Footballing legend Lionel Messi, and one of the greatest to ever play the game, broke down into tears during the press conference announcing his departure from FC Barcelona. FC Barcelona is the club he grew up as a footballing, rising through the youth academy to become the legend he is today.
Lionel Messi said, “A lot of things have gone through my head. I’ve still not come to terms with the reality of leaving this club now and changing my life. We need to accept it and move forward. The time when I made my debut, that was my dream come true and everything that came later was amazing. I will always remember that moment where everything started.”
“Honestly last year with all the nonsense with the Burofax I was convinced I knew what I wanted to say, but this year is not the same. This year my family and I were convinced we were going to stay here at home, its what we wanted more than anything,” he added.
Messi also mentioned that he had agreed to cut his salary by as much as 50% in order to remain at the club. However, La Liga regulations made it impossible for him to stay.
Social media erupts after Lionel Messi announces departure
Social media has been abuzz lately after FC Barcelona announced that Messi will leave the club this year. After the press conference, social media erupted with reactions on Messi’s departure. Fans were extremely upset watching Lionel Messi in tears.
Others pointed out how sad it was to watch him leave FC Barcelona, a club he has brought such glory to.
So sad watching a clearly very emotional Lionel Messi having to say goodbye to @FCBarcelona. No player in the history of the sport has given so much joy, so many unforgettable moments, so much success to one club.
Lionel Messi has been heavily linked to a move to PSG in France. Although he has not spoken about his future but it is extremely likely that he will end up there. Brazilian superstar Neymar and Kylian Mbappe play for the club.
On Saturday (August 8), a Facebook page by the name of ‘With RG’ sparked a controversy after it alleged that the Men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh held the Modi government to ransom over the newly enacted farm laws.
In its Facebook post, the page claimed, “Manpreet Singh Captain Hockey Team refused to accept Award money from Modi government until 3-black Agriculture laws are cancelled.” Within a span of a day, the post went viral on social media. At the time of writing, it had received 10,000 likes, 895 comments, and 1600 shares.
Screengrab of the Facebook post by ‘With RG’ post
As per the ‘About’ Section of the page, it is run by fans of Congress scion Rahul Gandhi (abbreviated as RG). It clarified that it is not the official page of the Congress leader. “He believes in the growth of individuals with a strong focus on common people with the nation,” the page owners eulogised Rahul Gandhi. The Facebook fan page also boasts 7.72 lac followers. However, just like the Congress scion, the owners of the ‘With RG’ page are habitual purveyors of fake news. And the claim about Manpreet Singh happens to be one of them.
Screengrab of the Facebook page of ‘With RG’
What is the Truth?
There are no media reports, which suggest that Manpreet Singh had denied any award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the hockey team’s performance in Olympics. Given that field hockey is a team sport, Singh could not have made the decision on his own without the approval of his team members. Further online research into the matter revealed that the Central government has not announced any awards for the India Men’s hockey team so far. It is only the State governments that have so far announced cash prizes and other incentives.
For instance, the Madhya Pradesh government had announced ₹1 crore for 2 players namely Nilakanta Sharma and Vivek Saga. Similarly, the Punjab government announced a reward of ₹1 crore for 8 players who were part of the Indian Men’s hockey team, including Manpreet Singh. Haryana government had also sanctioned ₹2.5 crore, government job, plot of land for two hockey players from the State. Even the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) had announced a reward of ₹1.25 crores for the hockey team. However, the Central government has not made any such announcements till now.
While the political affiliation of Manpreet Singh or his stance on the farm laws is unknown, a glance at his Twitter profile shows no ill-will for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On being congratulated by PM Modi for his leadership, Singh tweeted, “Thank you so much sir for your encouragement, never-ending support for me and the team – this is not the last, will work harder to bring more laurel for the nation! Jai Hind!”
