With the state of Kerala recording 31,337 new Covid-19 cases in just 24 hours Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to conduct his swearing-in ceremony in the presence of 500 people on Thursday. At present, there is triple lockdown in place in Kerala where a common man cannot venture out to get essential commodities.
The oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected LDF government is scheduled to be held at the Central Stadium at 3:30 PM on Thursday amidst the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is imperative to note that the state is currently going through the second week of lockdown after witnessing a sudden surge in new Covid-19 cases resulting in the complete collapse of the health care system.
Turning a blind’s eye to the bleak situation of the state to justify the decision, Chief Minister Vijayan claimed that the stadium has a capacity of 50,000 people, however, only one-hundredth of this number is being allowed making it a “low-key” affair.
Suggesting that 500 is not a big number, Vijayan informed that the other pillars of democracy including the judiciary and media are not going to be a part of the ceremony and that the guests will have to produce a negative RTPCR report to attend the event.
Ironically, the state as of now does not allow a gathering of more than 20 for any function.
Grim situation in Kerala
As per an ANI report released last week, over 1000 medical staff were found corona positive in 10 days. Speaking to ANI, Dr T N Suresh, general secretary of Kerala Government Medical Officer’s Association said, “The number of Covid cases is increasing day by day in the state and that at an alarming rate. About 4.5 lakh patients are currently under treatment in the state. More and more health workers are turning into patients.”
The testing positivity rate is as high as 23.29% in the state of Kerala.
In a major embarrassment to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Singapore’s Health Ministry on Friday dismissed fear-mongering by the Delhi Chief Minister that a “very dangerous” strain of the coronavirus was prevalent in the South-East Asian country that may affect children in India and could be the cause for the third wave in the country.
On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had taken to Twitter to claim that a new variant of Covid-19 was found in Singapore, which could result in India’s third wave. Resorting to unnecessary fear-mongering, the Delhi Chief Minister put out unverified information to claim that the new variant was extremely dangerous for children.
The Delhi Chief Minister also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to immediately halt air services with Singapore and prioritize vaccination drive for children.
“The new form of Corona that came to Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India, it may come as a third wave. My appeal to the central government are air services with Singapore to be canceled with immediate effect and prioritize the options for vaccinating children at the earliest,” the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted in Hindi.
Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet came at a time when India was recovering from a devastating second wave of the pandemic that has resulted in a large number of deaths compared to the first wave that ravaged the country last year. Even as the country is fighting the deadly pandemic, Kejriwal resorted to rumour-mongering and attempted to instil a false sense of fear in public by claiming that there was a new variant of the virus that could cause another wave of the pandemic.
Singapore government rejects Arvind Kejriwal’s claims
Hours after Kejriwal put out unverified claims pertaining to the so-called Singapore strain, the Singapore government refuted all the claims made by Arvind Kejriwal and stressed that no new coronavirus strain had been detected in the city-state.
The Singapore High Commission tweeted on Tuesday, responding to Kejriwal’s tweet calling for a stop to air-traffic to and from Singapore.
There is no truth in the assertion that there is a new COVID strain in Singapore. Phylogenetic testing has shown that the B.1.617.2 variant is the prevalent strain in many of the COVID cases, including in children, in recent weeks in Singapore.https://t.co/uz0mNPNxlEhttps://t.co/Vyj7gyyzvJ
“There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports. There is no ‘Singapore variant.’ The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India. Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore,” its health ministry said in a statement.
There are no flights between India and Singapore: Aviation minister fact checks Kejriwal
Following Kejriwal’s misleading and fear-mongering tweet, Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri fact-checked his claims. The minister reminded him that at present there are no commercial flights between India and Singapore and there is no ‘air-bubble’ operation either. He reminded him that India had banned international flights from March 2020 itself, and the only flights operational are flown under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission to bring stranded Indian citizens back to the homeland.
