/Ij2A5koCDr
The journalist’s trial on the new charges will begin on November 16. As per Fenster’s employer, he has received a three-year sentence for the incitement charge, three years for the unlawful association charge and five years for the immigration charge.
‘Trial took place behind closed doors’
As per a BBC report, Fenster’s trial took place behind closed doors, inside Insein prison, where he and many of those detained are held. Allegedly, the charges pressed against Fenster are ‘absurd’ and ‘unclear.’
As per the news site, “The charges were all based on the allegation that he was working for banned media outlet Myanmar Now. Danny had resigned from Myanmar Now in July 2020 and joined Frontier the following month, so at the time of his arrest in May 2021 he had been working with Frontier for more than nine months.”
‘Hard to see Biden administration soften its stance’
Jonathan Head, BBC’s South East Asia Correspondent in his analysis claimed that the US administration has softened its stance to get Fenster out.
“Perhaps the military is hoping for a gesture, a photo-op with a US official; friendless and isolated, the junta might consider that a worthwhile prize for releasing him,” wrote Head.
Myanmar coup
In February this year, the Myanmar Army had staged a coup and declared it had taken control of the country for one year under a state of emergency.
The Myanmar military’s intervention came after weeks of continued friction between the country’s military, which ruled the country for over five decades, and the civilian government over allegations of irregularities in November’s elections.
Since the coup, at least 1,178 people have been killed and 7,355 arrested, charged or sentenced in a crackdown on dissent.
Former Indian Cricketer Ravi Shastri has spoken to Arnab Goswami of Republic TV after stepping down from his role as Team India’s head coach. In the interview, Shastri gave his opinions on various topics relating to his tenure as the head coach of the Indian team and talked about the job satisfaction in spite of criticisms and constant public scrutiny.
Shastri said that he had been under public scrutiny for 7 years and now, it was time for him to have a seat the “judge’s chair” and judge some of those who had judged him.
#ShastriSpeaksToArnab | Former head coach of the Indian national cricket team, Ravi Shastri speaks to Arnab Goswami in an unmissable interview.
According to Shastri, the Indian team under his guidance had over-achieved in terms of achievements and that he was leaving as a satisfied coach. Ravi Shastri said that he was very relieved. He also said that it was “unreal” for the team to have achieved the things they did. He also said that he believes the team had ‘over-achieved ‘.
Shastri tried to explain the reason behind the heavy criticisms that the Indian team had received following T20 World Cup 2021 exit as, “In India, Cricket is a religion. You win 5 games and then when you lose, pistols and pens come out, and sometimes it’s acidic. You just got to take it on the chin. We won so much, people weren’t used to us losing,” adding, “To take the bullet is the job of the coach. You overcome all those hurdles, you don’t let it pull you down. You have to ensure the team gives their best. Take criticism along the way and move on.”
For Shastri, the Kohli led team was a transitional team and slammed the critics saying, “This was a young team in transition over the last 7 years. Many in the media didn’t know the potential of this team. I said that this was the greatest team and knew what I said and they lived up to it. They called my statements bold and bombastic. I have taken the bullet for 7 years”.
Shastri also said that the Indian team was “timid” during the match versus New Zealand and that Pakistan had played “outstandingly well” to beat India at the T20 World Cup.
Notably, this was Ravi Shastri’s fourth spell with the national team, having served earlier as the Cricket Manager, Team Director and head coach on various occasions. His second term began in 2019 and ended with India crashing out of the T20 World Cup in the Super 12 stage of the tournament.
In a shocking incident, a water supply project in Dhemaji district in Assam was named after Pakistan. When the Public Health and Engineering department installed a nameplate with the name ‘Pakistan Suba Water Supply Scheme’ at a water supply project at Bordalani Burhakuri village in Gogamukh in Dhemaji district, it caused a massive outrage from people.
After the nameplate came up, enraged members of Bir Lachit Sena applied black paint on the word ‘Pakistan’ in it, after allegedly the department did not take action despite the public outrage going on from the past couple of days. However, the department officials didn’t object when they blackened the name, and allowed them to cover it with paint.
