Gaana, the music streaming platform, has issued a statement over the controversy surrounding one of their employees. Tanzila Anas posted a tweet where she appeared to be celebrating and justifying the murder of Rinku Sharma, the murdered Bajrang Dal Activist.
Gaana said on social media, “We do not endorse the beliefs & views of our employees in their personal capacity. Gaana respects religious sentiments of every community in India.” “We have been apprised of the issue & will take necessary steps at the earliest based on our enquiries,” it added.
Statement by Gaana
Although Gaana has not taken any names in its tweet, the timing of the statement makes it self-evident that the statement was made over the controversy generated by Tanzila Anas. People on social media were outraged by her insensitive comment and called for her to be sacked.
Tanzila Anas had tweeted, “Bajrang Dal Activist. That’s it, that’s the tweet.” He tweet, quite naturally, did not go down well with people on the platform. Following the backlash, she said that she did not even know that a Bajrang Dal activist had been murdered and her tweet only alluded to the fact that members of the “extremist” organisation Bajrang Dal cannot be called an “activist”.
While Gaana has assured ‘necessary steps’ at the earliest, it remains to be seen whether any action is taken at all.
Tensions gripped Delhi’s Mangolpuri area after a mob of around 25-30 people brutally stabbed a Bajrang Dal activist named Rinku Sharma on February 10 (Wednesday). The 26-year-old deceased, who was stabbed in his house in front of his family members, was actively involved with the Hindu outfit and was a part of the donation drive being carried out by Bajrang Dal for contributing towards the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
The father, distressed, barely managing to keep himself sitting, recounted the horror to the media. He said that the assailants barged into the house with sticks and knives and brutally stabbed Rinku to death. An image with a knife sticking out of Rinku’s back, as a representation of what Indian secularism truly is, has also gone viral on the internet.
Rinku’s father also said that this was not the first time that Rinku Sharma had been targeted by the Muslim mob that eventually killed him on Wednesday. “Yes, a similar incident took place earlier over the issue of Ram Mandir. The culprits had then abused PM Modi and would say that Rinku was associated with the BJP.” Agonised by the trauma of losing his son, his father lamented, “They were armed with sticks and knives. They killed my son. He is gone forever.”
His family members informed that he had even taken out a rally, following the Bhoomi Pujan of the Ram Mandir. Rinku’s mother Radha Devi said that even while he was being stabbed, the Bajrang Dal activist continued raising the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ She also said that her deceased son had received threats for being associated with Barang Dal.
How the media covered the murder of Rinku Sharma
While the pictures of his blood-soaked body went viral, the media stayed abhorrently silent. Today, when they did manage to cover the murder because it was being widely spoken about, the slant that they slyly inserted, the whitewashing of the crime and the desperation to prove that there was ‘no communal angle’ to the murder was evident.
Indian Express published a rather ‘balanced’ headline. In the headline itself, they mentioned what the VHP was ‘claiming’ and what the police was ‘saying’ about the murder.
Indian Express headline on Rinku Sharma murder report
The Hindustan Times’ headline passed this off as just another murder that followed a scuffle. Rinku Sharma was murdered after an argument at a birthday party, Hindustan Times desperately wanted us to believe.
Hindustan Times headline on Rinku Sharma murder report
The Indian Express, true to its form, quoted a police officer saying, “When their businesses failed, they blamed one another… At a birthday party of a mutual friend, this issue again came up. However, people intervened at that time… The accused later went to Sharma’s place; he was standing outside. Both sides attacked each other and Sharma was stabbed”.
However, to the credit of Indian Express, they also mentioned that Rinku’s brother had said that Rinku Sharma worked as a lab technician and the family had no eatery business to begin with. They quoted the brother as saying, “We have been having issues with the accused since last year. In August, we organised a small event for Ram Mandir. They were angered by this but we ignored them. We have always been good neighbours; Rinku Sharma even donated blood to one of their family members when she was pregnant.”
These elements, however, did not make it to the headline. The headline was essentially designed to delegitimise the communal hate by the accused, Mohammad Islam, Danish Nasruddin, Dilshan and Dilshad Islam, for a Hindu man chanting Jai Shree Ram and asking for donations for the construction of Ram Mandir. The fact that Indian Express mentioned the statements by his family members in the body and mentioned only VHP in the headline was designed to prejudice the reader – the subtle messaging being, “a Hindu organisation is trying to turn scuffle into a hate crime”.
The fact that the family has remained consistent in saying that the Muslim mob had an issue with Rinku Sharma for the past six months owing to his affiliation with VHP and his devotion to Lord Ram is relegated to the end of the article, which few might read.
This is, of course, extremely different from how the media covers crimes against Muslims and how, they ensure that the narrative created is that of Hindus harbouring unbridled hate for Muslims, which eventually led to the crime. This is done even when it is evident that there was no communal hate at play in the crime.
Sample this headline:
The man in this case was beaten up because he was suspected of stealing cattle. As we have discussed at length earlier, cattle theft lynching often have nothing to do with the religion of the thief and the cattle owners. There have been several cases where a Muslim suspected of cattle theft has been lynched by Muslim cattle owners.
The crux of the issue in such cases is the fact that in rural areas, cattle are a tool for livelihood and its theft invokes a strong reaction from cattle owners. There is no religious sentiment attached to the crime itself. However, the media often ensures that they mention, rather clearly, that a “Muslim man was lynched”.