Screengrab of the tweet by Manpreet Singh
He had also responded to a congratulatory message by the official handle of the Bharatiya Janata Party. After having secured the bronze medal for India, he responded, “Many thanks for the support.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Manpreet Singh
PM Modi had also dialled Manpreet Singh after India defeated Germany in the bronze medal match. “Many, many congratulations to you and the entire team, you have made history. The entire country is filled with joy. Your hard work has paid off. You have done a lot of hard work, please wish the entire side on my behalf. The entire country is happy, congratulations coach Reid, you have created history. My best wishes are with you,” the Indian Prime Minister had said.
#WATCH | PM Narendra Modi speaks to the India Hockey team Captain Manpreet Singh, coach Graham Reid and assistant coach Piyush Dubey after the team won #Bronze medal in men’s hockey match against Germany#TokyoOlympicspic.twitter.com/NguuwSISsV
A humble Manpreet Singh responded with a ‘Namaskar.’ Given that the Congress regime has been vocal against the farm laws, it is understandable that its fan pages are peddling the same propaganda on its behalf. However, politicising India’s sporting achievement by creating a wedge between a sportsperson and the ruling dispensation is unacceptable. Although the fan page of Rahul Gandhi tried to propagate the fake news, aware netizens are unlikely to fall for it.
Anyone remember the “farmer protests”? Yes, that thing where everyone who had been against exploitation of farmers by middlemen suddenly decided that they were for it. Remember how foreign media, foreign governments and foreign activists all got involved?
Take for instance, the now infamous tweets by Rihanna or Greta Thunberg, or the several lakh dollar full page ads in The New York Times. Or this segment from The Daily Show, which sought to educate the whole world about these protests.
That’s Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show. He cares about Black Lives Matter protests in the US, farmer union protests in India and generally about anyone who is working for justice anywhere in the world. If you don’t know, now you know.
It should have been obvious anyway that this was a motivated campaign against India. But in case, you had any doubts, let me show you how. The trick to exposing the global elite is to follow up. Keep track of what they talk about and what they don’t talk about.
So let us do that. How much does Trevor Noah really care about the world? Enough to care about this?
Civil unrest in South Africa
Over the past few months, South Africa has descended into the worst chaos in thirty years. Cities have been consumed by mobs which have been burning and looting everything. In many places, these took the form of race riots. At least three hundred and thirty people are dead. People came out with guns in the streets to defend themselves. Entire communities have lost everything. As an aside, Indians were particularly targeted in the violence. I mention that because I am an Indian. And because I know Trevor Noah cares so deeply about the Indian people.
Trevor Noah is from South Africa. Did Trevor Noah speak out about what is happening in his own country?
Of course not. Because Trevor Noah now has a much better life, in America. He doesn’t care if his old country goes up in flames.
Imagine if the country of your birth was burning. Imagine if you were far away from that, living a life of high luxury. Would you feel just a little bit guilty, or at least concerned. Now suppose you had a big global megaphone that you could use to speak out about what was happening. Would you use it?
When the violence broke out in mid-July, I asked on social media where Trevor Noah was and why he would not speak up. A number of liberals responded to my tweet. Besides calling me names for my Indian heritage, they informed me that Trevor Noah is on “vacation.” Of course. The greatest humanitarians always go on vacation when their own country is burning.
Trevor Noah is back, by the way. In latest news, he has done a segment on Obama’s dance moves and wishing the former president a happy birthday. Nothing on South Africa yet.
Trevor Noah is now one of the global elite. He has no interest in what happens to ordinary people, whether in America, in India or in South Africa.
So now you have to ask. Why would this individual, who doesn’t give two hoots about his own country, care about yours or mine? Why would he be so moved by “farmer” protests in India, when he couldn’t care less about his own South Africa? Because agenda. He lives to push an agenda. Right now, the global elites have ganged up to push anti-India propaganda.
If you don’t like my explanation, give me another one.
