On Thursday, columnist of the news website ‘The Caravan’ – Salil Tripathi – posted a three-year old news report to defame Gujarat government.
Salil Tripathi, who has a history of propagating misinformation on social media, took to Twitter to share a news report that a Gujarat government official had claimed that he would not come to the office because he is Kalki, the tenth incarnation of Vishnu. Sharing the report, Salil Tripathi wrote, “Can you think of a better excuse to skip work”.
The news report, shared by Tripathi, claimed that the officer stated that he would be conducting a “penance” to “change the global conscience” and cannot attend the office.
In his hurry to defame Gujarat, Salil Tripathi shared a news report which was true, but not a recent one. The report was first published on May 18, 2018, almost three years ago. However, the columnist at the far-left portal ‘Caravan’ decided to share the news report strangely three years after the news report was first published.
The propensity of the likes of Tripathi to share such old news, especially from the BJP-ruled Gujarat, comes amidst the latest leak of the Congress ‘toolkit’. The latest leak of the ‘toolkit’ had exposed sinister designs of the Congress party to defame Gujarat as it is the home state of Prime Minister Modi.
The toolkit categorically mentioned that the Congress party and its supporters should build a narrative against Gujarat by highlighting the special treatment. The toolkit also suggests that the party workers and its supporters use people’s distress to build anger against the Modi government.
Image Source: Congress toolkit
Salil Tripathi seems to be religiously following the instructions listed in the toolkit as he put out a three-year misleading news article on Gujarat without any context. Perhaps, Tripathi, by sharing reports of unconnected events, was attempting to ‘use people’s distress to build anger against the Modi government.
In addition to that, the ‘toolkit’ had also exposed the intimate links between the Congress party and the far-left website ‘The Caravan.’ The toolkit document had recommended using media organizations such ‘Caravan’ and ‘National Herald’ to amplify the propaganda against the government’s alleged mishandling of the Covid-19.
Congress toolkit naming ‘The Caravan’
According to his Twitter profile, Salil Tripathi is a contributor to the far-left website ‘The Caravan’. As the toolkit suggests that ‘The Caravan’ was to be used to defame the government and therefore, it is even more suspicious that a contributor to The Caravan would peddle this narrative.
Congress toolkit names ‘The Caravan’ and left-media outlets
The expose of a toolkit, allegedly linked to the Congress party, has created shockwaves across the political spectrum in the country. The toolkit contained a detailed plan of action for the Congress leaders and supporters, asking them to milk the ongoing pandemic in the country to target the Modi government so that they could revive their political career again.
The toolkit had extensive details to put a formidable attack against the Modi government at a time when they are busy fighting the deadly pandemic. From maligning Hindu events of Kumbh Mela by referring to it as a “super spreader” event to unwarranted attacks against PM Modi for the Central Vista project and to collaborating with ‘friendly’ journalists and international media to defame the Modi government, the toolkit prepared by AICC Research Department had well-listed instructions to the Congress leaders and supporters to exploit the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The Congress party found itself in the eye of the storm kicked up by the revelations made in the toolkit. As accusations against the Congress party grew louder, the party entailed the services of the propaganda website Alt News to give a clean chit for themselves. However, in a hurry to give clean chit to the Congress party, Alt News not only did an abysmal job with its ‘fact-check’ but also ended up exposing the links of the Congress party to the toolkit document.
As the so-called fact-checkers were busy fact-checking the first four pages of the ‘toolkit’ that has rattled the opposition, the fifth page of the document is now doing the rounds on social media, completing the propaganda machinery loop. The fifth page, which is in continuation to point VII of the document, recommends using media organizations such as ThePrint, The Wire, Scroll, The Quint, and Outlook to highlight and publicize all Covid related stories.
The document had also suggested the party supporters send stories that cannot be published in these media houses to the likes of “The Caravan” and Congress party mouthpiece “National Herald.” Essentially, the Congress party was banking on these left-media outlets, especially The Caravan and National Herald, to initiate a propaganda blitzkrieg against the Modi government.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to provide free education to children who lost their parents due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The letter citing Rajiv Gandhi’s Navodaya Vidyalaya project asked the Prime Minister to make education free in all the 661 Navodaya Vidyalaya schools for students orphaned due to the pandemic.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s letter to PM Modi
It is notable here that Navodaya Vidyalayas offer free and quality education under CBSE to talented children from class 6th to class 12th. They are co-educational residential schools and education, uniforms, books, stationery, bus or rail fare, lodging, and boarding are provided to children up to class 9th free of cost. From class 9th, a nominal fee of Rs 600 per month is charged. However, girl children, children from SC/ST category, and children from families below the poverty line are exempt from this fee too.
What Sonia Gandhi seems to be suggesting here that children who have been orphaned due to Covid should be taken in and provided a free education in the Navodaya Vidyalayas. However, as most of the “suggestions” given by Congress, there is a practical issues associated by the suggestion which will make the implementation problematic.
As NVs are for children who are in class 6th, that is at least 11 years of age. The care, rehabilitation, and safety of orphaned children accessed and done by relevant local authorities as per their physical, emotional and social needs, age, and family structure. How far this suggestion of Navodaya Vidyalayas taking in children will be implementable and useful is a big question mark.
Also, Navodaya Vidyalayas are schools. All schools are currently closed due to the raging pandemic. It is not understood if the Congress President is asking for Navodaya Vidyalayas to open and house children while the pandemic rages in and vaccination for children under 18 is yet to be approved.
Moreover, several state governments have already announced special schemes for children orphaned by the pandemic.
Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced free education and an allowance of Rs 5000 per month and free ration to children who lost their parents to Covid-19. He also assured that the government will take care of those who lost their earning member amidst the pandemic.
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced special scholarship schemes for children who lost their parents. Other benefits have also been announced to support those who have lost their family members.
Chhattisgarh
The Chhattisgarh government too under the ‘Chhattisgarh Mahtari Dular Yojna’ that it will bear the cost of education for the children whose parents fell victim to the Chinese virus.
Additionally, children studying in both government and private schools will be eligible for a stipend of Rs 500 per month studying in Classes 1 to 8 and Rs 1,000 per month studying in Classes 9 to 12.
Delhi
The Delhi government also announced free education to such children assuring that the government will take care of their studies and upbringing.
Om Birla urges Kota institutions to provide free education
In a video conference with the Directors of School and Coaching Institutes of Kota, Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla had urged the institutes to provide free coaching to orphaned children appearing for medical and engineering entrace exams. The institutes agreed to not only waive off the fees but also showed the willingness to provide them with books and uniforms.
Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand too have extended support to orphaned children.
Uttar Pradesh
The Yogi Adityanath government had decided to extend all assistance, including financial, by the state government under its sponsorship scheme to children who have lost their parents due to the pandemic.
Manoj Rai, director of Department of Women and Child Development said, “The state government has decided to tweak rules of the scheme as it mandated to assist only two children of a family. Now, all affected children of a family will be provided financial assistance even if they are more than two.”