The same format of headline writing is, of course, thrown out of the window the moment a Hindu is lynched by Muslims for crimes that have a clear communal angle to the case.
Why are ‘liberals’ and the Left media so predisposed to highlighting the ‘no communal angle’ trope when victims are Hindus
We have often seen that the ecosystem that is predisposed to shielding the Muslim community is also predisposed to believing that when Hindus are lynched and murdered by Muslims, the ‘communal angle’ is summarily missing. One really has to wonder why that is.
Why are they predisposed to believing that a communal angle is always present when a Muslim is murdered, even if the case clearly indicates there was none, and why, they are more than happy to believe that no communal angle was at play when a Hindu is murdered by Muslims, when clearly, religious hate played an important role in the crime.
The answer lies in the supposition of hate, which the ‘liberals’ believe is summarily one-sided, contrary to historical evidence. In all their writing and rhetoric, the ‘liberals’ often theorise and perhaps vehemently believe that the underlying ingredient of ‘religious hate’ only runs in one direction – from Hindus towards Muslims.
Their assumption is that Hindus as a community despise Muslims and Hindus are far more radicalised than the Muslim community as a whole. This phenomenon, according to them, has been far more pronounced after the Modi government came to power. Essentially, what they truly believe is that Hindus are predisposed to hate Muslims and that hate has turned into unbridled violence and venom after Hindus realised that they too have the democratic right to vote as a block, something, only Muslims did up until 2014.
They believe that Muslims are the victimised minority of the violent, hateful majority. The logical extension of this argument is that Muslims harbour no inherent hatred for the Hindu community and thus, in a crime whee a Hindu is murdered by a Muslim mob, the starting assumption is that there is no ‘communal angle’ to the crime at all.
We don’t really need to get into the historical evidence to prove just how baseless this assumption is. We don’t need to list the thousands of cases where Hindus were murdered amidst chants of Allahu Akbar and Naara-e-Taqbeer, we don’t need to list the hundreds of girls and women we lost to Grooming Jihad where they were raped, murdered, tortured and beheaded for not converting to Islam, we don’t need to list the temples desecrated by Muslims or the idols broken by them. We don’t need to details the anti-Hindu riots all over again, on which, OpIndia has written a book. We don’t need to detail the hundreds of years of Islamic rule where women were raped, men were beheaded, all in the name of Islam. All, because Kaafirs deserves to die.
We don’t need to do it because these are historically established facts even if the ‘liberal’ ecosystem wishes to turn its face away. Truth. Cold truths. Won’t change.
However, it is true that contrary to the overwhelming evidence over a span of thousands of years, the establishment does function on the basic assumption that Muslims want brotherhood and Hindus, overtaken by hate and rage, want Muslims annihilated. It is this belief that makes the ecosystem so easily believe the trope of ‘no communal angle’ when a Hindu is murdered by Muslims, even if facts point in a completely different direction.
What is a ‘communal angle’ in a crime?
When we hear the phrase ‘communal angle’, the instant image that we have in mind is that of what happened during the Delhi Riots. It was a riot where Hindus and Muslims came face to face and the casualties mounted from both sides. The underlying reason of that conflict was the Citizenship Amendment Act, where, according to the liberals, Muslims felt slighted.
What ensued was a well-planned conspiracy to mount an offensive against Hindus. Amidst chants of Allahu Akbar and Naara-e-Taqbeer, Ankit Sharma was stabbed to death. Amidst the same chants, Dilbar Negi was burnt alive after his limbs were chopped off. After 2 days of rampant violence by Muslim mobs, Hindus too began to defend themselves and the result, was a collective body count of 53.
Even in this case, the assumption of hate by the liberals led them to believe that it was an anti-Muslim pogrom when the facts were glaringly different. The police reiterated in their statements, in their charge sheets and in the court that this was a well-hatched conspiracy by Islamists to target Hindus. The liberals, unlike in the case of Rinku Sharma, have summarily refused to believe the police statement, even though in the case of the Delhi Riots, it was not just an initial statement at the beginning of the investigation, but one backed by facts, evidence and several charge sheets. More on that later.
We, however, must analyse a seemingly simply question. Are all crimes so cut and dry? Are all communal incidents as clear as that of Delhi Riots? The answer certainly is no.
There are crimes where the communal angle are glaringly obvious, like the Delhi Riots, and there are others, where the trigger of the communal crime could be extremely different and even seemingly benign.
Take the example of Lotan Nishad for example. In April 2020, Lotan Nishad was sitting at a tea shop in the village at around 9.30 am. While reading the morning newspaper, he got into a verbal confrontation, over the role of Tablighi Jamaat in transmitting the Wuhan Coronavirus, with some people sitting there. Mohammad Sona, who was present there, began assaulting the victim. After sometime Sona brought a gun and fired at him from close range. Nishad fell on the ground and started bleeding. He died.
Immediately, after a statement by the police, the ‘liberal’ ecosystem began to peddle the ‘no communal angle’ trope.
Many people criticize the Yogi govt for various reasons. However one has to admit that the Uttar Pradesh Police is doing a fabulous job at immediately quashing all the fake news peddled by the usual suspects. Thank you @prayagraj_pol@saharanpurpol ? Attaching fake news pics pic.twitter.com/nJOeatV0z4
— Zainab Sikander Siddiqui (@zainabsikander) April 5, 2020
The truth, however, was that the police had merely said that no party was involved with the Tablighi Jamaat. That, was in turn, interpreted as the police saying that no communal angle was present in the case. In a report by Swarajya, the brother had detailed how Hindus were leaving the area because of Muslims and how, his brother, lost his life to that hate.