The week that Rihanna tweeted against India, it had just so happened that India had gifted vaccines to her country of Barbados. But why would Rihanna acknowledge that? She has a great life in America, far away from the lives of real Americans.
Here is a thumb rule. Whenever the global elite pretend to care about something, you can be sure that they are trying to screw over common people. Never believe a word that they are saying. And always do the opposite of what they want you to do. Remember that Trevor Noah is not your friend.
Rahul Gandhi’s temporary ban from the social networking site Twitter has upset the grand old party. While Congress had initially claimed Rahul Gandhi’s account was ‘suspended’, it tweeted a clarification some time later that he was temporarily locked out.
News agency PTI, however, said that Rahul Gandhi’s account was not suspended. The spokesperson further added that when an account gets suspended, it is removed from a global view. On the contrary, Rahul Gandhi’s account was visible to all. The company said it “continues to be in service.”
Congress’ statement came after netizens questioned Rahul Gandhi’s silence on Neeraj Chopra’s winning gold medal at Olympics. Many wondered if it was his way of retaliating over name change of Khel Ratna Award which will now be given in name of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand and not Rahul Gandhi’s father and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as earlier.
However, it now seems that Rahul Gandhi’s account was locked out temporarily over violation of POCSO (Protection of Children against Sexual Offences) Act. In a tweet last week, Rahul Gandhi had shared picture of the parents of the minor girl in Delhi who was allegedly raped and murdered. Thereby, he had ended up revealing the identity of the child and her parents, violating the law of the land. In response, the NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) had written to Twitter to remove the contentious tweet.
Subsequently, the tweet was removed. It is likely that because of this violation, Rahul Gandhi’s account was locked out.
Priyanka Gandhi’s post spreading misinformation removed
In December 2020, Facebook had flagged Rahul Gandhi’s sister and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s post for spreading misinformation. She was forced to take down her Facebook post, which accused the Modi government of privatising Indian Railways by transferring its proprietorship to the Adani Group. While Priyanka Gandhi Vadra pulled down her tweet from Facebook, she continued to spread the same misleading news on Twitter.
Congress furious, demand apology from Twitter
However, this time, when Rahul Gandhi’s account is supposedly ‘locked out’ (it ranges from 12 hours to 7 days suspension but usually first violation is just about 12 hours) and Congress is not taking it lying down. Sources with the party tell us that the party has threatened that they will ask all Congress supporters and workers to quit the platform if the social networking giant does not publicly apologise for ‘wrongly suspending’ Rahul Gandhi’s account.
It is because of this, various Congress leaders have taken to sharing the same image that got Rahul Gandhi’s account locked out over violation of POCSO Act. In fact, a source close to Rahul Gandhi who is in the know of IT cell says that Rahul Gandhi’s account has been unlocked but the IT cell is not tweeting on his behalf to ‘send a message’. “They want Twitter to say that it was Modi government that somehow got Rahul Gandhi’s account locked out,” the source said.
While Congress is not expressing anger against Twitter officially out in open, sources say that the party has asked the company to issue a statement to media where they either blame the Modi government or issue regret for locking him out. That Rahul Gandhi not tweeting despite the ban being lifted is a signal to the social networking giant that he may leave the platform. And that the trending hashtag could be a pressure tactic, perhaps leading to even unofficial calls of leaving Twitter.
However, some people believe that all these behind the scenes manoverings are drama by Twitter India to appear neutral especially after its recent run-in with the government over new IT rules. “It is nothing but shadow boxing between Twitter and Congress. In fact, it is very likely Rahul Gandhi’s account is not even suspended,” an official in the MeiTY told OpIndia.
The United States is mulling to adopt the 8-year-old child of a deceased ISIS bride named Ariel Bradley, reported Daily Mail. The development was confirmed by former US diplomat Peter Galbraith to the British daily.