Karnataka
The Karnataka government announced their plans to rehabilitate children up to the age of 18 years orphaned by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, the state will set up special pediatric COVID care centres in 30 districts of the state.
“The government is ready to rehabilitate children who were orphaned by the second wave of COVID-19. Children need not be afraid as we have decided to set up separate quarantine facilities as well as hostels for those up to 18 years,” informed Woman and Child Welfare Minister Shashikala Jolle.
Gujarat
The state of Gujarat has announced a monthly assistance of Rs 4000 to children orphaned by the pandemic till they turn 18-years-old.
Jharkhand
The government of Jharkhand too has announced its commitment to rehabilitating children orphaned by COVID-19 along with providing financial assistance to the caretakers.
Odisha
The Odisha government had announced that orphaned children and poor women who were widowed due to the pandemic will be covered under the Madhubabu Pension Scheme and will be given a regular monthly allowance. The state government had also announced that children whose parents are hospitalized will also be looked after.
Education in India is free and is a Fundamental Right
It is notable here that education in government schools all over India for children between 6-14 years is free. The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan was started as a flagship program by the government of India after the 86th Amendment to the constitution. The 86th Amendment made free and compulsory education for children between the 6-14 age group a Fundamental Right. Under SSA, all government schools provide free education, mid-day meals, and other facilities to children in the 6-14 year age group. Children under the 6 years age group are provided basic education, care, and mid-day meals at Anganwadi Centres.
A day after propaganda website Alt News come up with a multitude of ludicrous claims to ‘fact-check’ and give a clean chit to the Congress party in the latest Covid-19 ‘toolkit’ fiasco, another left-wing website ‘The Print’ has now descended to defend the grand old party.
Two toolkit documents, allegedly linked to the Congress party, had got leaked on social media recently, which entailed a detailed plan of action for the Congress leaders and supporters to exploit the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in the country and the Central Vista project to target the Modi government.
While the Congress party has claimed that the Covid-19 toolkit is fake, it has admitted the Central Vista document is real and the AICC Research Department had prepared it. Congress MP and AICC Research Department Chairman Rajeev Gowda, and Alt News, both had claimed that the Covid-19 toolkit document was used using the format of the real Central Vista document. Despite the clarification from the Congress party that the Central Vista document is authentic, The Print has come up with the claim that the document is fake.
On Thursday, the news website The Print, owned by Shekhar Gupta, published a bizarre ‘investigative’ report to give a clean chit to the Congress party in the ongoing ‘toolkit’ controversy. In its latest report, the Print has claimed that the even Central Vista document made by the Congress party is fake.
Further, the Print claimed that they had consulted a few “cyber experts” to analyze the screenshots put out by the BJP leader, who declared that the screenshots were fake.
Here is Sambit Patra’s tweet exposing the Congress party’s link to the toolkit:
Friends yesterday Congress wanted to know who’s the Author of the toolkit. Pls check the properties of the Paper. Author: Saumya Varma Who’s Saumya Varma … The Evidences speak for themselves: Will Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi reply? pic.twitter.com/hMtwcuRVLW
According to the two cyber experts who were consulted by the Print, the first screenshot shared by Patra was fake. “The file properties of the alleged toolkit as seen in the screenshot are inauthentic, with some technical elements missing in the description,” read the report.
The screenshot mentioned the filename as Central_Vista_Vanity_Project_AICC_Research__1_.pdf, which clearly indicates that they are claiming that the Central Vista document is fake, not the Covid-19 document that the Congress party claims to be fake.
Screenshot of the file information that Congress says is genuine but Print claims to be fake
As the filename clearly mentions the words “Central Vista Vanity Project”, it is clear that it shows information of the file admitted as genuine by the Congress party. OpIndia also has accessed the PDF file with the same filename, which contains the same content. The title of the document is “Central Vista Redevelopment: Vanity Project Amidst the Pandemic”, and it has been claimed even by Alt News that it is a genuine document, based on the original document received from the Congress party.
Sambit Patra had tweeted the Central Vista document on 18th May, and its content match with the content published by Alt News which they had received from the Congress party.
Toolkits are not alien to the Congress and their eco-system. Infact, a substantial part of their energy goes into making them. Here is a toolkit on the Central Vista…they make one Toolkit of the other every week and when exposed, they "deny" it. #CongressToolkitExposedpic.twitter.com/fsR8VZUOov
Ironically, the Print’s report claiming that the screenshots shared by Sambit Patra about the Central Vista toolkit is fake comes at a time when the Congress party itself has admitted that it is a genuine one. Congress leader Rajeev Gowda had taken to Twitter to admit that the Sambit Patra was showing the metadata of a real document created by one of his staff members. However, he added that Patra showed a fake document of the ‘toolkit,’ claiming to be created by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Research Department.
Moreover, The Print seems to be confused about Congress claims about the toolkits. To be clear, there are two documents circulating on Social Media, one is on Central Vista and the other is on Covid-19. Congress party claims the Covid-19 document is fake and forged, and admits that the Central Vista document was indeed prepared by the AICC Research Department. While propaganda site Alt News stuck to this claim and tried to prove that the Covid-19 toolkit is fake as it uses a different font, The Print seems to have got confused. It ended up trying to prove that the Central Vista document is fake, while not even mentioning the other toolkit that is creating more controversy and which is fake according to Congress.
Strangely, The Print came up with some bizarre analysis over URL of files downloaded from WhatsApp to claim it is fake, forgetting that nobody is questioning the authenticity of the Central Vistal document.
Congress toolkit
On Tuesday, two documents were ‘leaked’ on social media which gave point to point notes on how to question and discredit the Modi government on a few key points. The documents were allegedly created by the AICC research development. While Congress had refuted one of the documents as fake, there were some uncanny similarities between the instructions in the toolkit and how the narrative especially around the pandemic was built.
The instructions issued in the Congress toolkit are all-encompassing and extensive to launch a formidable attack against the Modi government when they are engrossed in defeating the raging pandemic. From maligning the Kumbh Mela as a ‘super spreader’ event to unwarranted attacks against PM Modi for the Central Vista project to collaborating with ‘friendly’ journalists and international media to defame the Modi government, the toolkit prepared by AICC Research Department had detailed instructions to the Congress leaders and supporters to milk the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and mount an anti-Modi propaganda blitz.
The toolkit expose had created a storm across the country, fuelling massive anger against the Congress party. Several people accused the grand old party of indulging in such cheap politics, especially during a national crisis, to further their political agenda against the Modi government. As accusations against the Congress party grew louder, the party entailed the services of the propaganda website Alt News to give a clean chit for themselves.
However, in a hurry to give clean chit to the Congress party, Alt News not only did a very poor job with its ‘fact-check’, but also ended up exposing the links of the Congress party to the toolkit document.