All of this, was ignored to claim that there was no communal angle. The reason? ‘Assumption of hate’. The Muslim community simply cannot hate the Hindu community to murder of them so brutally. It is simply not possible.
But what really decides whether a crime is communal or not? Media reports? The initial and preliminary statements by Police? Perhaps not. What decides whether a crime is communal in nature or not is the ground reality. As OpIndia spoke to several people who are on the ground with the family of Rinku Sharma, we were told that that the communal tension in the area is palpable. Several people have gathered around the area and both, Muslims and Hindus are getting ready for this to blow up. The police, on its part, is guarding the area carefully.
Low intensity communal crimes are a result of strife, hate and societal dynamics that play out at a micro level. At the ground level. For those harbouring prejudices to simply assume that no communal angle exists because the police’s very initial version says so, is not only evidence of them not knowing about why the police says what it says, but also, their ignorance of India’s lived reality.
Often, the communal strife brews for over months, and eventually, leads to a brutal crime like this over a petty trigger. In the case of Rinku Sharma, this element seems to be a glaring component. The family of Rinku Sharma has said that the Muslims of the area held a grudge against Rinku ever since he celebrated the Ram Mandir verdict. For over 6 months, low level fights continued to brew over his devotion to Lord Ram.
What happened on Wednesday night was a culmination of that hate by the Muslim community. The trigger may have been a scuffle over something unrelated, but to say that the crime itself had no communal angle would be an exercise in whitewashing the crimes against Hindus.
Liberals and their convenient faith in the police
The ‘liberal’ ecosystem often looks at crimes from the prism of the agenda that they wish to peddle. While they seem to be vehemently believing the police in the case of Rinku Sharma, because they don’t wish to concede that Muslims killed a Hindu over Jai Shree Ram chants, they have believed the police in several other cases where the version of the police furthered their own narrative. In other cases, however, they have summarily refused to believe the police despite mounting evidence. In these cases, often, the police version is believed when it exonerates the Muslim perpetrator and refuse to believe the police version when it hurts their own agenda. In neither of these cases, are facts of any concern.
When the temple was vandalised in Hauz Qazi, the Muslim community there put the blame squarely on the Hindus. They alleged that it was the Hindu ‘halwai’ who had started the fight and that, the Hindus themselves desecrated the temple to blame the Muslims. A young Hindu boy had also gone missing during the violence by the Muslim mob. While the parents claimed that the boy was abducted by the Muslims, the police, had a different version at the time.
The liberals believed the police – so much so – that they blamed media houses for even reporting the FIR filed by the parents. The boy was later recovered and a seemingly cock-and-bull story was furthered to ensure there is no more communal flare-up in the area. However, what happened in Hauz Qazi was clear. The liberal jamaat refused to believe it. They tried their very best to whitewash it.
And what the official reason for the fight between the Hindus and the Muslims of the area? A fight that had ensued after an argument over parking space.
Now, just because the fight the fight broke out due to a parking space, does that mean that the desecration of the Durga temple in the area had no communal angle? Are we to believe that Muslims broke the idols and urinated on them because they were angry over a parking space and communal hatred did not play a role?
While in Hauz Qazi, the liberals believed the police version of ‘no communal angle’, in several other cases they have been more than happy to tarnish the police, when they made claims with solid evidence. We all know what happened in Delhi Riots and how the international left came together to discredit the investigation by the police.
Even when the crime is not communal in nature, the police version is often believed or discarded according to the whims and fancies of the liberal ecosystem. So is the statement of the family. Recently, when rioter Navreet Singh died after his tractor overturned during the 26th January insurrection, the liberals, with all their heart, believed that he was shot dead by the police. There was no evidence to indicate that he was. Even the wounds were not consistent with a gun-shot injury. But this narrative was furthered internationally and the parents were made to say what ‘eye witnesses’ believed. It was a clearly motivated agenda but the liberal media ran with it.
There are thousands of cases on these lines that could be cited to make this case and demonstrate how the ecosystem is disingenuous, to say the least. However, with the examples cited already, it is clear as day that the liberal’s faith in the family of the victim and the police depends on what agenda they wish to peddle – facts, circumstances, truth and justice be damned.
Why does the police say ‘No communal angle’ even when there clearly seems to be one
The police often say that a communal angle does not exist in a case, where there clearly is one. There are several factors that are generally at play here.
Firstly, one has to realise that an incident of this proportion is often seen as a failure of the local police. For example, during Hauz Qazi, the local police were circumspect about their own failure to control the Muslim mob, and had thus, overnight, got new idols to replace the desecrated ones. It is a different matter that the locals did not allow them to replace the idols. In several other cases, the same pattern has been observed. The police often downplay incidents of low-level communal crime because it is their jurisdiction that comes under question and it comes under question for legitimate reasons.
Secondly, the police works in conditions where strife and hate by the Muslim community flare-up in no time. The police also often say that there was ‘no communal angle’ to a crime when there was one because they wish to ensure that owing to the crime already committed, there is no further flare up in the area.
“We know the truth 9 out of 10 times. We downplay communal incidents because we need to ensure that tensions are watered down. Policing cannot draw from public sentiment. Law and order situation must be controlled at that point of time to ensure that one crime does not lead to several more crimes and an uncontrollable law and order situation”, said one retired police officer who wished to stay anonymous.