केजरीवाल जी, मार्च 2020 से ही अंतर्राष्ट्रीय उड़ानें बंद हैं। सिंगापुर के साथ एयर बबल भी नहीं है।
बस कुछ वन्दे भारत उड़ानों से हम वहाँ फँसे भारतीय लोगों को वापस लाते हैं। ये हमारे अपने ही लोग हैं।
Minister Puri reminded Kejriwal that India had banned international flights from March 2020 itself, and the only flights operational are flown under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission to bring stranded Indian citizens back to homeland.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a diplomatic boycott of 2022 Beijing Olympics citing the human rights violation by Chinese government. In a a joint video hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Pelosi said, “We cannot proceed as if nothing is wrong about the Olympics going to China.”
Pelosi further said that global leaders who attend the event would lose their moral authority. Pelosi said world leaders should not attend the competition because “of a genocide that is ongoing while you’re sitting there in your seats.” China has been accused of atrocities against the Uyghur Muslim community especially in the Xinjiang region.
Pelosi also hit out on the corporate sponsors of the Olympics whom she accused of “looking the other way” on China’s human rights abuse “out of concern for their bottom line”.
Republican congressman Chris Smith, who was co-chairing the committee meeting called upon the US and other countries should boycott the games unless the International Olympic Committee finds a new host city. “In granting Beijing host status for the Olympic Games, we are crowning a barbarous regime with laurels while we should be condemning their abuse and genocide,” Rep Smith said.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern said the games should be relocated.”If we can postpone an Olympics by a year for a pandemic, we can surely postpone the Olympics for a year for a genocide,” he said.
Atrocities on Uyghur Muslims in China
The US Department of State had estimated that up to two million Uyghurs as well as members of other Muslim minority community have been detained across intermittent camps in the region. A report by CNN states that camp detainees face food and sleep deprivation and forced injections. Further, some Uyghur women were forced to use birth control and undergo forced sterilisation as a part of deliberate attempt to bring down population of the minority.
China, however, has denied the atrocities and human rights abuse. It claims that these steps are important to curb religious extremism and terrorism in an area which is home to about 11 million Uyghurs.
The Beijing games are scheduled to begin from 4th February 2022. The Tokyo Summer olympics scheduled for later this year were postponed in wake of Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
A PIL has been filed at the Delhi High Court challenging the Central Government’s decision to permit Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin to conduct their phase II/III clinical trial for the age group 2-18 years. The petitioner wants the government notification allowing the same to be quashed.
A PIL has been moved in Delhi High Court challenging Centre's notification which has accorded permission to conduct the Phase II/III clinical trial of Covaxin in the age group 2 to 18 years to its manufacturer Bharat Biotech Ltd.
“A person can offer to do anything only if he/she is capable of understanding the consequences of his/her act. In the present case, the subject matter of clinical trials being minors (even toddlers who – for the reason of their age only – are not capable of even speaking and understanding languages in a proper manner) cannot be supposed to volunteer for the aforesaid clinical testing,” the petition said as per an ANI report.
The petition filed by one Sanjeev Kumar also demands that Covaxin place on record the details of the children who will be subjected to the trial.
Earlier today, the Delhi High Court imposed a Rs. 10,000 cost on a petitioner whose plea sought details of foreign Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers who have sought approval in India. “We are not going to entertain the writ petition to increase your knowledge. There is an Act for that,” the Court had observed.
It said, “For every small problem, writ petition is not the solution. It is fashion to convert every idea into a writ petition. Jurisdiction of this Court can’t be misused by public.” Another plea that sought vaccination for Delhi on priority and priority vaccination for certain classes of citizens was junked by the Court as well.
“Everyone wants priority in vaccination…who will be number 2 then? High Court will not do such things,” it said.
Billionaire Bill Gates developed a relationship with pedophile Jeffery Epstein because he believed the sexual predator could help him secure the Nobel Peace Prize, the Daily Beast has reported. A former Gates Foundation employee told the media outlet that the foundation’s communications team was told that the relationship between the two “was a maneuver to try to get himself a Nobel Peace Prize.”
“We were aware of things that were potential reputational risks for the foundation and the co-chairs, Bill and Melinda,” the former employee said. “Even back then, people knew this guy wasn’t squeaky clean,” the person added referring to Jeffery Epstein.
“He [Gates] thought that Jeffrey would be able to help him, that he would know the right people, or some kind of way to massage things, so he could get the Nobel Peace Prize, which is what Bill wants more than anything else in the world,” the Daily Beast quoted the former employee as saying. “I think he was ultimately disappointed it didn’t work out,” the person added.