Daily Mail reported that Bradley was raised in Tennessee as a devout evangelical Christian. She was poor and was homeschooled by her mom, based on the curriculum of the Pentecostal Church of God. Bradley did not know how to read until she was a pre-teen and didn’t obtain even a high school diploma. As she grew up, Bradley became disenchanted with her mother’s evangelism. She turned into an atheist and dubbed religion as ‘delusion’. The deceased girl fled her home at the tender age of 16 and lived a wrecked life for the next 10 years.
Reportedly, she was always looking for a ‘sense of belonging’ and companionship. Meanwhile, Bradley became a social activist fighting for fair housing, racial equality, and teachers’ rights. She also began drinking and smoking weed and fell in love with a Muslim man whom she met at a local restaurant. And then Bradley began dressing ‘modestly’, made Muslim friends, wore headscarves, and finally embraced Islam in 2011. While speaking about her, a friend recounted, “The thing about Ariel that was just so weird was that she had a clearly segmented life.”
Bradley married Mohammed, joined ISIS in 2014
The friend added, “It was like when I first met her, she was a Christian, and then she was a socialist, and then she was an atheist and then a Muslim. As far as I could tell it was always in relation to whatever guy she was interested in. So if she meets a guy that’s an atheist, she falls into that for a year. Then the guy leaves and she becomes somebody new and it starts all over again. It seemed like whatever guy she was with, she would just crawl into his skin and kind of become him.” It was perhaps Bradley meeting with a Muslim Iraqi man named Yasin Mohammed in 2011 that made her become like him.
She met him in Sweden in December that year and married him soon after. Her Muslim friends were concerned as they believed that Mohammed was using her to secure US citizenship. But Bradley did not pay any heed to the concerns raised by her friends. Eventually, she became pregnant and moved back to Tennessee in the United States to give birth to her first child. Bradley then moved to Sweden to live with Mohammed and then to Syria to officially join the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014. At that time, her daughter Aminah was just 18 months old. She was again pregnant and gave birth to her son Yaqub.
ISIS bride was influenced by the teachings of Quran, called Syria the land of believers
On her Instagram profile (@umaminahamriki), she would document her life in Syria. In one of her posts, she called the terror-struck place – ‘the land of the believers’. Bradley also shared stories of her children and how they could hear the barrage of bombs while having breakfast.
In another post, she had uploaded the picture of Quran, a year after joining the terror outfit ISIS. She wrote, “Start day well & End it the same..w/remembering Allah.”
Bradley’s first husband died in 2015, second husband killed in 2018
The ISIS propaganda, that prompted her to migrate to Syria, was short-lived as her husband Yasin Mohammed died in a US airstrike in 2015. She then married another ISIS terrorist from Australia by the name of Tareq Kamleh. She then gave birth to a third child named Yousef. In 2018, Bradley, her husband and son Yousef were killed in another airstrike at a hospital. Her daughter Aminah narrowly survived, even though she was badly injured. The whereabouts of her other son Yaqub is not known.
Aminah, now 8 years old, was interviewed by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism. The child expressed ‘deep sadness’ while talking about her family. She is also unable to explain her origins.
According to director Anne Speckhard from the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, the child required a loving environment to get past her traumatic experience with her ISIS parents. Aminah was first traced by a Canadian woman, who has now severed her ties with the terror outfit. She notified former US diplomat Peter Galbraith about the matter. The woman said, “Children in the camps have the worst start to life. They are already traumatized y losing one or more parents and growing up around violence, poverty, and misery. They deal with constant danger, lack of food, lack of education, and their lives are simply going to waste.”
The rescue operation that saved Aminah
Despite his limited powers, the ex-Us diplomat has vowed to give Aminah a better life in the US than she had experienced in Syria. “My ability to do anything is limited. But I want the people who make the decisions to know where she came from and what she went through.” Aminah was rescued from the Camp Roj refugee camp in Syria on July 17 by Peter Galbraith and SDF forces. The child will now be repatriated to the US after following the due process laid down by the US Department of State. The process involved DNA confirmation of the child, followed by rehabilitation.