He further said that the police has to sometimes ensure the local community that they are not viewing a crime as a communal one so that the locals open up to the police without getting territorial.
“The ground reality is that people identify with their co-religionists. If the police goes in to investigate a crime calling it a communal one, you think the Muslim community will talk to us and give us leads? They won’t. It becomes an ‘us vs them’ situation. Even if it is a communal crime, we need to downplay it in the media so we can do our job. So we can investigate and get the victim justice. That is the job of the police. Not the media”, he said further.
In cases where sentiments fly high, rightly so, the police are often caught between their inability to have stopped the crime from taking place, trying to shield their own incompetence in certain situations and also, ensuring the no further law and order situation takes place. While looking from the outside, it does appear that the police is deliberately denying justice to Hindus, in many cases that is indeed true, several times it is a ploy to ensure justice is delivered. The downside of this strategy is, of course, that Hindus are perennially made to battle, just to ensure that those of them who are murdered owing to the Muslims’ communal hate, are seen as victims and the story of their victimisation is told accurately. Even if the law and order situation is controlled by saying that the crime had ‘no communal angle’ one can perhaps conclude that the justice delivered to the victim after denying him the facts of his victimisation is no justice at all.
In a blistering attack against prejudiced media outlets, the former CJI Rangan Gogoi named India Today, Indian Express, NDTV and other ‘web portals’ for running a campaign to pressurise the sitting judges to give verdicts to their liking.
Gogoi was speaking at the India Today Conclave where he accused the media organisations of browbeating the judges into submission by attacking them while in office and after their retirement.
“Judges are made conscious. They are constantly told to conduct themselves in a certain way failing which they would have to face attacks after their retirement in the media, India Today, NDTV 24*7, the Indian Express and the web portals,” Gogoi said.
He further added, “They are telling you to conduct yourself the way they want or else we will attack you.”
In a further shocking comment, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said that there are several judges who do get influence by the media threats where they are told that if they don’t conduct themselves the way they want, they will face attacks and threats after they retire or during their tenure.
Former CJI, no less is saying unfortunately there are many (judges) who are succumbing to the threat by organized gang led by Congress. And remember his father was a Congress CM. If this is not explosive I don’t know what is pic.twitter.com/Aw2KucPEf6
Attack against me in Parliament an attempt to send out a message to warn the judges: Former CJI Gogoi
Gogoi’s response was regarding the attack launched by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on him in the parliament earlier this week.
“The sacred cow that was the judiciary is no longer sacred. It stopped being the sacred day a sitting CJI was accused of sexual harassment, presided over own trial, cleared himself & accepted a nomination to Upper House within 3 months of retirement replete with Z+ security cover,” Moitra said in the Lok Sabha, apparently referring to former CJI Gogoi.
Not naming her directly, Ranjan Gogoi said, “What is this attack? Does a former judge ever get cowed down by attacks?”
Ranjan Gogoi further added, “She didn’t even have her facts correct. If you are making allegations, at least name the person. I have a name and I deserve to be named. Those allegations are wrong in facts.” Gogoi said that it was sitting Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, then the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, who had constituted the committee to hear the case against him as per the prescribed in-house procedure.
However, the former CJI also admitted that unfortunately some of the judges are succumbing to the pressure imposed by such media organisations.
During his interaction in the India Today Conclave, Gogoi said the case involving him was mentioned in Parliament to send out a message to warn the judges. “Does a judge get cowed down by such attacks? Unfortunately, many do,” Gogoi said.
In a shocking incident on Thursday, a mob of around 25-30 people brutally stabbed a Bajrang Dal activist named Rinku Sharma to death. Rinku Sharma, a lab technician who died in a hospital in Paschim Vihar on Thursday, was killed in cold blood for raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans in Delhi.
The 26-year-old deceased, who was stabbed in his house in front of his family members, was actively involved with the Hindu outfit and was a part of the donation drive being carried out by Bajrang Dal for contributing towards the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
The police have reportedly arrested four accused persons who killed Rinku on Wednesday at his residence. The arrested assailants have been identified as Mohammad Islam, Danish Nasruddin, Dilshan and Dilshad Islam.
As the brutal killing of a Hindu youth in broad daylight evoked a strong response from citizens, a few Islamists and left-liberals were celebrating the 26-year-old Bajrang Dal activist’s death on social media platforms. Tanzila Anis, a content head at the online music streaming platform – Gaana, caused a furore in social media by apparently cheering Rinku Sharma’s death.
Taking to Twitter, Tanzila Anis insinuated that the deceased person was a Bajrang Dal activist. “That’s it, that’s the tweet,” said Tanzila Anis. From her tweet, it appeared that she was indirectly implying that killing a Bajrang Dal activist is acceptable, who was stabbed for participating in a donation drive for the construction of Ram Mandir.
The now deleted Hinduphobic tweet put out by Gaana employee Tanzil Anis
Following the backlash for this tweet of hers, she offered an explanation for her conduct. She said that she did not even know that a Banjrang Dal activist had been murdered and her tweet only alluded to the fact that members of the “extremist” organisation Bajrang Dal cannot be called an “activist”.
Following her tweet, social media users started demanding that Gaana should sack her from the company. OpIndia has reached out to the company for their comments on the issue, this report will be updated if and when the company responds to our queries.