A spokesperson for Bill Gates has denied that he sought help from Jeffery Epstein to earn himself the award. “While a Nobel Prize would certainly be a great honor, it is false to state that Bill Gates was ‘obsessed’ with the honor, set it as a goal, or campaigned for it in any way,” the spokesperson said.
He stated, “If Epstein had a plan or motivation to insert himself into any processes related to any awards or honors on behalf of Gates, neither Gates nor anyone he works with was aware of his intentions and they would have rejected any offers for assistance.”
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates announced their divorce recently, following which the billionaire’s relationship with Epstein has attracted great scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal had reported that Melinda Gates was concerned over her former husband’s relationship with the pedophile.
Earlier, it was reported that Bill Gates had stayed at Epstein’s townhouse in New York several times. Epstein is a notorious pedophile who died under mysterious circumstances in prison. While the official story maintained that it was suicide, the mainstream belief is that he was murdered. “Epstein did not kill himself” had become a meme on the internet.
Earlier today, social media websites were abuzz with a new Congress ‘toolkit’ that revealed the depths to which the party had descended in their bid to attack the Modi government. The toolkit included a detailed plan and a specific set of instructions for its leaders to milk the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in the country and mount an anti-Modi propaganda blitz.
From maligning the Kumbh Mela and describing it as ‘super spreader’ to using international media and ‘friendly’ journalists to defame PM Modi, to blocking beds and hoarding other essential supplies for favourable social media PR, the content of the toolkit included a range of directives for the loyal Congress leaders and supporters to be followed to paint PM Modi and his government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in a bad light.
The exposure of the toolkit elicited a predictable reaction from the Congress party, which sought to wash its hands off the explosive document. The chairman of the AICC Research Department, Rajeev Gowda, quickly went into damage control mode, in an attempt to salvage the party from the political quicksand it had found itself in. Rajeev Gowda in a tweet claimed the toolkit is bogus and has threatened legal action against BJP leaders.
“BJP is propagating a fake “toolkit” on “COVID-19 mismanagement” & attributing it to AICC Research Department. We are filing an FIR for forgery against @jpnadda & @sambitswaraj When our country is devastated by COVID, instead of providing relief, BJP shamelessly concocts forgeries,” Gowda tweeted.
BJP is propagating a fake “toolkit” on “COVID-19 mismanagement” & attributing it to AICC Research Department. We are filing an FIR for forgery against @jpnadda & @sambitswaraj When our country is devastated by COVID, instead of providing relief, BJP shamelessly concocts forgeries
The alacrity with which Gowda dismissed the document as “fake” underscores the desperation of the Congress party to distance itself from the toolkit fiasco. While Congress’ staunch denial of the toolkit as being fake is intended to dissociate themselves from the document, the content of the toolkit, taken in context with the recent occurrences, provides sufficient reasons why people believe that the document is the handiwork of the Congress party.
Though OpIndia cannot pass any judgements on the authenticity of the so-called ‘toolkit’, there are several reasons why people are going to believe it as authentic. The Congress party’s own behaviour, the responses of the leaders and ecosystem in general fits the toolkit perfectly. Here are some examples.
The vilification of Kumbh Mela as ‘super-spreader’ event of COVID-19
Long before the Congress toolkit was exposed, a host of Congress supporters and sympathisers had taken to social media to malign the Kumbh Mela. As the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak struck India, these set of individuals blamed the Kumbh Mela gathering for the spread of the contagion, while giving a free pass to the ‘farmers’ protests that have been happening for months along Delhi’s borders.
Even though analysts and epidemiologists claimed that the new surge of the COVID-19 cases in India could be attributed to the UK strain, which they claimed could have spread because of the protests carried out by the so-called farmers, the Congress supporters continued blaming the Kumbh Mela for the rapid spread of the virus. This, when preventive measures were put in place to stop the spread of the virus during the Kumbh Mela.
Days later, when Eid gatherings were seen out in several parts of the country, witnessing participation of people in huge numbers, in brazen disregard of the coronavirus restrictions, the Congress supporters and their online warriors did not proceed to call the Eid celebrations as ‘super spreader’ events.