Peter Galbraith has assured the release of the Canadian woman from Iraq to her home country. The ex-US diplomat conceded, “I didn’t know if I could get Aminah out. I want to give credit to the Canadian woman – without her courage in terms of identifying Aminah and saying where she is, we wouldn’t have been able to get her out. She risked her life to save this child”. Aminah has now been kept in a secret location and steps are being taken to extradite her to the United States for adoption.
Twitter locked the account of Rahul Gandhi temporarily after he violated laws pertaining to revealing the identity of minor rape victims. India has laws that ban the disclosure of the identity of minor rape victims but Rahul Gandhi violated the same by sharing a photograph of his with the parents of the victim. Consequently, his account was locked.
The Congress party had initially claimed that their leader’s account was suspended but Twitter clarified that it was not the case and his account had only been temporarily locked. Now, the party is challenging Twitter to lock their account as well and are wantonly violating the law.
OpIndia has hidden the face of the victim’s parents
Prominent leaders of the Congress party are violating the law as well. Randeep Singh Surjewala is accusing the BJP of engaging in a conspiracy to silence the voice of Rahul Gandhi instead of delivering justice to the victim.
It is not clear why justice cannot be demanded within the ambit of the law, especially a benign law that is not morally ambiguous at all and is designed to protect the interests of the victim’s family.
OpIndia has hidden the face of the victim’s parents
Other leaders are participating in the trend ‘Main bhi Rahul’ as well but they appear to be smart enough to not risk the health of their Twitter account. They are not sharing the photograph of the parents of the victim.
Source: Twitter
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had brought Rahul Gandhi’s tweet to Delhi Police and Twitter’s notice and asked them to take action against Gandhi as he had posted the photo of the girl’s family on the social media platform.
Gandhi’s actions violated the Juvenile Justice Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act that bars everyone from revealing the identity of a minor victim in any format, including print, television and online platforms. Acting on the notice issued by NCPCR, Twitter removed Gandhi’s tweet and locked his account for violation of its rules.
Law against revealing the identity of the minor victim
According to Chapter 9, Other Offenses Against Children, Section 74, of Juvenile Justice Act, no report in any newspaper, magazine, news-sheet or audio-visual media or other forms of communication regarding any inquiry or investigation or judicial procedure, shall disclose the name, address or school or any other particular, which may lead to the identification of a child in conflict with the law or a child in need of care and protection or a child victim or witness of a crime, involved in such matter, under any other law for the time being in force, nor shall the picture of any such child be published. If any person is found guilty of revealing the identity, he or she can be punished with imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to rupees two lakh or both.
A similar law exist in POSCO Act as well. Sub Section (2) of Section 23 of Pocso Act states, “No reports in any media shall disclose, the identity of a child including his name, address, photograph, family details, school, neighbourhood or any other particulars which may lead to disclosure of identity of the child.” It holds the publisher and owner of the media liable for the acts and omissions of the employee. It further states, “Any person who contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall be liable to be punished with imprisonment of either description for a period which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.”
Notably, under both laws there is a provision that allows such disclosure but only if such disclosure is in the interest of the child.
On Saturday (August 7), miscreants destroyed four temples and vandalised several shops belonging to the Hindu community in Bangladesh. The incident took place in Shiali village in Rupsha Upazila in the Khulna district of Bangladesh.
As per a report in Samakaal, the attack took place around 5:45 pm on Saturday during which miscreants ambushed the village with locally made weapons. During the violence, four temples were desecrated and a house was vandalised. Besides, the goons also destroyed 6 shops. On learning about the incident, a team of senior police officers including the Superintendent of Police (SP) reached the spot. Following the incident, an atmosphere of fear and tension has gripped the residents of the village. To ease out the situation, a police team has been deployed in the village.