Soon after the two documents, purported to be the internal communication or ‘toolkit’ of Congress on Central Vista and defaming PM Modi were ‘leaked’ in public domain, propaganda outlet Alt News swung into action to ‘prove’ that the toolkit was ‘fake’. Not surprising as Alt News has been at the forefront of either watering down crimes committed by radical Islamists or using ‘fact-checking’ as tool for propaganda.
Here is a brief profile of the apostles of ‘fact-checking’:
Pratik Sinha
Pratik Sinha is one of the co-founders of Alt News. Let’s start from the beginning and how he earned himself the monicker ‘Stalker Sinha’ for indulging in cyberstalking and doxxing private individuals, just because he does not like them.
Twitter users mentioned above had been working on some satire websites which Sinha and Congress didn’t like. So he decided to reveal the identities of those who had chosen to remain anonymous, for whatever reason. The individuals on their website had adequate disclosures that they are running a satire website. But Congress-friendly ‘nonpartisan’ fact-checker decided to dox them because why let a joke ruin your propaganda.
Sinha is not a law enforcement personnel who could access information on individuals or have the capacity to ‘release’ that information in the public domain. But he does it without any fear of consequences.
He was encouraged by other ‘Congress friendly’ journalists to reveal more private information of other individuals.
Not that anything justifies what was done to these men, but what if the above individuals doxxed were women? What if it was a child? Earlier he had displayed his stalker tendencies (the ones which could morph into even dangerous crimes if not controlled) against OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan by targeting his wife and his newborn 2-month-old daughter.
Imagine the threat, abuses that would have come their way. We read about political violence in some states all the time. Recently, in one state, workers of a political party that actually won the elections went on a rampage against their opponents.
What if the ones doxxed by Sinha belonged to this state? Imagine throwing someone to the wolves because of opposite political ideology.
Now, let us see how he uses ‘fact-checking’ as propaganda tool.
In December, 2019, The New Yorker magazine, in its article titled “Blood and soil in Narendra Modi’s India”, downplayed the Pulwama Terror Attack and cast aspersions on the Balakot Airstrikes that followed. In its efforts, Dexter Filkins was assisted by none other than Pratik Sinha.
Balakot airstrikes
So, if some obscure account tweeted images of heatwave victims as that of terrorists hiding in Balakot, Sinha would downplay the airstrikes because one random picture posted by some random user was ‘fake’.
Filkins and Sinha ignored the fact that the Pakistani government denied international media access to the sites of the Balakot airstrikes for days after the attack. On the day of the Indian offensive itself, the Pakistan Army cordoned off the 60-acre compound, which is close to an area of a 32-34 kilometre radius. No entry or exit of private vehicles was permitted. Even as late as the 8th of March, ten days after the event, Pakistan denied access to Reuters journalists.
More recently, during the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, the ‘fact-checkers launched a staunch defence of Tahir Hussain, the AAP Councillor, who played a prominent part in the violence in North East Delhi and is an accused in the murder case of Ankit Sharma. They had given a clean chit to the AAP leader based on a shoddily edited video that showed Tahir Hussain seeking help.
Alt News claimed that they could find no evidence of the video being edited, however, social media users pointed out the glaring plot holes in the fairy-tale. Alt News absolved the AAP Councillor entirely on the basis of dubious sources and a video that could have easily been manipulated.
Last year, in an attempt to whitewash the crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat and certain sections of the Muslim population during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, Pratik Sinha told the American media organisation NPR, “The right-wing has found all these old videos and is circulating them to insinuate that Indian Muslims are knowingly spreading coronavirus and that it is equivalent to terrorist activity.”
It is important to note here that multiple FIRs were filed against members of Tablighi Jamaat for misbehaving with healthcare workers. Some members spat on healthcare workers, while others attacked them. Some were also found defecating in the quarantine centre at Narela in Delhi.
Quite clearly, the Alt News founder wanted everyone to believe that the numerous occasions during the pandemic when sections of the Muslim community have openly flouted lockdown norms, attacked the police and healthcare workers, claimed the virus was “Allah’s NRC” and engaged in despicable behaviour including sexual harassment were all lies.
Even more recently, he was found justifying Islamists like Sharjeel Usmani who celebrated the death of journalist Rohit Sardana. Sharjeel Usmani, moments after the news of the Aaj Tak anchor’s death broke out, called him a ‘sociopath’, ‘genocide enabler’ and ‘pathological liar’. Sinha had said that those who are ‘criticising’ Usmani are doing from a position of privilege. “Based on my understanding of English, Usmani was not celebrating Sardana’s death, he was characterising his body of work,” he said.
Here is a friendly reminder on how Alt News has similarly announced that the ‘leaked documents’ or the Congress toolkit are ‘fake’ – even after Congress leader Rajeev Gowda inadvertently admitted that at least one of the two documents is authentic.
Mohammad Zubair
Mohammad Zubair, one of the other co-founders of Alt News used to earlier run a ‘parody page’ of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Facebook by the name ‘SusuSwamy’. The ‘fact-checker has often lied through that particular page of his to further his agenda.
Rasode ka Factchecker @zoo_bear was showing clip from Mumbai as protest in Delhi.
Last year, activist Ankur Singh, took down Zubair and put out a list of over 25 incidents where Zubair acted like a Congress IT cell worker than a ‘fact-checker’.
Alt News says 'Mohammad Zubair has been at forefront of fighting fake narratives'.
Zubair uses his clout to spread fake news against PM Modi and the BJP at large, and when caught, deletes his tweet hours after its screenshots go viral through various social media channels.
Rasode ka Factchecker @zoo_bear tweeted to give impression that comments on Mann ki Baat was turned off due to fear of students.
Fact is.. Comments of all videos on PMO Youtube is off from years.
Same Mann Ki Baat was available on NaMO and BJP channel, comments was allowed. pic.twitter.com/ueieDB4JsV
Similar claims that PM Modi’s radio show channel has turned off comments for fear of negative comments from students was also made by various ‘activists’ who regularly indulge in hashtag activism on Twitter.
Old videos on PMO India
When we scrolled through the videos of PMO’s YouTube channel, we found out that the comments have always been disabled on the channel. Even the comments during the YouTube live and Community tab are disabled. This is how Zubair likes to spread anti-Modi propaganda, almost in lines with what the Congress toolkit said.
Zubair does not hesitate to politicise a matter as serious as rape if he could derive some political mileage from it. During the heinous Kathua Rape Case, OpIndia had pointed flaws in the claims being made by the Police and raised valid questions regarding the allegations being made against Vishal Jangotra. For merely asking questions, the Altnews cofounder had insinuated that Opindia was acting as an apologist for rapists. Ultimately, however, Vishal Jangotra was acquitted by the Court of all crimes.
Zubair has gone to the extent of shielding the Islamic terrorists responsible for the brutal massacre in Sri Lanka in 2019. In 2019 on Easter Sunday, as many as eight bombs blasts, most of which were suicide attacks, rocked Sri Lanka. While the Sri Lankan government at that time did not disclose names of the suspects who may have been involved in the attacks, an unconfirmed letter warning of the imminent terror attacks was being circulated over social media.