The toolkit which was exposed today specifically instructed Congress supporters to malign the Kumbh Mela gathering as an event that contributed to the spike in the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Whereas for Eid celebrations, the toolkit described them as happy social gatherings of families and communities.
The conduct of the party regarding the Kumbh Mela also fits in perfectly with its long standing history of minority appeasement.
International media’s morbid fascination to indulge in tragedy porn while reporting India’s COVID-19 crisis
One of the significant revelations made in the toolkit that is circulating on social media is the use of the international media and ‘friendly’ journalists to propagate anti-Modi propaganda. The document instructed the supporters to rope in the international media to criticise and amplify the perceived COVID-19 mismanagement by the Modi government.
This directive dovetails perfectly with various tragedy porn articles published in the western media with respect to India’s COVID-19 surge. Countless articles featuring pictures of funeral pyres were published in the western media.
The COVID-19 pandemic disclosed the western media’s unhealthy fetish of linking India’s COVID-19 outbreak with funeral pyres. Several media organisations, be it Washington Post or Reuters, posted pictures of funeral pyres from various places in India to highlight the severity of the pandemic. One of the Washington Post journalists even described a cremation ground’s vertical shot as “stunning”.
However, viewed in the context of the toolkit that was exposed earlier this morning, it cannot be discounted that the western media may have been acting at Congress’ bidding. After all, the toolkit does ask supporters to use the international media outlets to paint a grim picture of India’s COVID-19 crisis.
Additionally, the toolkit also mentioned taking use of the international media in vilifying the Kumbh Mela as the super spreader. There has been a litany of articles in the western media outlets where the Kumbh Mela gathering is held responsible for the recent spurt in the coronavirus cases in the country. However, hardly a few articles pinned the blame on the ongoing ‘farmers’ protests for the devastating spread of the virus in Delhi and the adjoining areas.
It appears that the International Media was working in accordance with the instructions mentioned in the Congress toolkit. The uncanny similarities in the turn of the events that took place in the recent past with the explicit set of instruction issued in the toolkit are too profound to be dismissed as a mere coincidence.
Allegations of hoarding levelled against Youth Congress President Srinivas B V
Recently, the Delhi Police interrogated Youth Congress leader Srinivas BV over the allegations of illegal procurement and distribution of Covid-19 drugs in an ongoing investigation ordered by the Delhi High Court. A petition was filed in the High Court seeking a CBI probe into an alleged “medical mafia-politician nexus” and illegal distribution of COVID medicines by politicians. The petitioners had mentioned Srinivas B V as one of the politicians who allegedly hoarded essential medicines.
The Congress toolkit, on the other hand, suggested its followers collaborate with ‘friendly’ hospitals to ‘block beds’ and other essential facilities like ventilators, oxygen cylinders, to be released only on their request. The recommendation of blocking beds and key medicines perfectly jibes with the allegations levelled by the petitioner against the Youth Congress president Srinivas B V.
“Liaise with local ground level political leaders in cities to keep some beds and other facilities blocked in friendly hospitals, to be released only on our request,” one of the subheadings under “Amplify work of frontal Congress organisations,” said.
Needless to say, Congress’ plan was to gain favourable publicity and PR, even if that meant depriving patients of hospital beds and endangering their lives. They asked their leaders to forge collaborations with friendly hospitals so that desperate.
The IYC’s ability, and dubious eagerness to supply oxygen cylinders to the New Zealand and Philippines embassies was even questioned by EAM S Jaishankar, who, in his response to Congress’ Jairam Ramesh asked how Congress workers are supplying Oxygen to places with zero Covid cases while patients in Delhi are facing an acute shortage.
While Congress has vehemently denied the existence of a toolkit, dismissed it as fake, the correspondence between the events that took place in the last few weeks and the specific set of pointed instructions mentioned in the toolkit indicates that the party will find few takers for its claim.
On May 18, a Congress toolkit was exposed on social media that opened a Pandora’s Box of malicious attempts the largest opposition party has allegedly been making to tarnish the image of India, central government, and PM Modi. The Congress, however, says the toolkit is fake and has threatened legal action.