According to the local residents and leaders of the Puja Parishad, a group of female devotees took out a procession at around 9 pm on Friday (August 6) from the Purba Para temple to the Shiali crematorium. They had crossed a mosque on their way, during which the Imam (Islamic cleric) objected to the procession. This led to a heated argument between the Hindu devotees and the cleric. It was decided that the matter would be taken up with the police on Saturday.
Hundreds of Islamic extremists attacked Shiali and Gowara villages in Rupsha upazila of Khulna district yesterday.All the temples and 58 Hindu houses in the area have been vandalized .Police haven’t taken any action yet. Even no media in Bangladesh has published this incident. pic.twitter.com/c0a7KF27ZH
— Bangladesh Hindu Unity Council (@UnityCouncilBD) August 8, 2021
Armed miscreants attacked Hindus, desecrated temples, and vandalised homes and shops
However, on that day, several miscreants arrived in the village with spades, sickles and carried out mass destruction. They vandalised the shops of local Hindus including Ganesh Mallick (pharmacy), Sribas Mallick (grocery), Sourabh Mallick (tea and grocery), Anirban Hira (tea shop), and his father Mazumdar. Besides, the residence of one Shibpadh Dhar was also looted by them. The ‘Govinda temple’ in his house was also destroyed. Others temples that were desecrated include ‘Hari temple’ of Shiali Purbapara, Durga temple, and Shiali Mahasamshan temple. Several idols kept in the temple were also destroyed.
When the Hindus tried to intervene, the miscreants assaulted and injured them badly. Before the villagers could unite and put up a fight, the accused men fled the crime scene. According to Shaktipada Basu, the president of Puja Parishad, the cops chased away the Hindus when they went to file a complaint at the Shiali Camp police station. Sadhan Adhikari, the chairman of Ghatbhog Union, also reached the village and informed that such an act of violence and vandalism never took place in the village before.
He had accused the youth of nearby Chandpur village of orchestrating the attack. Adhikari confirmed that a police team comprising of the Superintendent of Police (SP), Additional SP reached the crime scene. He informed that the union members had toured the village that became the epicentre of the attack. Mahboob Hassan, SP (Khulna) informed that police teams had been deployed in the area and the situation in the Shiali village was under control. He said that the cops are coordinating with the local people in this matter. The police have now arrested 10 people in connection to the case.
Hindus attacked in Sheikh Hasina’s constituency on Eid
On July 21, a mob of radical Islamists in Bangladesh attacked the Hindu community without provocation at around 9 am in the morning. The incident took place at Kalabari Union Parakata Bazar in Kotalipara in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh. It must be mentioned that Gopalganj is the election constituency of Awami League supremo and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Bangladesh Hindu Unity Council took to Twitter to inform that the attack took place on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. DD News reported that more than 50 people were injured during the incident, including police officials. The Islamist mob ransacked shops and houses belonging to Hindus and had vowed to ‘sacrifice’ religious minorities on the occasion of Eid. The attack took place in the backdrop of a football match that was conducted in the Parakata village on July 19. During the match at the Janakalyan High school ground, a quarrel broke out between two sides about the outcome of the game.
Two days later on July 21, a heated argument ensued between 18-year-old Sajal Gain and 38-year-old Jamal Mallick. The argument soon assumed a communal turn, leading to a clash between two sides. Reportedly, the accused have been identified as Rustum Mallick, Nannu Mallick, Jasim Mollah, Faizul Mallick, and Babul Mallick (26). They vandalised shops, houses and targeted Hindu men, women, and livestock. They chanted slogans vowing to make the village free of Hindus and demanded human sacrifice on the occasion of Eid.
Since Neeraj Chopra won Gold in Tokyo Olympics, his old interviews and tweets are making rounds across social media platforms. During an interview in 2018 with The Quint, Chopra had said if a biopic is ever made in his life, he would like to see Randeep Hooda or Akshay Kumar portraying him on the screen. He had said, “If a biopic is ever made on my life, it would be great. The actors I like are Randeep Hooda from Haryana, and if we talk about Bollywood, Akshay Kumar is perfect.”