Not just the nameplate, but the steel gate at the project also had the name Pakistan welded on it using steel bars. Later that was removed by employees of the department using hammers.
Bir Lachit Sena members blacken the name Pakistan
The project should have been named ‘Pak Sthan Suk’, but the PHE dept used the name Pakistan instead. The area is known as Pak Sthan, which means a place that can be reached through a winding road. But it has turned into ‘Pakistan’ in oral use. And somehow, that corrupted name entered the official records of the department, causing the incident.
The matter was also brought to the notice of the department minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass who assured to take strict actions against people who committed mistakes. Responding to one such tweet by a netizen Pankaj Bhattacharjee, the minister said that he had a word with the MLA of Dhemaji Ranoj Pegu and director of Jal Jeevan Mission Assam, Akash Deep. “This shall be resolved as quickly as possible & prompt necessary action will be taken,” he said.
Thanks for bringing this to our notice. I personally had a word with the Hon’ble MLA of Dhemaji Shri @ranojpeguassam & @JJM_Assam Mission Director, This shall be resolved as quickly as possible & prompt necessary action will be taken. https://t.co/FxZYiiJJKq
Now the project has been named after the village Burhakuri Dakhin Suk after the revenue village Burhakuri under which the area falls.
The official explains how Pak Sthan Suk became Pakistan
The Subdivision officer of Dhemaji (Sadar), Nandita Roy Gohain said that the word ‘Pakistan’ mentioned in the nameplate of the project was a mere spelling error. She said that the original name of the area where the project is situated is ‘Pak Sthan Suk’ – which means a location that can be reached through a winding stretch. But following philological distortion, it became Pakistan Suk. For years this distorted name has been in circulation and quite surprisingly this distorted name found place in the official documents of Assam. The official record of PHED suggests that this name has been in use since 1992.
Gohain said that the ancestors of the present residents gave the name Pak Sthan Suk. She said that it was an isolated land once due to the distant location, which was inhabited by people of Ahom and Chutia community.
The village head of Burhakuri, Parul Chutia said that irrespective of mistakes in the government documents they never used Pakistan Suk in their official communication. Pak Sthan Suk is used among the four segments of this village with 249 families and the existing project was brought for the residents of Pak Sthan Suk.
At a time when Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav is being heavily criticised for glorifying Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and the architect of India’s partition, the leftist propaganda ‘fact-check’ website AltNews decided to come to his rescue.
On November 9, 2021, AltNews published an article to unequivocally conclude that Akhilesh Yadav’s Jinnah statement was ‘fake news’ as it was misrepresented and taken out of context.
AltNews claimed that Yadav did not claim Muhammad Ali Jinnah got India freedom as he had not mentioned his name separately but with that of Sardar Patel and others.
The archived version of the AltNews report can be viewed here.
The ‘fact-check’ published by AltNews on November 9 whitewashing Akhilesh Yadav’s Jinnah comment
No sooner did AltNews ‘fact-check’ Akhilesh’s Jinnah statement, the ultra-left propaganda website The Wire also followed suit. On November 11, it published the ‘fact-check’ done by Alt News, obliquely endorsing the latter’s claim. The archived version of The Wire report can be viewed here.
The ‘fact-check’ published by The Wire on November 11 whitewashing Akhilesh Yadav’s Jinnah comment
What is interesting here is that in their haste to give a clean chit to the Samajwadi Party chief, AltNews and The Wire landed up admitting that Akhilesh Yadav indeed made the very remark he is being criticised for.
As per the logic by Alt News and Wire, praising Jinnah becomes ok if you include his name among actual freedom fighters of India.
A controversy had erupted after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav glorified Muhammad Ali Jinnah while addressing a party rally during the Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra on October 31. The meeting was organized at Hardoi district in UP where the Samajwadi Party Chief was seen praising Jinnah.