Zubair spent a good part of his day proclaiming the letter as fake. In now-deleted tweets, Zubair shielded the Islamist terrorists because the said letter did not come from any government official. However, days later, the Sri Lankan minister shared a letter wherein it was said that a possible suicide attack was being planned against Catholic churches and the Indian High Commission in Colombo by an extremist Islamist organisation called the National Thowheed Jamath.
The ‘fact-checkers’ at Alt News are so inherently biased that they are losing their objectivity when it comes to fact-checking. So deep-rooted their hate is for the BJP, PM Modi and also Hindus to a certain extent that they are almost like Congress-lite, Congress workers minus the official membership.
Nirjhari Sinha
Pratik Sinha’s mother Nirjhari Sinha is also a very vocal Modi critic. Which is fine, as criticism of elected public representatives is a sign of healthy democracy. However, what is unhealthy is sharing fake, old images to spread propaganda against the same.
In March 2020, when the Chinese coronavirus pandemic hit India, Nirjhari Sinha expressed her disapproval of PM Modi’s decision by sharing a photo of a seemingly destitute and homeless family with a caption “What is the PM’s message for them? Stay at home..don’t venture out!”
While it is an unfortunate grim reality in today’s India where poverty continues to remain one of the biggest challenges, the above image highlights her strong desire to lives of millions of Indians in danger by opposing the total lockdown of the country just because it was ordered by PM Modi. So deep-rooted is her hate that she overlooked the fact that PM Modi instituted PM Awaas Yojana, a scheme through which he plans to provide housing to everyone by 2022.
Also, the above image was not even of 2020 but of 2016. Pathological hatred for PM Modi caused Nirjhari Sinha to take leave of her senses. She questioned the measures which have been imposed by various advanced countries that are battling the scourge of coronavirus. In fact, even now, many developed nations are still under lockdown even as India slowly opened up the economy.
Nirjhari, along with her husband Mukul Sinha, ‘fought cases’ of 2002 Gujarat riots victim and very actively tried to prove that the Godhra carnage, wherein 59 karsevaks were burnt alive, was an ‘accident’ and not a planned conspiracy. The karsevaks were returning from Ayodhya.
Mukul Sinha
But who is Pratik Sinha? He is the son of a scientist turned ‘activist’ Mukul Sinha, who with his son ran an online rag ‘truthofgujarat.com’ which was the beta version of Alt News. Sinha, was a physicist, working with the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad. In 1988, he obtained a law degree and founded ‘Jan Sangharsh Manch’, a ‘civil rights organisation’ along with his wife Nirjari Sinha.
The leadership of the Jan Sangharsh Manch also founded the New Socialist Movement which was registered as a political party with the Election Commission in 2007. Mukul Sinha had also contested elections in the past and lost.
Nirjari Sinha, Pratik Sinha and Murlidhar Deomurari – all associated with Alt News are members of Jan Sangharsh Manch. Nirjari and Murlidhar are directors of Alt News.
Essentially, Sinha senior with a bunch of ‘like minded’ propagandists would float theories on the 2002 Godhra carnage and subsequent riots in Gujarat. Here is how he had justified the impromptu Muslim mob that had gathered at Godhra just before the train was set on fire.
Mob at Godhra
So apparently, a mob gathers on the platform ‘naturally’ because of ‘molestation of Muslim girl’ with a large quantity of fuel which can just set the train on fire. The train which is specifically carrying karsevaks from Ayodhya to their homes in Gujarat. They were in Ayodhya to offer karseva for the Bhavya Ram Mandir.
59 karsevaks were burnt alive and Pratik Sinha’s father had the audacity of claiming that the fire was ‘flash-over fire’. He also gave it a clean chit that the carnage was ‘not planned’.
Mukul Sinha giving clean chit to mob that set fire to train
In 2004, pro-Congress ‘activist’ Shabnam Hashmi organised a seminar in Delhi “Rebuilding Justice and Hope in Gujarat: The Agenda Ahead”. Amongst those present in the seminar were: actresses Sharmila Tagore and Nandita Das, lawyers Indira Jaisingh and Nitya Ramakrishnan, and journalists Praful Bidwai and Rajdeep Sardesai along with many known critics of the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. They all tried to figure out ways to ‘fix’ Modi legally where Sinha gave a presentation to ‘prove’ the Muslim mob setting the train to fire was ‘false’ and that the fire was an ‘accident’.
This kind of propaganda was seeded through ‘truthofgujarat’ along with his son Pratik.
Here is a sneak peek into what fake news was propagated through this outlet. In a December 2013 blog post, Mukul Sinha claimed that as Gujarat CM, Modi did not visit relief camp for a full 35 days after the riots broke out and that he visited the camp only on 4th April 2002.
Sinha claiming Modi did not visit relief camps for 35 days.
Here is a snippet from The Hindu published on 7th March, 2002.
The Hindu snippet
On 7th March, almost a month before claimed by Sinha, Modi had already visited the relief camps. The riots broke out on 28th February, a day after Godhra carnage, and this would be in about a week of the violence. Here is another article from around the same time from the Times of India.
TOI article from 7th March 2002.
This is how shamelessly Sinha would lie to further his propaganda.
Not only the Godhra carnage, but Sinha has also fought to save terrorists. He defended Javed Sheikh, one of the three men who accompanied terrorist Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an early morning encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The four terrorists were on a mission to assassinate the then CM Narendra Modi.
In March this year, the CBI court had pronounced that there was no evidence that could prove that Ishrat Jahan was not a terrorist. While narrating the order, Special CBI judge VR Raval noted that prima facie, there is nothing on the record that may suggest that Ishrat Jahan and three others, who were killed in the encounter, were not terrorists.
As one can see, apple hasn’t fallen that far from the tree.
Sinha was suffering from cancer. He passed away on 12th May 2014. Incidentally, on that day voting for the 2014 general elections ended and exit polls showed Narendra Modi coming to power with a majority and becoming the prime minister of India.
Sam Jawed, Pooja Chaudhuri and other minions at Alt News
Sam Jawed is another co-founder of Alt News. Very little information is available on her but appears to be spending some time in the Middle East.
Sam Jawed mocking ‘gau matas’ and ‘bhakts’
Like every Congress stooge, Sam Jawed, too likes to mock ‘Bhakts’, a term used derogatorily to refer to BJP and Modi supporters. Here, she is very happy to show that Dubai is a dangerous place for ‘gau matas’ in a lowkey reference to beef.
Here is how the ‘non partisan’ and ‘independent fact-checker’ refers to people who support other political parties.