Tanzila Anis repeated acts of bigotry against Hindus
Even though the tweets of Tanzila Anis was not surprising to many, netizens directed their anger and disbelief towards the Times Group for their continued choice to employ such people who clearly harbour communal hatred and provide space in the online entertainment industry to propagate such aversion for Hindus and their culture. The online music app ‘Gaana’ is a subsidiary of Times group media network.
As several netizens demanded Times Group to sack her from their organisation immediately, however, some users put out disclaimers saying Times Group will never take action against such Hinduphobic elements but promote them instead. The social media users highlighted how Times Group had provided a platform to anti-Hindu propagandists such as Sayema, who has a notorious history of peddling anti-Hindu propaganda.
Shocked by her initial tweet, social media users unearthed several derogatory tweets put out by Gaana employee in the past.
Here are some of tweets posted by Tanzila Anis, which not only mocks Hindus but also abuse Hindu deities:
In 2012, Tanzila Anis, taking advantage of her ‘freedom of expression’, abused Hindu deities saying she had a thing for Shiva in the past, who was a “mythological dick”.
Tweet by Tanzila Anis
Continuing her anti-Hindi rhetoric, the Gaana employee Tanzila Anis had displayed her ‘creativity’ by showing ways to abuse Hindu deities and as well hurt Hindu sentiments.
Tweet by Tanzila Anis
In another tweet put out by Tanzila Anis in 2015, she said one must outrage on why more men were chefs, more women were pornstars and importantly why more Hindus in India.
Tweet by Tanzila Anis
In one of the vile tweets unearthed by social media users, Tanzila Anis can be seen making sexist sly on Lord Sita and Lord Hanuman.
Tweet by Tanzila Anis
In a similar tweet, Tanzila Anis can also be seen mocking Ramayana.
Tweet by Tanzila Anis
Here is another tweet where she was caught abusing Hindu culture and scriptures.
Tweet by Tanzila Anis
In April 2013, she said that Lord Krishna indulged in ‘orgy’ with gopis (Lord Krishna’s women devotees). “This boy is mad”, she had tweeted.
Image Source: BabuBhaiya/Twitter
Image Source: BabuBhaiya/Twitter
Tanzila Anis, unsurprisingly, is also a great fan of Pakistan. Here are a few tweets where she was seen cheering for Pakistan, the country that bleeds India almost every day by exporting terror.
Tweets by Tanzila Anis
Even though the Hinduphobic attitude displayed by Tanzila Asin comes as no surprise to many, in reality, it is not a recent phenomenon. The Islamists and left-liberals have been making such vile and derogatory statements to target Hindus and its culture under the guise of ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘secularism’ and are easily getting away.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Hinduphobia in the ‘secular’ societies of the country is not going to stop any time soon.
In a display of arrogance and high-handedness, Twitter refused to comply with the Indian laws and instead decided to enforce its ‘own rules’. While citing freedom of speech on Wednesday, the micro-blogging site refused to adhere to the government’s directives and block the handles of those individuals inciting and advocating violence under the garb of anti-farm law agitation. This sparked off a spat between the Indian government and the social media giant. However, later the site blocked most of the accounts as asked by the government.
Amidst the controversy, several companies have been mulling to pull out the plug on advertising on Twitter, according to a report by The Economic Times. Quoting brand experts and advertisers, the report said that while most brands are sitting on the fence at present, watching how the Twitter-government face-off plays out, some of them may pull back ads from the platform in the coming days depending on how the situation evolves.
According to brand strategy expert Harish Bijoor, brands tend to move away from advertising on platforms that are under threat of any kind. “For every Twitter, there is a Koo waiting in the wings. For the new apps, it is a big opportunity, though they will take some time and traction for the ability to perform with an equal degree of seamlessness as Twitter,” he emphasised.
As per the ‘fact checkers’, the social media platform has scored a ‘self goal’ by not adhering to the government’s directives of removing Twitter accounts with objectionable content. Interactive Avenues’ Shantanu Sirohi said that brands would pull back advertising from Twitter within a short time and watch how the ongoing spat panned out with the Indian government. He added that companies would not find it difficult to make changes to their advertising budget.
Global companies have to abide by a country’s laws, say experts
Newsmobile.in founder Saurabh Shukla said, “You have to realise that any global company has to abide by the laws of the country. The problem is that Twitter continued to ignore the problem of misinformation and fake news for so long. They were casual about it. You need specialised domain experts for sifting out sensitive content that may impinge national security which any government will not take lightly.”
It must be mentioned that Twitter constitutes only 5% of India’s online ad market (₹18000 crores), whereas Google and Facebook make up about 75%. While Twitter reported a 28% rise in income ($1.29 billion) in the last quarter, experts are divided on the impact the ongoing controversy will have on its ad revenue in India.
Will the ongoing spat impact Twitter’s revenues in India
According to Amit Tripathi, the managing director at IdeateLabs, only a small fraction of the ad budget is allocated to Twitter. He said that there is no word from any of his client to pull out advertising from the microblogging site. With hashtags such as ‘Koo App’, ‘Ban Twitter India’, ‘Ban Twitter’, ‘Twitter hypocrisy’ and ‘BJP Govt Dictating Twitter’ dominating the social media platform, Zafar Rais associated with Mindshift Interactive informed that his company had extensive discussions with their clients. Despite being allocated the budget for new quarter, they are in a ‘wait and watch’ mode.