On the pretext of remembering Sardar Patel, Akhilesh Yadav said, ‘Sardar Patel used to know the land, he used to understand the land so he made his decisions and that is why he is known as the Iron man Of India. Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jinnah, all came out of the same institution. They all studied at the same institute, they became barristers and gave freedom to India.’
Soon after Akhilesh Yadav started being widely criticised for his controversial statement, AltNews rushed in to defend the Samajwadi Party leader and paint him as a victim of BJP’s insidious propaganda. It cited tweets posted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya and Kanchan Gupta to claim that Akhilesh Yadav’s statement was ‘taken out of context’.
AltNews logic: Gives clean chit to Akhilesh Yadav as he mentioned Jinnah’s name along with others and not individually
AltNews claimed that Amit Malviya had shared a cropped video claiming that the SP chief talked of Muhammad Ali Jinnah getting freedom for India. They said that on October 31, news agency ANI posted a video of Yadav’s full speech, where the remarks can be heard in their entirety, wherein Yadav was heard taking Jinnah’s name alongside Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi. Saying so Alt News claimed that “during his speech, Yadav did not mention Jinnah solely in the context of India’s freedom struggle. His statement has been clipped and is being circulated out of context”.
According to AltNews, Akhilesh Yadav first mentions Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi in context to India’s independence movement, followed by Jinnah. However, this initial portion has been cut out of the viral video, wrote Alt News fact-checking the SP chief’s statement, concluding that Yadav’s statement had been clipped and circulated out of context.
Basically, if we go with AltNews and The Wire’s logic, since Yadav did not mention Jinnah’s name solely in the context of India’s freedom struggle, but mentioned it along with that of Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, it qualifies as ‘fake news’. According to these websites, if Akhilesh Yadav did not mention Jinnah’s name exclusively he did not mention it at all.
However, there is an underlying problem here with AltNews’ ‘fact-check’. Just because Akhilesh Yadav cites Sardar Patel and others names first, it does not mean he did not mention Jinnah.
Firstly the problem with the argument presented by AltNews and further endorsed by The Wire is that while calling it ‘fake news’, these leftist websites inadvertently agreed that Akhilesh Yadav did name Muhammad Ali Jinnah, hailing himas a hero of India’s freedom movement. Secondly, it is problematic itself that they claim that Jinnah got India independence. He did not. He merely divided India on communal lines.
Furthermore, despite studying in the same university, Jinnah divided the country, while Sardar Patel united it.
It is noteworthy here that days after Yadav’s statement, his alliance partner, Om Prakash Rajbhar, the chief of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party also praised the father of Pakistan saying that the partition of India could have been prevented if Jinnah was allowed to become the first prime minister of the country.
Journalist: Akhilesh Yadav said Jinnah got freedom for the nation. Do you agree?
Omprakash Rajbhar: I agree, if he was made PM of India we wouldn't have had partition of the nation.
Samajwadi Party chief and his political allies seem to have forgotten that Jinnah not only spearheaded the partition of India, but he also instigated riots and massacres to satisfy his power lust and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Indians.
As the row over the Samajwadi Party(SP) leader’s remark raged, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a scathing attack on Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party for the glorification of the founder of Pakistan who had spearheaded India’s partition.
CM Yogi further said that Akhilesh Yadav’s divisive mindset was revealed when he compared Jinnah to Sardar Patel. He said, “This kind of divisive mindset will not be accepted by the people of India”. He added, “This is Talibani mindset which always believes in dividing people, first he had tried to separate the social Talibans (radicals) on different grounds and when his every intention to create divide failed, he started insulting great men”.
Yadav on his part hit out at his detractors, asking them to read history books again.
In the meanwhile, a case has been filed against Akhilesh Yadav for praising Jinnah on the orders of a court in Bareilly. The court issued the order to register a case against the SP chief on a complaint filed by advocate Virendra Gupta. Gupta had filed a complaint with police, but after the police refused to register the case, he had approached the court. Taking cognizance of the same, the ACJM court ordered the police to register a case against Akhilesh Yadav.