Technically if you can sell Modi, you can sell anything but then its easy to sell Modi’s brand of politics to Bhakts https://t.co/YdU8j0WIyI
Here is Sam Jawed upset at Nikhil Wagle commenting how Congress is a ‘difficult product’ to sell when Prashant Kishor was appointed as strategist ahead of 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections by Congress.
Whether RG was sleeping or not, Bhakts are surely losing sleep over it.
Here she is justifying how it is absolutely okay to be caught napping in the Parliament. Rahul Gandhi was found sleeping when the Congress leaders were busy cornering the BJP on the Una incident.
The 4Gs- GauMata, GauRakshak, GauMutra & Gobar have dominated the discussion for over a week now. What has become of us?
And then there is always the ‘gau mutra’ jibe. The Islamists terrorists in India have often used the ‘gau mutra’ jibe to attack Hindus who consider cows holy. Pulwama terrorist, who killed 40 CRPF jawans, also did it to hurt those who ‘drink cow urine’. Many Hindus believe cow urine has medicinal property and consume the same.
Pooja Chaudhuri, who was the co-author in the ‘fact-check’ defending the toolkits allegedly prepared by Congress, had earlier made a ‘hit list’ of Bollywood actors and celebrities who had tweeted in support of the Bhoomi Pujan for the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.
Next time another film releases where Akshay Kumar romances a woman half his age, remember that there are worse reasons to not watch him. pic.twitter.com/PoE0bC5cQZ
Fact-checking one video with misleading claims to give clean chit to others
When the Tablighi Jamaat members were found from Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi, a lot of them were accused of molesting healthcare workers, harassing them and even spitting on them and beating them up. Amid all these viral videos, Pooja Chaudhuri chose to fact-check this one video which was false. The dozens of other videos and the ones where even FIRs were lodged against them, were not even mentioned or ‘fact-checked’.
Not stone, but ‘wallet’
In yet another incident, Pooja Chaudhuri decided to don her detective glasses and just conclude that the object in Jamia ‘student’s hand is a ‘wallet’ and not stone. This despite the fact that multiple people surrounding him are carrying stones. The violence took place when many in India, mostly Muslims were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which would fast-track Indian citizenship of persecuted religious minorities of three neighbouring Islamic countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Indian Muslims’ citizenship would remain unaffected by the same. Despite that, widescale protests took place which eventually culminated into communal riots.
But in this violence, this Jamia ‘student’ is obviously carrying a ‘wallet’ while rest of his buddies are carrying stones to pelt at the police.
Another such ‘writer’ at Alt News is one Jignesh. Jignesh, has a soft corner for Rahul Gandhi.
Bhakts will be Bhakts, regardless, of their political affiliation. Rahul Gandhi’s philosophy of love and kindness is just not cutting ice with his party supporters. pic.twitter.com/yXXCc2T76A
Rahul Gandhi’s philosophy of ‘love and kindness’ has Jignesh’s heart which is why he’s upset at official Congress workers heckling a Lallantop reporter.
Jignesh defending UPA
Here is Jignesh Patel explaining how Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee’s statements on UPA’s policies were misinterpreted by media outlets. Banerjee had advised the UPA on NYAY scheme of free money ahead of 2019 elections.
Jigensh Patel on Rahul Gandhi ‘stupid’ comment
And how dare a parody/fake account call Rahul Gandhi stupid. Jignesh would totally fact-check him.
These are the prominent people associated with Team Alt News.
Despite such obvious bias and bile, not just Congress but many among celebs and journalists try to paint them as some neutral, professional organisation. This is how the Congress ecosystem works. How it is nurtured, nourished and activated whenever crisis arises to absolve The Family of all their crimes.
Despite facing defeat in the recent Kerala Assembly elections, E Sreedharan, fondly known as ‘Metro man’ has fulfilled his poll promise of getting power connections for the people in his constituency.
In accordance with the promise he made to his constituents, Sreedharan on May 18 (Tuesday) wrote a cheque of Rs 81,525 in the name of the Assistant Engineer, KSEB, Kalpathy, to clear the arrears of the Scheduled Caste families in Palakkad whose power connections were disconnected due to non-payment of dues.
The Metroman handed over the cheque at an event inaugurated by BJP district president E Krishnadas here. While ward councillor V Natesan presided over the meet, Palakkad municipal standing committee chairman P Smithesh and ASHA worker Semina attended the function.
Thanks to him, 11 Schedule Caste families now will also get new power connections.
During campaigning for the Kerala Assembly elections, the 88-year-old technocrat had assured the residents of Palakkad Municipality’s Maduraveeran colony that “whether or not he wins, all families in the area will get power connections”.
Sreedharan had made the commitment after few residents had approached him with a complaint that a few Scheduled Caste (SC) families in Ward 3 of the municipality did not have the power supply, while it was stopped for others due to arrears.
After joining BJP, Dr Sreedharan had expressed his willingness to contest the elections. On March 4, 2021, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that E Sreedharan would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections. Unfortunately, Sreedharan lost the recently concluded Kerala Assembly elections to Congress’ Shafi Parambil by a narrow margin of 4,000 votes, but this did not stop the BJP candidate from keeping up his commitment, even if it took to pay from his own pocket.
A few years ago, a well known satirical right-wing website in the US posted an article saying that CNN uses a washing machine to spin the news before broadcasting it. Snopes.com, perhaps the world’s oldest fact-checking website pounced upon it and declared it fake news. No, they explained, CNN does not have a washing machine in which to spin the news around.
This is actually no laughing matter. Once their article was labelled as fake by fact-checkers, the right-wing website received a notice about it from Facebook. They could get demonetized or kicked off the platform. Given the current media landscape, any outlet which gets taken off Facebook will struggle to survive financially.
Like so many other things, fact-checking might have begun with a handful of good intentions at heart. But it has quickly transformed into a propaganda tool and ultimately censorship. It’s happening all over. If you are on the right, they don’t like you. They want to shut you down. But how? Using “fact-checkers.”
One good thing to come out of the recent ‘toolkit’ situation is that people have started questioning these fact-checkers all over the place. This moment could not have come soon enough. For decades, people in India believed in the socialist myth of a “neutral” media. Then, about a decade ago, they finally began discussing media bias.
Once they began looking for it, they realized it was everywhere. Today, the media cannot fool a single person in India with headlines like “Delhi man commits XYZ crime” or expressions like “one community.” If people had taken another couple of decades to wake up to the scam called fact-checking, we were most likely doomed. Luckily, that does not seem to be happening.
First with the post-poll violence in Bengal and now with the toolkit. The fact-checkers got a bit carried away with their newfound moral authority and pushed their luck too far. Their reputations crumbled.
As with journalists, once you start noticing their tricks, you can easily see through the games that fact-checkers play. So let me list here a few simple tricks
(1) Passing off counter-claims as “fact-checking”: Party X makes a claim. The fact-checker dismisses the claim in their typical headline format: “No, so and so did not happen … ” When you click on the story, you realize that their source is claims made by Party Y, which is the enemy of Party X. So that is just a counterclaim, not fact-checking.