Yesterday on 11 February, Bajrang Dal activist Rinku Sharma breathed his last after being brutally assaulted and stabbed with a knife in the Mangolpuri area of West Delhi. The preliminary investigation of the Delhi Police has revealed that Sharma was stabbed to death by the very same people for whom he had donated his blood a year ago.
As per the report, Rinku donated his blood to the wife of one of the attackers who killed him. The woman was pregnant one and a half years ago and was in a critical condition. Blood was needed for treatment. In such a situation, Rinku gave his blood, not once but twice, for the accused’s wife.
“We have been having issues with the accused since the last year. In August, we had organised a small event for Ram Mandir. They were angered by this but we ignored them. We have always been good neighbours; Rinku even donated blood to one of their family members when she was pregnant,” said Rinku’s brother Mannu.
Additionally, the Delhi Police also found that Rinku had even helped Islam’s brother Shakuru to get admitted in a hospital when he was infected with the coronavirus. Perhaps, he was unaware that a few months later, Shakuru’s brother would bay for his blood and lynch him to death.
Bajrang Dal activist Rinku Sharma stabbed to death in West Delhi
According to the relatives of the deceased, an awareness rally was organised in the area some time back regarding the construction of Ayodhya’s Shri Ram Janmbhoomi temple. During this rally, the assailants had got into a dispute with Rinku Sharma, who had been collecting funds for the construction of Ram Mandir. Later, the dispute was resolved after some people of the area intervened.
On the day of the incident, Rinku Sharma once again ran across the murderers in a birthday party, where they reportedly got into a tussle again. He also said that the attackers were armed with knives and lathis. Rinku’s brother also recounted how the assailants mercilessly attacked his elder brother Rinku with sharp knives. They then fled, leaving Rinku seriously injured. Rinku was rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri, where he succumbed to his injuries at 12 noon on Thursday.
The police have reportedly arrested four accused persons who killed Rinku on Wednesday at his residence. The arrested assailants have been identified as Mohammad Islam, Danish Nasruddin, Dilshan and Dilshad Islam, according to social media posts. Rinku is now survived by his mother Radha Devi, father Ajay Sharma and brothers Ankit and Manu Sharma.
On Wednesday, social media behemoth Twitter said they will not allow Former US President Donald Trump to return to the microblogging site even if he decides to run for office again.
According to the reports, Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said that former US President Donald Trump will never be back on Twitter, even if he wins the 2024 Presidential elections. Segal said that their policies do not allow people to come back.
“The way our policies work, when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform, whether you’re a commentator, a CFO or a current or former public official,” Ned Segal said in an interview.
The micro-blogging site, imposing an arbitrary ban, had blocked former President Trump’s account a few days after the Capitol Hill riots at Washington DC on January 6. Along with Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms had also banned Trump after the US Capitol incident.
“Our policies are designed to ensure that people are not inciting violence,” Segal explained claiming that if anybody does that they would have to remove them from the service and our policies do not allow people to come back.
Ironically, Twitter’s decision to permanently ban former POTUS Donald Trump for his alleged incitement of violence comes at a time when they are failing to impose similar bans on accounts that peddled hate speech and incited violence using fake news in India, even after the Red Fort vandalism on Republic day.
Twitter claims to fight hate speech but has different standards for India
A major controversy has erupted in the country after Twitter disrespected Indian laws by refusing to follow orders passed by an elected government asking them to ban anti-India and pro-Khalistani accounts that incited violence on the platform.
The Indian government had issued a new notice to social media giant Twitter directing it to block 1,400 accounts from Pakistan peddling Khalistani secessionism during the protests. The misuse of the social media platform for spreading anti-India propaganda, provocative content and misinformation had irked the Union government. The government said hat the said Twitter accounts have the potential to cause a threat to public order.
However, Twitter had shown its reluctance to comply with the central government’s notice under Section 69A of the IT Act. The social media site has banned only a handful of 1,400 handles, and Twitter said it would not be taking action against any media, journalists, activists, and politicians, citing free speech. Twitter also claimed that they did not believe that the actions they have been directed to take are consistent with Indian law.
Twitter’s dubious standards had irked the government, who had to warn the tech-giant that its patience was wearing out over the company’s refusal to follow the rules under Section 69A of the IT Act. The Indian government is also mulling action against Twitter officials for failing to comply with Indian laws and regulations and promoting hate speech on its platform.
As the domestic support for the so-called farmer protests is dwindling gradually, the paid PR campaigns from abroad have been activated to push the leftist propaganda against India. More ‘international’ faces are being roped in to spread misinformation about a politically driven and secessionist-backed protest in India.
After song-writers, porn stars and ‘activists’ failed to influence India’s domestic politics, the alleged comedians have now descended to put out false propaganda against India. In his ‘The Daily Show’ on Thursday, the comic Trevor Noah shared an eight-minute-long segment titled, ‘If you don’t know, now you know’ on Twitter.
Noah, in the video, talked about the ongoing ‘farmers’ protests in India. The show’s official handle shared the video and tweeted, “Why are India’s farmers protesting? The government tried to change the decades-old agriculture laws, and that’s when the manure hit the fan. If you don’t know, now you know.”
Why are India’s farmers protesting? The government tried to change the decades-old agriculture laws and that’s when the manure hit the fan.
In the video, Trevor put out images and footages of the so-called farmer protests against the three farm laws, in which one could see how thousands camping causing massive inconvenience. Sharing the footages of far-left news portals such as BBC, CNN and pro-terror outlets like Al-Jazeera, Trevor Noah made several misleading claims to amplify the alleged protests.