In the toolkit, there was a section that specifically talked about tarnishing the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In that section, it was mentioned that the approval ratings of PM Modi are higher than the Congress party anticipated, irrespective of “crisis and mismanagement.” They urged Congress party members and volunteers to take the situation as “an opportunity to destroy his image and erode his popularity.”
‘Use every resource to tarnish PM Modi’s image’
Divided into five subsections, the section discussed how they could tarnish the image of PM Modi by using the resources they have developed over time. The first point was to enable the accounts that look like PM Modi or BJP supporters and push the agenda against the government.
The section that discusses how Congress members and volunteers can tarnish PM Modi’s image on national and international platform
The second point discussed how foreign correspondents in India and Indian Oped writers who write for the foreign publications could be roped in to exclusively focus on the “mismanagement under PM Modi.”
The creators of the toolkit urged everyone to use “dramatic pictures” of funeral and dead bodies. Everyone has noticed how such images have been popping up for the last few weeks, causing distress among the masses. They further asked everyone to approach the journalists who have been covering funerals and magnify the “right image” at local level.
The toolkit urged everyone to approach “friendly intellectuals and opinion-makers” to use demeaning phrases against PM Modi in the intellectual discourse. It was pointed out that the intellectuals and opinion-makers must have “greater acceptability when used politically.”
Social media volunteers urged to use #ModiStrain
What shocked me the most in this section was that the toolkit wants to tarnish the image of India and PM Modi by calling the mutant Covid-19 strain Indian Strain or Modi Strain. We searched the term Modi Strain and tried to create a timeline since this phrase was used. This is what we found.
Though the phrase was in use since December 2020 when a variant was detected first time in India, its usage spiked up After April 20, 2021. The usage of the phrase was prominent in May 2021.
Modi Strain being extensively used by Twitter users since April 2021
The hashtag #ModiStrain has been making rounds since April 22, 2021. A lot of social media users who appear to be Congress followers are using the hashtag.
The hashtag and phrases “#IndiaStrain” and “India Strain” are more prominently used on social media. By the second half of April 2021, its usage increased exponentially on Twitter, and there was a wave of tweets with the mention of Indian Strain in them.
Indian Media houses like NDTV can be seen associated with spreading the phrase and hashtag.
Phrase and hashtag “India Strain” and “#Indiastrain” are being used by verified news outlets.
It is interesting to see everyone so hell-bent to use the phrase Indian Strain or India Strain while they were against calling it a Chinese Virus or Wuhan Virus.
OpIndia could not independently verify the authenticity of the toolkit.
The Congress party is yet again under the spotlight, after a new ‘defame PM Modi’ toolkit surfaced on social media. The four-page document titled, “Cornering Narendra Modi & Covid Mismanagement” contained plans to discredit the PM Cares fund. Questions are now being raised whether the strategy highlighted in the toolkit to defame the Covid relief trust has already been in action.
Directives of the toolkit to defame PM CARES Fund
As per the ‘defame PM Modi’ toolkit that has now gone viral, a strategy highlighted by the document bears an uncanny resemblance to the online backlash received by both cricketer Pat Cummins and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.
“If any celebrity donates to PMCARES, then aggressively question them. If they are on social media, then use Congress social media department to embarrass them,” reads Section II(b) of the toolkit. The online bullying faced by the two ‘celebrities’ by both small and influential Twitter users have raised questions whether the nefarious plans outlined in the toolkit was already in action.
Screengrab of the leaked toolkit
The PM CARES Fund was set up in March 2020 as the Chinese coronavirus pandemic raged across the world. The PM CARES Fund is an emergency fund that was set up to provide relief to those affected by the Wuhan Coronavirus. The PM CARES, or the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund has been set up as a public charitable trust. The Prime Minister is the chairman of this trust and its members include Defence Minister, Home Minister And Finance Minister.
Pat Cummins trolled
On April 26, Australian cricketer Pat Cummins took to Twitter to announce that he had donated AUD 50,000 to the PM CARES Fund, specifically for the purchase of oxygen supplies. However, within a few hours, he was bullied and subjected to online harassment. Verified profiles on the microblogging site began casting aspersions on the credibility of PM CARES fund. Some claimed that the funds would be used by the BJP to fight elections while others alleged that the funds are mismanaged.