Who gets treated as the trusted source depends on the bias of the fact-checker. This is what happened with the “tookit” situation and the post-poll violence in Bengal. Any time the West Bengal police said this or that incident is fake, or so and so committed “suicide,” their claim was taken at face value. Anyone who questioned the version of WB police was declared fake news. Even though the political interests of the ruling TMC were quite obvious. Those who question every claim of UP Police also insist that WB Police must be believed in everything.
(2) Fact-checking irrelevant details to divert the conversation: This happened after the Republic Day violence, for instance. A lot of people were angry with protesters who had stormed the Red Fort and planted some other flag there. It was looking really bad for the liberals.
So what were the fact-checkers up to? They decided to change the subject to the exact shape and colour and dimensions of the other flag and began a bunch of fact-checks based on that. How objectionable was this new flag that the protesters brought with them? Was it a little objectionable, a bit acceptable, totally unacceptable or very very little objectionable? Who cares!! It wasn’t our national flag and that’s what matters. But the job of the fact-checker is to delay and cause confusion. The more you get drawn into a fact check of irrelevant details, the more you are likely to forget the big picture of what happened.
(3) Finding random contradictions within an uncomfortable story: Suppose there is a report that members of “one community” have pelted stones on the roof of someone’s house. That spells trouble for you because you probably need the votes of that “one community.” As a fact-checker, what do you do?
Well, you go to the ground and talk to people. There is bound to be someone who challenges some random aspect of the story. I am sure there is someone who will say the stones were pelted not on the roof but on the wall of the house. There you go! That’s a “fact-check” right there! You can now use this to create a headline that says, “No, stones were not pelted on the roof of …” This is the kind of thing that was done during the Delhi riots to discredit the stories of one set of victims.
It’s all about the headline. The biggest advantage of this trick is that you don’t even have to name the source. You can just say “eye-witnesses on the ground.” And if you don’t feel like stepping out, you could just make them up.
(4) Using one fake to discredit hundred real ones: Whenever people are reporting partisan violence on social media, you are always going to find some fake images and videos if you look hard enough. You pick these up and publish screaming headlines junking all claims by the other side.
As with unnamed eye-witnesses on the ground, the fact-checker could always speed up the process perhaps by planting a fake image or two themselves. It’s elementary, really.
(5) Fact-checking as a form of trolling: Any time you make a claim, you should be able to substantiate it. That is fair. But any event can be broken down into an infinitely long chain of sub-events. No matter how solid your story is, there is going to be some sub-event in the chain for which it is impossible to find proof.
Was PMCares money used to buy ventilators? Yes, you reply, please see purchase order and receipt, here.
Okay, but were these ventilators actually supplied to states? Yes, you reply, here is proof…
Okay, but where is the proof that these ventilators were actually working? Ummm …
The fact checker now exults. Don’t have the proof that each one of these ventilators is working, eh? Your “lie” has been exposed.
(6) Using weasel words like “misleading” or “unsubstantiated”: Suppose that none of the standard tricks is working. Despite the best efforts of the fact-checker, their target has made sure that every little thing is in perfect order. The fact-checker has one last trick up their sleeve.
If they can’t label your story as false, they can always label it “misleading” or “unsubstantiated.” For the casual reader, both terms are as good as calling something false. The psychological effect is the same.
Notice that calling something “misleading” is literally an opinion, not a fact. And like I explained, there is always going to be some sub-event in a chain for which you cannot possibly have proof. Was every single ventilator bought from PMCares money working perfectly? Nobody knows. That’s an opportunity for the fact-checker to label the whole thing “unsubstantiated.”
I am sure there are more tricks of the trade that are not listed here. But here is a common sense question that can give some clarity about who the fact-checkers really are.
What do fact-checkers claim to do? Find out facts, right?
Bur didn’t we already have people for that? People whose job it was to cross check claims made in the public sphere and find out the facts? Yes, we called them journalists.
So why the need for this rebranding? Likely because people figured out that all journalists have an agenda. The myth of the neutral journalist lost its power. It had to be replaced by the myth of the neutral fact-checker.
In many ways, the fact-checker is worse than the traditional agenda-pushing journalist. The legacy format of journalism requires some amount of separation between opinion and fact. It puts a bit of pressure on the journalist to at least mention all sides of an issue. And ultimately leave it to the reader to make up their mind. Even the most shameless propagandist in old media will feel pressure to do this from time to time, just so they can look people in the eye.
But fact-checking is a new brand and so its rules are different. It crafts its headlines with absolute finality. “No, this did not happen…” End of story. No room left for doubt or disagreement, not even as a formality. The job of fact-checkers is to put a full stop to our thoughts. And that is why propagandists love it so much.
Even as countries race against time to vaccinate their population against Covid-19, questions are being raised on the quality of the vaccines produced by Chinese companies. As the Sinopharm vaccine proved ineffective in preventing infection, two nations The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are providing a third booster shot to their citizens who had already received the prescribed two doses of the Chinese vaccine against the Chinese virus.
On Tuesday, the UAF govt announced that it will offer the additional third dose to people who had already received two doses of Sinopharm vaccine more than six months ago. A tweet posted by UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday said, “An additional supportive dose of Sinopharm is now available to people who have received the vaccine previously and who have now completed more than six months since the second dose.”
Although daily infections have come from its peak in January, UAE is still not out of Covid-19 crisis, and amid this, the decision to administer the booster shot raises doubt on the efficacy of two doses of the vaccine.
Peng Xiao, the chief executive of G42, the company that’s making the Sinopharm shot locally in the UAE, said that the company is “testing if a third shot can help to protect against the new mutations that we see around us.”
UAE had relied heavily on the vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) in its vaccination program, with capital Abu Dhabi administering only this vaccine to residents although other vaccines were also available, a policy which was changed later. In December last year, UAE had claimed that interim analysis has shown that Sinopharm vaccine is 86%, more than 79% effectiveness claimed by China in the same month. The one reason for high reliance on Sinopharm is the fact that the vaccine is being produced locally in UAE.
Similarly, the National Medical Taskforce for Combatting the Coronavirus in Bahrain has announced that a third booster dose of Sinopharm will be given to those who had received the Chinese vaccine at least six months ago. At present the booster dose is available for first responders, citizens and residents above the age of 50, and those suffering from obesity, low immunity, or other underlying health conditions. It will be available for general citizens at a later date.
Neither UAE nor Bahrain has given the reason of administering booster dose for Sinopharm only, while they are using other vaccines like those made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna etc alsol. It is noteworthy that Bahrain has also decided to vaccinate its population in the 12 to 17 years age group using two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
While UAE and Bahrain have decided on third dose of Sinopharm, questions are being raised on the vaccine over its efficacy in Seychelles, where Covid-19 is surging despite high vaccination rate. Around 71% population have received at least one dose, and around 62% have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine in Seychelles, making it the most vaccinated country at present. Despite this, there has been a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country in the recent weeks. 57% population had received the Sinopharm vaccine, while the rest 43% had received the AstraZeneva jab.