One such blatant lie is when Noah claimed that more than 250 million people are protesting against the government.
“We’re talking about India because, in a year of global protests, they’re [India] in the midst of the biggest one anywhere,” Trevor said at the beginning of the video.
However, the claims of ‘250 million people protesting’ against the Indian government is nothing but a blatant lie and out-and-out foreign propaganda.
Where did this imaginary ‘250 million protesting farmers’ really come from?
Ever since the foreign ‘celebrities’ started voicing concerns about the farmer protests, these ‘250 million farmers protesting’ bogey has been doing rounds on the internet. Many media outlets, both domestic and international media, have been putting out these figures aggressively to claim that nearly one-fifth of India’s total 1.3 billion is out on the streets to protest against the government.
Many foreign media outlets and individuals have used these imaginary numbers to peddle false propaganda against India, and Noah has become the latest foreign influencer after song-writer Rihanna, porn actress Mia Khalifa and Swedish Andolanjeevi Greta Thunberg to spread lies about the farmer protests and new farm laws. The false claims are connected to the Greta Thunberg ‘Toolkit’.
As foreign vested interests were trying to amplify the targeted campaign against the Indian government, the school drop out protestor had inadvertently shared a ‘ToolKit’ that revealed the insidious nature of the global campaign against India.
The documents shared by Greta had made some shocking disclosures revealing that the alleged ‘farmers’ protest and the global support it received was not an organic one but a well thought out conspiracy against India. The documents shared by Greta Thunberg exposed that the conspiracy was plotted since November 2020, at the very least.
The document shared by Greta Thunberg listed a series of actions that people across the world can take to support the ‘farmer protests’ and also listed actions to be done. The document made categorically clear that the global attempts to incite unrest in India had begun much before the Republic Day riots. The document also contained several sets of pre-determined tweets that were supposed to be posted. The OpIndia research also found that some of those tweets were posted verbatim on Twitter in November 2020.
One of the documents embedded in the toolkit, titled, “Solidarity with Indian Farmers – Twitter Storm” instructed the social media users to tweet a series of tweets against the Indian government. The document, part of the ‘ToolKit’ shared by the Greta had clear instructions about the exact tweets to be posted, the people to be tagged to ‘garner international attention’ to the ‘farmer protest’.
The document also had a series of Twitter posts and message templates to be shared with each group and contact. One such message that was put out in the document was, “250 million farmers in India have taken a stand against the government as part of the biggest protest in history”.
Documents part of Indian protests ‘ToolKit’ shared by Greta Thunberg
Incidentally, the video shared by Trevor Noah in support of the Indian ‘farmer’ protests had the exact statements as published in the ‘ToolKit’. Noah’s sudden interest on the Indian ‘farmer’ also seems like a part of the same PR campaign, as the words, terminologies are lifted off from the Greta ‘toolkit’.
Noah whitewashes riots unleashed by Khalistani protestors
Continuing to put out misleading claims in the video, Trevor Noah says that more than 600 million people are into farming in India, that is about half of India’s population. It is not true as the estimates suggest that there are about 150 million farmers in the country.
Secondly, Noah in his show glorifies the protestors by adding that they were peacefully protesting against the farm laws that would ‘benefit’ private sector. As he speaks about the Republic Day riots in the show, he fails to put out facts about how the rioters disguised as ‘farmers’ attempted an insurrection against the Indian government, who not only brutally attacked police personnel but also disrespected the Indian flag.
By depicting the ‘rioters’ as peaceful protestors, Trevor joked about the violence and attempted to whitewash the crimes committed by the rioters. The Republic Day riots was one of the most shocking incidents in the recent history.
According to Noah, the farm laws put the lives of more than 600 million farmers at stake as it would allow farm products to be traded in ‘free market’. However, Noah ignores the fact that it is only a handful of protestors from one particular state Punjab, who are camping on the roads and most of the farmers in the country have already welcomed the recent farm reforms initiated by the government.
Essentially, it seems like Trevor Noah, who has no idea about either farmer laws or the protests, published a video about the Indian farmer protests only to amplify the chaos further. In doing so, Noah disrespected facts and ended up pushing the same old discarded claims put out in the ‘ToolKit’ that Greta accidentally shared.
OpIndia has extensively reported on how, per the documents leaked by Greta Thunberg, the tweets by Rihanna and Greta were in no way spontaneous and had been planned by anti-India propagandists well in advance. We had also reported the violent antecedents of Greta Thunberg and the organisations she is associated with, that lent support to the violent protests in India.
A day after a 26-year-old Bajrang Dal activist named Rinku Sharma was hacked to death in Mangolpuri area in Delhi by a frenzied mob of the neighbourhood Muslims, his father Ajay Sharma narrated the ordeal on Thursday. Rinku was a part of the donation drive that was carried out by Bajrang Dal for contributing towards the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
While speaking to Sudarshan News, Sharma said, “When Manu (younger son) went to open the door, about 15-25 people tried to barge in. They began hitting the door with batons. Even my son took out a stick. They brutally assaulted my younger son. The mob broke into the house while my son (Rinku Sharma) tried to get out.”
His son Manu informed Ajay that Rinku might have been killed by the mob. “A woman came and told me that Rinku had been stabbed,” Ajay said. On being asked about the number of people who came to murder his son, the victim’s father emphasised that it was a group of 15-30 people. “They brought sticks, knives and even leaked the gas cylinder. The cops are now questioning my young son. I don’t know what he said. I wasn’t there at the police station.”
