As India is in the midst of general elections, the Western media has gone all out to influence the Indian voters against the incumbent Modi government. Western media houses are publishing long and repetitive op-eds on how Narendra Modi is a Hindu nationalist hardliner, and a third term for him would result in India becoming a Hindu Rashtra. In its pursuit of pushing the anti-India and anti-Hindu narrative, these Western media houses often use their brown sepoys to pass on the lies, half-truths and Hinduphobic opinions as some deplorable realities of India.

On the 1^st of May, US-based media house CNN published an article titled: “Rising Hindu nationalism leaves Muslims fearful in India’s holy city”. As the title suggests, the article desperately attempts to assert that Muslims residing in the sacred city of Varanasi (Kashi), which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, are fearful over the prospect of PM Modi securing a third term.

“Yet, 10 years after his ascension, many of Varanasi’s Muslims feel neglected, even betrayed, especially now as a centuries-old mosque becomes the latest flashpoint in a case that tests India’s secular fabric,” the CNN article reads.

Although CNN acknowledged India’s transformative advancement over a decade of Modi rule, it said that ‘religious polarisation’ has undoubtedly increased.

CNN claims ‘Hindu nationalists’ being appointed to top positions to ‘target’ Muslims

The propaganda piece authored by Aishwarya S Iyer, Rhea Mogul, Kunal Sehgal and Will Ripley lamented how under Modi’s India, ‘Hindu nationalists’ are being appointed to top positions in government institutions. To back its assertion, CNN linked one of its reports on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Although CNN did not explicitly name CM Yogi, it apparently tried insinuating that some random Hindu nationalists were appointed to top government posts giving them the right to change laws to target Muslims. However, Yogi Adityanath has been a five-time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur consecutively. Under CM Yogi, significant strides achieved by the state government in developmental initiatives that do not discriminate against or favour any religious group but benefit all.

CNN suffers meltdown over abrogation of Article 370 and passing of CAA

The CNN article also lamented the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir insinuating that the Modi government snatched the autonomy of India’s only Muslim-majority state. However, it failed to mention that an erstwhile unstable region plagued by Islamist terror, anti-India protests, and stone-pelting on Indian armed forces is now witnessing development and much-needed stability. The Modi government has significantly invested in infrastructure, education, tourism and urban development establishing a solid foundation for long-term growth of the region.

It goes on to mention the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act that triggered violent protests by Islamists and their sympathisers. In its bid to project the CAA as somehow anti-Muslim, the CNN article said that the Modi “administration passed a controversial citizenship law that excludes Muslim migrants, giving rise to deadly riots.” However, CNN did not care to delve into why Shias and Ahmadiyas from Pakistan as well as Rohingyas coming from Bangladesh were not covered in the CAA. As OpIndia reported earlier, Pakistan’s persecuted Shias and Ahmadiyas identify as Muslims, thus their persecution is the Islamic Republic’s law and order issue. Meanwhile, Rohingyas persecuted in Myanmar come to India via Bangladesh, they enter India for material benefits and no longer remain a persecuted group, thus, they are excluded from CAA, not due to any anti-Muslim agenda or hatred.

CNN projects the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots as an attack on Muslims

Citing the case of one Nasir Ali, who claimed to have been shot in the eye due to his Muslim identity, CNN did what an average left-liberal Hindu-hating propagandist does, accentuate incidents of alleged violence against a Muslim person to downplay the terror unleashed upon Hindus. CNN does not find IB officer Ankit Sharma’s brutal murder during the 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi Riots, horrific enough to be talked about since he was not a Muslim. In the 2020 anti-Hindu riots perpetrated by Islamists, 53 people died while more than 200 people were left injured. It would not be surprising if the brown sepoys did not even know the names of Dilbur Negi or Constable Ratan Lal.

CNN’s heart bleeds for a Kashmiri Muslim being unable to find a home for weeks in Rajasthan allegedly due to his Muslim identity. It, however, fails to mention the killings of migrant labourers mostly from UP and Bihar in Kashmir by Islamist terrorists. Much like the left-liberal propagandists, perhaps CNN too wants crimes perpetrated against Hindus by Muslims for their Hindu identity to be seen as ‘isolated crimes’ and not targeting Hindus.

Conspicuously, a Kashmiri Muslim youth facing difficulty in finding a home is more severe than poor Hindus being killed for their Hindu identity.

Amusingly, the CNN article cites self-proclaimed defenders of human rights, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, both notorious for peddling anti-India and anti-Hindu propaganda and selective ‘activism’.

The CNN report further laments the lack of Muslim representation within the Bhartiya Janata Party absolutely neglecting that like any other party, BJP also looks into the winnability of the candidates in elections.

PM Modi called Indian Muslims ‘infiltrators’: CNN parrots the lies peddled by opposition parties and their sympathisers

In the desperation to somehow paint PM Modi as ‘anti-Muslim’ CNN resorted to passing off lies peddled by the Congress, Islamists, Leftists and their media allies about PM Modi’s 21^st April speech criticising Congress party’s sinister wealth redistribution promise. The report claimed that PM Modi called Indian Muslims “Ghuspaithiye” (infiltrators). However, contrary to the misleading claims, PM Modi did not call Indian Muslims “infiltrators”, rather by this term he meant the illegal migrants.

CNN wants Hindus not to reclaim Gyanvapi, as it is ‘destroying’ India’s ‘secular fabric’

Hindus trying to legally reclaim Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the rightful abode of Lord Vishweshwara (Shiva) which was destroyed by Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb in the 17^th century, is causing fear among Muslims of Varanasi, the CNN report claims.

“The mosque was built in the 17th century by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It is widely believed a temple devoted to Lord Shiva on the same site was destroyed to make way for it,” the CNN report reads insinuating that the Hindu side’s case relies more on ‘popular belief’ than historical evidence although there is ample historical evidence including Saqi Mustaid Khan’s Maasir-i-Alamgiri confirming that the temple was indeed ordered by Aurangzeb to be demolished. The report quotes a local Muslim leader Yasin saying that he does not trust the police and judiciary adding that the “judiciary is giving judgments but not justice.” For him perhaps, justice is only when the judgment is in favour of Muslims.

Any anti-Hindu individual, political party or media outlet’s meltdown is incomplete without shedding copious amounts of tears over the reclamation of Ram Janmbhoomi and the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Throwing its weight behind the ‘critics’, CNN also lamented the consecration of Lord Rama in his rightful abode, and asserted that it has “pulled India away from its constitutionally secular foundations”.

If the so-called ‘unique fabric’ of India is threatened by Hindus legally fighting to reclaim their temples destroyed by Islamists in the past, then this ‘fabric’ is nothing but a façade. Hindus are expected to remain meek and silently allow the anti-Hindu forces to erase their historical, cultural and religious heritage as well as replace it with Islamic symbols, otherwise, they are labelled ‘Islamophobes’ anti-Muslim, bigots and whatnot by Islamists and their ‘pens for hire’.