Akshay and Randeep wished the Olympic Gold Medallist
After Chopra secured the Gold on the javelin, many celebrities congratulated him on social media platforms, including his two favourites Randeep and Akshay. Actor Randeep Hooda said, “Lath gaad diya, literally!” It is a Haryanavi idiom that means “fixing one’s position”.
Actor Akshay Kumar said, “It’s a GOLD. Heartiest Congratulations, Neeraj Chopra, on creating history. You’re responsible for a billion tears of joy! Well done!”
For all their talk of ‘speaking truth to power’, Indian mainstream media is remarkable for its extravagant cowardice. We witnessed another demonstration of this cowardice when NDTV removed a representational image of a Muslim man getting tested for Covid-19 after a not-so-subtle threat by resident Islamist of the liberal establishment, Sharjeel Usmani.
Sharjeel Usmani, quite openly, enquired which NDTV employee had chosen the particular representation image for the report. He also implored other employees to snitch on the person and out his identity. As to what he intended to do with the identity of the employee, we could only guess.
But terrible things are known to happen to individuals who incur the wrath of Islamists. Kamlesh Tiwari and the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists can attest to that. As terrible as it was, Usmani’s conduct was not entirely shocking. It is what we have come to expect from his ilk.
Source: Twitter
What was surprising, however, was the despicable manner in which NDTV caved in to his demands. Within a very short period of time, the representational image featuring the Muslim man was removed and the tweet was deleted.
It would have been hilarious if it weren’t so chilling. But once again, it was demonstrated that the mainstream media’s will to ‘speak truth to power’ ends where Islamism begins. There was not even an effort to stand by their employees.
An Islamist, who has been to jail no less, before getting bail of course, made the slightest of whimpers and NDTV ran helter-skelter to assuage his hurt sentiments. Yes, Editorial Director Sonia Singh attempted to defend her teammate but no efforts were made to let the report stand as it is.
Source: Twitter
What has been evident thus far is that the mainstream media clearly has different standards for various religious groups. They are extremely scared of Islamic extremists as the consequences of offending them could be devastating, as Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui discovered in extremely unfortunate circumstances.
But there are no such risks when it comes to offending Hindu sentiments. Hindus may get angry and outrage on social media and there might be some trolling involved but apart from that, there is not much else they would do. And it reflects in the media’s coverage of events.
For instance, take the manner in which the media made a mockery of Hindu sentiments during the coverage of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The internet was splashed with photographs of funeral pyres, ostensibly captured without the consent of the deceased’s family.
When Hindus objected to the misery porn, they were immediately shut down. Journalists waxed eloquence regarding freedom of the press, ‘speaking truth to power’ and the necessity of speaking the truth. It is an entirely different matter altogether that all of this could have been done without the grotesque imagery of funeral pyres flooding the internet.
But the media chose to demonstrate its ‘courage’ by hurting Hindu sentiments at will. It is very much the way how bullies in school tend to abuse the weakest members of a class but waste no moment in mending their ways when cautioned by the teacher or a bigger bully. Bullies absolutely wet their pants when confronted. So does the media when they receive backlash from Islamists.
The power imbalance in the Liberal-Islamist alliance
The incident also highlights the fact that there is a vast power-imbalance in the alliance between liberals and Islamists. Liberals often traverse vast distances to satisfy the worst tendencies of Islamists because they realise that they direly need their support for their ideological victory.
But they do not receive the same favour from Islamists at all. Indeed, while liberals are forced to make compromises at every step along the way, Islamists consistently refuse to do so. In light of such trends, it is pretty obvious which group holds the power in such an alliance.