According the health ministry in the country, around 37% of the people who tested positive for Covid-19 have already been vaccinated fully. Reports indicate that majority of the infected people had got the Sinopharm vaccine, raising doubts about its effectiveness.
Sinofarm vaccine is s produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG). It was approved for emergency use by the WHO in March this year, and it is being used by 42 countries across the world.
Punjab Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa in an interview to News18 accepted that the rise in Covid-19 cases in Punjab is in fact linked to the farmer’s protest.
When asked about the rise in rural Punjab of the new coronavirus cases and availability of testing, the Minister revealed that the farmers returning from Singhu and Tikri borders are not getting themselves tested. This is one of the reasons why there is a sudden surge of cases in rural Punjab, he stated.
Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa is the minister for Rural Development, Animal Husbandry, Panchayats, Fisheries and Higher Education in Punjab.
Punjab minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa blames farmers returning from protests for the rise in #Covid19 numbers in Punjab.
He also admitted that not enough testing is happening in the state as of now and arrangements are being made to ramp up the testing capabilities.
As per the report, two more farmers protesting at the border succumbed to the virus yesterday raising concerns. The farmers are sent from villages in batches and are made to protest in shifts. This practice undeniably puts them at a greater risk of infecting not just themselves but even their family members back home upon their return.
However, the government of Punjab had not spoken about the link between the rise in cases and the farmers’ protest on record as yet.
While the Centre is open to hold more rounds of discussion, the farmers are adamant on a complete roll back of the three Farm Laws.
Farmer protest sites the new super-spreader?
We had reported earlier on how the farmers who are returning from the Delhi border post registering their protest against the Farm laws may be acting as the new super-spreaders in Punjab.
As per a ground report by Dainik Jagran most new cases of coronavirus are emerging from districts that sent the most number of protestors to the site. As many as 900 farmers had traveled from a single district of Punjab to participate in the protest. It is imperative to note that 58% of the deaths reported in Punjab are from Rural areas.
The report further stated that the families of the patients are deliberately avoiding Covid testing or revealing the actual reason for death. This is because the government of Punjab has announced a compensation of 5 lakhs to the kin of the farmers who die because of the ongoing protest. In such a case if the family reports Covid as the cause of death, they will not be eligible for the compensation.
Centre’s internal reports correlate farmers’ protest and rise in Covid cases
As per Times of India, an internal report from Centre correlates rise in covid-19 cases and anti-farm laws protest. According to the report, the agitation can be related to the surge in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. The rotational shift by farmers has been cited as a prominent reason for the rise in cases in the report.
From the past few weeks, many media houses are trying to paint a picture that union ministers and BJP leadership are not providing any support for the Covid-19 patients and people affected by the pandemic. They have alleged that the ministers and leadership were busy singing praises of the central government.
On May 18, Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar published a comprehensive report in which they listed ten union ministers and showed how they “failed” to reply to any SOS query published on social media platforms. The ministers they listed included Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari, Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Naqvi. Congress used the report to push its propaganda to show the Indian government in a bad light.
1 मई से 14 मई के दौरान मोदी सरकार के दिग्गज मंत्रियों के ट्विटर एनालिसिस में यह बात सामने आई है कि किसी मंत्री ने कोरोना पीड़ितों की मदद के लिए एक भी ट्वीट नहीं किया, जबकि पीएम मोदी की तारीफ़ में खूब कसीदे गढ़े गए।#COVID19Indiapic.twitter.com/ljv5kJRM9S
Bhaskar published how these ministers tweeted about the preparations government has been doing to fight Covid-19, posted condolences messages, and wished for birthdays and festivals. However, these ministers “did not help” any patient by replying to SOS calls on social media platforms.
Tweets by Dainik Bhaskar and The Wire
A similar report was published by the left-leaning media house The Wire. The report titled “When Social Media Was Flooded With COVID SOS Calls, Union Ministers Only Praised Centre” tried to explain how ministers were busy praising the centre and did not reply to SOS calls on social media platforms. Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Nirmala Sitaraman. And Dr S Jaishankar was on the hit list of The Wire. Interestingly, The Wire’s report was based on Dainik Bhaskar’s report itself.
Connection of these reports with Congress’s Toolkit
Dainik Bhaskar’s report was published on May 18, just before Congress’s toolkit was exposed. Around 12 hours later, The Wire used the report as the base and published its own report explaining how union ministers allegedly did nothing but only praised the central governments during the Covid-19 crisis between May 1 and May 15.
Both news agencies did mention some work that the ministers told about on their social media platforms related to Covid-19 relief, but the reports majorly talked about their alleged “incompetency.”
Now, if we compare the reports’ structure with the Congress Toolkit, it talked about taking a series of actions to “amplify the image of a clueless and insensitive BJP and to corner it on its mismanagement.” The ministers they wanted to highlight were Amit Shah, Dr S Jaishankar, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, and others. It said, “Cover stories in weekly magazines which reinforce the same image of missing government can be encouraged in amenable publications.”
It has to be noted that The Wire was in the list of “friendly” media houses that were meant to be approached to get such reports covered.
Its more about institutional help rather than individual help
When you are running a government, it is not possible to run from pillar to pillar to provide help to individuals. Let’s see what all these ministers were doing during the period these reports have mentioned.
Home Minister Amit Shah: Instead of checking his personal account, which he was barely using the whole time, it would have been better if the news agencies had a look at his office’s account. Recently, Amit Shah was busy tackling the situation amidst Cyclone Tauktae that affected four states/UTs, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Daman. He has been working extensively to formulize guidelines for Covid-19 management across the country.
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (MHA) DRAWS ATTENTION OF STATES & UTs ON NEED TO HAVE PLAN OF ACTION TO ENSURE FIRE INCIDENTS DO NOT OCCUR IN HEALTH FACILITIES, PARTICULARLY COVID-19 FACILITIES.
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 5, 2021
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh: Defence Minister has been on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19. He coordinated with the defence institutes, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force to ensure delivery of essential supplies to different locations across the country. He also enabled defence institutes to procure supplies without going through a long process of approvals. Rajnath Singh’s efforts made it possible for DRDO to not only establish oxygen plants at several locations but also to establish make-shift hospitals and develop a special drug, 2-DG, for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
— A. Bharat Bhushan Babu (@SpokespersonMoD) May 17, 2021
Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari: It is the transport minister’s efforts that made it possible to transport medicines and medical oxygen in different parts of the country. He had held several meetings on the spread of Black Fungus with local administration in his constituency and ensured they have ample support from the government to tackle it. It was his efforts that made it possible for the Genetic Life Sciences to get approval for manufacturing Amphotericin B used in the treatment of Black Fungus. The medicine will be available at almost 70% less price than the current market price by the end of the month.