A self-identified Congress supporter informed Pat Cummins that his generosity was “immensely appreciated” but he had given it to the “wrong hands”. Then, the person baselessly claimed that the PM Cares Fund was “mainly used for winning elections”.
A few days later, the ace cricketer announced that he had relocated his donation to UNICEF Australia from the PM CARES fund. While Pat Cummins did not touch upon how the social media outrage had impacted his decision, it was evident from the tweets pestering him to donate to other charities.
Dalai Lama targeted for donating to PM CARES fund
Last month, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, Dalai Lama, had pledged to donate to the PM Cares Fund from the Dalai Lama Trust. The announcement was a welcome move to strengthen India’s fight against the pandemic. But the spiritual leader, who has been living in India since 1959, was soon subjected to online abuse. “Donate to individuals, not through PM-Cares, please,” wrote one user.
Donate to individuals, not through PM-Cares please.
Another user claimed that the funds may not reach those who actually need it. “Instead of contributing to PM-CARES, much beneficial either to donate medical equipments, establish temporary Covid hospitals, contribute towards free meals to the affected. Donation may not reach who actually needs it,” wrote another user.
Instead of contributing to PM-CARES, much beneficial either to donate medical equipments, establish temporary Covid hospitals, contribute towards free meals to the affected. Donation may not reach who actually needs it.
The Congress party has claimed that the toolkit is “fake” and has threatened legal action for it. OpIndia could not independently verify the authenticity of the toolkit.
The ‘Congress toolkit’ expose has sent ripples across both the ruling party and the opposition party with the former accusing the INC of utter insensitivity and the latter crying foul.
The well-detailed document meant to tarnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image nationally as well as internationally suggests various routes to be taken to achieve the target. One of them being “amplifying work of Congress organizations” to contrast the apparent lack of work done by the BJP.
AICC toolkit
Notice how the INC youth leader Srinivas BV is being pitted against BJP’s Tejasvi Surya and touted as the ‘next messiah’ amidst the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic?
Well here’s how the campaign run by the INC and its alleged “supporters” fits the toolkit perfectly.
Amplifying SOS messages, attempts to use foreign embassies
One of the first recommendations of this particular section suggests promoting SOS redressals and offering “priority help” to journalists, media professionals and other influencers.
Remember how the New Zealand embassy approached an INC youth leader for medical oxygen instead of the Government of India? Though the embassy faced a huge backlash, however, Srinivas was soon put on a pedestal of managing to help even an ‘embassy’ thus wanting to show the BJP in a poor light.
Screengrab of the tweet by New Zealand embassyScreengrab of the tweet by Sreenivas BV
Srinivas then offered immeidate help to popular journalist Rubika Liyaquat and Indian filmmaker Ashoke Pandit on being tagged which again was the talk of the town for a while.
बैंगलोर में इंजेक्शन के लिए कुछ प्रयास करता हूँ ।#SOSIYC
It is notable here that the New Zealand embassy had zero Covid cases. They later apologised for bypassing the Ministry of External Affairs and contacting the opposition politicians for help over dubious needs.
It was soon after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had tried to pull up EAM S Jaishankar over The Philippines embassy being given oxygen by Youth Congress workers. EAM Jaishankar had retorted to the sly, stating that the embassy of the Republic of Philippines had no Covid cases and he is intrigued to know from where Congress workers are getting oxygen cylinders for political goal scoring while the general public is facing acute oxygen shortage in hospitals.
Media Coverage by ‘friendly journalists’
As soon as the fanfare around Srinivas BV picked up, he became the darling of some media houses portraying him as the only leader working on-ground. This was in tandem with the point from the toolkit which suggested collaborating with friendly journalists to amplify the message.
We had earlier reported of how the ‘neutral platform’ The Quint published an elaborate video promoting Indian Youth Congress just a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to social media to urge fellow Congress workers to come forward and help amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Next, INC’s Srinivas was interviewed by ThePrint’s Shekhar Gupta in a “Off the Cuff” segment sharing the help extended by him during the pandemic.