It is not the first time that such a thing has happened. When some liberals, due to their ‘feminist inclination’, welcomed the law against Triple Talaq, Islamists were up in arms against them. When liberals suggested that the overt demonstration of Islamist imagery and Hindu-hatred during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act were not conducive to their interests, Islamists did not take it kindly at all.
Islamists demand total subservience. Any deviation from it and it is haraam. And with the passage of more and more time, liberals are increasingly cowering to their demands. For instance, when Sharjeel Usmani celebrated the death of journalist Rohit Sardana because he was ‘fascist’, quite a few liberals could be spotted defending his atrocious rhetoric.
Now again, when Sharjeel Usmani issued a threat against NDTV, we can hardly see any liberals coming to their defense. Due to the alliance between the two, liberals are increasingly drawn towards the Islamist side, not the other way around.
And it is something they have to do, the media has to play to the Islamist gallery because should they fail to do so, the alliance will break and they will stand alone. And it is due to this alliance, apart from the lack of any credible threat from Hindus, that the liberal establishment continues to toe the Islamist line.
Sharjeel Usmani vs NDTV: How the mainstream media plays to the Islamist Gallery
The Islamist diktat for media is that the Muslim identity must only be associated with positive stories. Any deviation from that, even something as harmless as a representational image of a Muslim man in a report related to Covid-19, must be opposed by all means.
Thus, Islamist crimes must be whitewashed, Grooming Jihad must be denied and Islamic festivals must be given a free pass while Hindu festivals are painted as progenitors of misogyny, patriarchal, noise pollution, light pollution, pollution in general and more recently, violation of Covid restrictions.
Consequently, even crimes committed by Islamic clerics are whitewashed in the headlines of reports to paint a ‘Tantrik’ or a ‘priest’ as the accused. The Muslim identity must only be associated with positive influence, commands the Islamist, and the media obliges wholeheartedly.
It is not just the media, however. Even Bollywood twists the religious identity of crucial characters to further the narrative. Movies inspired by real life events alter the Hindu religious identity of heroes to Muslim and vice versa if the real life individual is a Muslim. It happens all the time and it all follows from the root cause, the alliance between the two groups and the penchant for liberals to play to the Islamist gallery.
On August 7, a case of gang rape of a Dalit minor girl has come to light in Bas village of Raunpur, Baroda Meo, district Alwar, Rajasthan. Reports suggest that Talim and Amin Khan, the main accused in the case, also made a pornographic video of the 16-years-old and threatened her that they would make the video viral if she tried to tell anyone. She was gang-raped thrice. On Saturday, the girl’s father filed a case of gang rape against the four accused in Baroda Meo Police station.
Rajasthan | An incident of two minor boys gang-raping a minor girl has been reported at Barodameo police station, in Alwar. Two more persons were involved. Teams have been set up to arrest the accused: Barodameo SHO Chandrashekhar (07.08.21) pic.twitter.com/o7YNajHFYM
As per the Police, the victim lives in a hostel in Alwar. Two youth in her neighbourhood in the village had been pressuring her for friendship, which she repeatedly denied. On February 2, 2021, Talim and Amin again pressurized her for friendship while she was going to government school from home. When she declined, they gave her a drink laced with sedatives.
According to the complaint filed by the father, the victim fell unconscious after having the drink and was taken to the nearby fields. The accused gang raped her and made a pornographic video of her. When she regained consciousness, they threatened her not to tell anyone else they would kill her and the family. They continued to blackmail her based on the video clip they made and gang-raped her several times.
Apart from raping her repeatedly, they allegedly also extorted money from her. The victim has alleged that they took her to E-Mitra and withdrew around Rs 7,500 in three instalments. She did not reveal what was happening to her to anyone out of fear. However, the daughter-in-law in the family came to know about the incident and informed the family. The father of the victim reached out to the Police and filed a case against the accused.
SHO Chandrashekhar, Barodameo Police Station, said that a case had been registered against the two accused and the associates. An investigation is underway.