अभी इस कंटेंट वाले एक इंजेक्शन की कीमत सात हजार रुपये है और करीब चालीस से पचास इंजेक्शन एक मरीज को दिये जा रहे है जिस वजह से लोगों को आसानी से मिल नही रहा। वर्धा में बना यह इंजेक्शन 1200 रुपए में मिलेगा । प्रति दिन बीस हजार इंजेक्शन जेनेटिक लाइफ सायन्सेस में तैयार होंगे।
— Office Of Nitin Gadkari (@OfficeOfNG) May 14, 2021
Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar: EAM has been busy communicating with the international counterparts to procure medical supplies and other aid for India’s fight against Covid-19. Unfortunately, he has to deal with incidents like irresponsible statements given by the Chief Minister of Delhi against Singapore. He is also responsible for ensuring there is support for the foreign investors in the country so that the economy does not take a hit amidst the second wave of Covid-19.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan: Dr Harsh Vardhan is the main man in the fight against Covid-19. Being the health minister, it is his responsibility to formulate the guidelines and be in touch with the state health ministries to ensure everyone has an ample supply of medical equipment, medical oxygen, medicines, and other supplies. If India has been able to administer 14.46 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, Dr Harsh Vardhan deserves a major chunk of the credit.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal: Railway Minister has been working extensively in the fight against Covid-19. From running Oxygen Express to deliver medical oxygen in different parts of the country to establishing isolation wards using Railway coaches, the minister has been busy running pillar to post, providing every possible help in tackling the situation. Notably, Railways has also had its own hospitals, which are being used for the fight against Covid.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar: Union minister Prakash Javdekar’s office has been working extensively in ensuring every news, every guideline about Covid-19 management reaches the masses in time. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is also fighting the misinformation about the disease on social media and in print and electronic media.
Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal: Education Minister has been working to issue necessary guidelines for the educational institute. Amidst Covid-19, the education of lakhs of students is at stake, and he has been busy managing the education sector in the country. Notably, even today, he held meeting with directors of education institutes, including IITs, NITs, IISCs, etc., about Covid-19 management, online education, and more.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman: Finance Minister has been on the front of providing essential funds for Covid-19 management. From tax exemption on medical equipment to providing the state with the necessary financial support, the finance department under Sitaraman has been busy the whole time.
Union Ministers like Smiriti Irani and BJP MPs like Tejasvi Surya have been on the frontline of Covid-19 support. It is evidently visible on their timelines that they have been active in replying to SOS calls. These ministers were conveniently ignored by the media houses as it would not have suited their agenda.
Interestingly, what The Wire and Dainik Bhaskar want to do is negate the institutional fight against COVID-19 to peddle an agenda and insinuate that the Modi government and their ministers were not doing anything simply because they were not making a song and dance about individual help on social media.
While the Ministers were busy in fighting COVID-19 institutionally, there were several affiliate organisations that were involved in providing help at an individual level.
BJYM, Sewa Bharathi, RSS, and other affiliated organizations
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the largest volunteer organization in India, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party, and Sewa Bharati, an NGO affiliated to RSS, have been actively participating in Covid-19 relief programs. They are helping Covid-19 patients, their families, and people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic by supplying medicines, arranging medical support, online consultancy, food, ration kits, and more.
After revamping Mahabodhi Hospital in 10 days, we are reviving operations in another 80 bed hospital in Jayanagar that was lying defunct from last few years.
It has to be noted that RSS has been in the frontline to revive few hospitals as well that are now being used for Covid-19 relief. The organization is helping doctors and healthcare workers in giving medical care to the patients. These organizations have also established isolation wards across the country where Covid-19 patients can stay in isolation during recovery.
Community Kitchen run by RSS is preparing 32,000 food packets daily for needy people in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/T3IryGOcrG
It is easy to point fingers at the government and say they are not doing anything, but in reality, the government and the ministers are running from pillar to post to save as many lives as possible. The second wave of Covid-19 came like a major shock for the healthcare infrastructure in the country, and everyone from PM to ministers and from CMs to bureaucrats everyone is working extensively in stabilizing the situation.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health was forced to issue a correction guideline under Protection from Online Falsehoods and Misinformation Act (an act to tackle fake news online) after Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went all out to broadcast his claim of the ‘Singapore variant’.
Taking cognizance of the false statement being circulated online soon after Kejriwal’s claim, Singapore’s Health Ministry issued correction guidelines to Facebook and Twitter and SPH Magazines Ltd.
The social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and HardwareZone.com have been instructed to carry the Correction Notice for all the end-users of these platforms in Singapore.
Clarification regarding Kejriwal’s false claims of the ‘Singapore strain’
The clarification issued by Singapore reads, “There is no new “Singapore” variant of COVID-19. Neither is there evidence of any COVID-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases detected in Singapore in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated from India.”
“The existence and spread of the B.1.617.2 variant within India predates the detection of the variant in Singapore, and this has been publicly known and reported by various media sources from as early as 5 May 2021,” the statement details further.
Singapore’s law against online fake news
It is imperative to note that the Protection from Online Falsehoods & Manipulation Act is popularly known as Fake News Law, and it allows the authorities to respond to fake news by enforcing links to fact-checking sites, censoring websites or social media accounts, and filing criminal charges.
Kejriwal’s claim not only embarrassed India on a global platform but also invoked strong reactions from the Singapore government.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Singapore High Commissioner to India Simon Wong said that Singapore and India are solid partners in the fight against COVID-19, and the pandemic knows no boundary or political color.
Addressing the controversy that erupted on Tuesday over Arvind Kejriwal’s unnecessary fear-mongering by claiming that there was a new ‘Singapore variant’ of Covid-19 which is very dangerous to children, Wong said that the false statements by Arvind Kejriwal would invite actions under Protection from Online Falsehoods & Manipulation Act (POFMA), an act intended to mitigate misinformation in the country. However, he added that they are satisfied with the government of India’s clarification, putting an end to the matter.
Delhi CM Kejriwal fear-mongers about new Covid strain, MEA slams Arvind Kejriwal
On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to claim that a new variant of Covid-19 was found in Singapore, which could result in India’s third wave. Resorting to unnecessary fear-mongering, the Delhi Chief Minister put out unverified information to claim that the new variant was extremely dangerous for children.
AAP government undeterred on its claim
Despite being slammed by Singapore officials and the Ministry of External Affairs in India, the AAP government continues to further its claim of the Covid-19 ‘Singapore variant’ in India.
Coming out in support of his party leader, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said, “Wrong to say, there is no #COVID19 strain particular to Singapore. There are many strains in India, Will give clarification on the Singapore strain soon. But we assure you there is a new strain in India.”
Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too parroted the same narrative. Deflecting from the topic, Sisodia attacked the BJP for not focusing enough on the issue, despite the fact that neither Kejriwal nor his ministers Jain and Sisodia, presented any factual evidence of the existence of the so-called ‘Singapore strain’.