On being asked if the deceased Rinku Sharma was earlier targeted, Ajay Sharma said, “Yes, a similar incident took place earlier over the issue of Ram Mandir. They culprits had then abused PM Modi and would say that Rinku was associated with the BJP.” Agonised by the trauma of losing his son, Ajay lamented, “They were armed with sticks and knives. They killed my son. He is gone forever.”
Victim raised ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans while being stabbed
Rinku Sharma, who was a lab technician in a hospital in Paschim Vihar, was killed in cold blood for raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans and being a part of the donation drive for the Ram Mandir. His family members informed that he had even taken out a rally, following the Bhoomi Pujan of the Ram Mandir. Rinku’s mother Radha Devi said that even while he was being stabbed, the Bajrang Dal activist continued raising the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ She also said that her deceased son had received threats for being associated with Barang Dal.
Four arrested, brother says murderers were 5 Muslim brothers who had been threatening the family
The police have reportedly arrested four accused persons who killed Rinku on Wednesday at his residence. The arrested assailants have been identified as Mohammad Islam, Danish Nasruddin, Dilshan and Dilshad Islam, according to social media posts. Rinku is now survived by his mother Radha Devi, father Ajay Sharma and brothers Ankit and Manu Sharma.
Speaking to Sudarshan News, Rinku Sharma’s brother said that the murderers are a group of five Muslim brothers who had barged into their home with other family members and associates. The brother said that the five Muslim brothers had threatened the Sharma family earlier too because of an event organised for the Ram Mandir. The brother explained that the five Muslim brothers and their associates had beaten up other family members too.
According to the relatives of the deceased, an awareness rally was organized in the area last month regarding the construction of Ayodhya’s Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple. During this rally, the assailants had got into a dispute with Rinku Sharma, who had been collecting funds for the construction of Ram Mandir. Later, the dispute was resolved after some people of the area intervened.
On the day of the incident, Rinku Sharma once again ran across the murderers in a birthday party, where they reportedly got into a tussle again. He also said that the attackers were armed with knives and lathis. Rinku’s brother also recounted how the assailants mercilessly attacked his elder brother Rinku with sharp knives. They then fled, leaving Rinku seriously injured. Rinku was rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Mangolpuri, where he succumbed to his injuries at 12 noon on Thursday.
On the 11th of February, Google’s online video-sharing platform YouTube took down a viral video that exposed the links between foreign vested interests, like billionaire George Soros, and a set of ‘Indian’ media and propaganda websites. Now, it has emerged that Shekhar Gupta’s portal, The Print, has inexplicably deleted a report that it had published on YouTube taking the video down, exposing links between George Soros and Greta Toolkit media houses, without giving any specific reason.
When YouTube took down the video by a channel called ‘String’ exposing the Greta Toolkit, the media platforms involved and their links to George Soros, there was widespread outrage on Twitter. Following the arbitrary action by YouTube, several reports were written highlighting the tyranny of big-tech. One of the articles written, was by The Print, owned by Shekhar Gupta.
However, when one searches now, though Google cache still shows the article in search results, the article seems to have been deleted by The Print.
On Google, if one searches, the search results throw up the article written by The Print.
Screenshot of Google search
However, when one clicks on the article that is displayed in Google search, the article shows a ‘404 error’, which means that the article was unpublished by The Print.
Article deleted by The Print
Even when one checks the alternate search engine DuckDuckGo, the cache search appears, however, when clicked, the article shows a 404 error.
Search on DuckDuckGo
It is unclear why The Print would unpublish and delete a report that spoke about big-tech tyranny and also, detail a video that speaks about the George Soros anti-India fund and the media houses that benefit from the fund.
The video that YouTube took down, exposing links between George Soros, certain media organisations and the Greta Thunberg Toolkit
The String – a popular Indian YouTuber, who has around 3,75,000 subscribers on YouTube, published a video on Wednesday exposing the links between foreign vested interests that plotted a global propaganda campaign against India and propaganda website such as AltNews.
In the expose, the String had highlighted how left-wing billionaire George Soros had been indirectly influencing India’s political affairs by funding a few far-left websites. He also highlighted how these websites were mentioned in the Greta Thunberg ‘Toolkit’, the documents inadvertently shared by Greta Thunberg that exposed that the foreign conspiracy against India.
In the video, The String revealed that AltNews has certification from the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which is backed by the Poynter Institute. The Poynter Institute in turn is funded by the Open Society Foundations, which is controlled and funded by George Soros. In addition to George Soros, the Poynter Institute is also funded by Big Tech oligarchs like Facebook and Google.
It is pertinent to note that during the course of his life if there was one thing George Soros has hated the most, it is Nationalism. And at Davos, in his speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Soros committed $1 billion towards fighting nationalism and nationalists. George Soros claimed that the “biggest and most frightening setback” was in India and accused Narendra Modi of “creating a Hindu nationalist state.”
The progressive philanthropist has a reputation for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries through his network of NGOs. Viktor Orban’s Hungary and Vladimir Putin’s Russia have taken concrete steps directed towards curbing his influence in their internal matters. It would be safe to assume that a significant share of that investment would find its way in India. There are several NGOs and organisation that are connected to, directly or indirectly, to George Soros in India. These organisations often work against national interest as OpIndia has reported in this article.