The news of Srinivas being picked up by the Delhi Police for a regular investigation created a huge uproar. This is when the youth leader found support in Congress’s spokesperson who in a statement to NDTV claimed that the Delhi Police must rather investigate the “missing” (refer to the toolkit’s point number 07) Prime Minister and Home Minister.
What use the campaign if not amplified enough! The toolkit specifies collaborating with influential handles to propagate the message further.
From Bollywood actor Swara Bhasker to top INC leaders to Congress’s favorite cartoonist Satish Acharya, all toed in line to appreciate Srinivas’s work and efforts.
Bhasker had raised her voice on Twitter for the IYC leader and yet again “stood” for the cause. While doing so she alleged that the government had left its citizens to die amid the pandemic and it is the Congress helping the people selflessly.
Raise your voice for people who have worked tirelessly & selflessly to help citizens who have been left to die by the govt. they trusted! @srinivasiyc & his team #SOSIYC have done heroic yeomen service in these dark times! More power to you Srinivas ji & @IYC#IStandWithIYC ?
INC’s favorite cartoonist Satish Acharya too had released a cartoon on the same day as Swara Bhasker and P Chidambaram expressed their support for the INC youth leader.
The Tweet received 15,000 likes and close to 4,000 shares.
Role of “party supporters”
The campaign was further intensified by Congress’s supporters and party workers who not just amplified the messages but at the same time left no stone unturned to malign the government so much so that is appeared nothing less than sycophancy.
Congress worker Bunty Shelke who was seen creating a ruckus at Nagpur’s Municipality Corporation threatening to “burn them down” shared a cartoon showing Srinivas as a superhero.
Srinivas is now also regarded as the “oxygen man” evident in the Tweet below. The Tweet highlights how there is an attempt to create a parallel government rather than working in sync with the current government to help the people in need.
B V Srinivas Most of you would have come across this name during this covid pandemic period.He is working like a parallel government ensuring help to each and everyone who sought the help of SOSIYC from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.Proud to say that he is our president.@srinivasiycpic.twitter.com/GSVV7CwQZw
An INC spokesperson even created a video pitting Srinivas against BJP’s Tejasvi Surya by demeaning the latter and attacking him by using a selective image to target his ideology.
कांग्रेस अपनों को सांसे देने के लिए दिन रात सेवा कर रही है और भाजपा लोगों की सांसो को छिनने में लगी हुई है।@RahulGandhi जी के दिशा निर्देश पर @srinivasiyc जी और @sosiyc के ये जांबाज योद्धा अपनी जान की परवाह किए बिना इस मानवता के सेवा कार्य मे बहुत संजीदगी के साथ जुटे हुए है. pic.twitter.com/tEjtJTgxUQ
— Vivek Mehta | विवेक मैहता (@VivekINC03) May 12, 2021
Another concerning issue is how the toolkit directs Congress workers to ‘block beds’ in ‘friendly hospitals’, to be released to specific persons chosen by Congress.
In their pursuit to mount an attack against the BJP and PM Modi, the Congress leaders collaborated with local leaders to block beds and other facilities in some ‘friendly’ hospitals, which were to be made available only on their request, the alleged toolkit said.
“Liaise with local ground level political leaders in cities to keep some beds and other facilities blocked in friendly hospitals, to be released only on our request,” one of the subheadings under “Amplify work of frontal Congress organisations,” mentions.
This is nothing but blatant racketeering while the general public struggled to find beds in hospitals.
Meanwhile, AICC Chairman Rajeev Gowda has threatened to take legal action against top BJP leaders including JP Nadda and Sambit Patra alleging that the toolkit is not original and has been planted by BJP.
Imagine you’re taking a flight or are in a mall, just having a good time. You suddenly hear someone shout ‘Allahu Akbar’. What would your first reaction be?
Unfortunately, considering the recent incidents where beheading and terror attacks have taken place right after this chant, dread is a natural reaction.
Which is why some Islamists and their apologists are desperate to turn every crime against a Muslim perpetrated by a Hindu as ‘hate crime’. So much that they even invent scenarios to turn every random crime into a hate crime.
Here is a recent example. A Muslim youth, Asif Khan, in Haryana’s Nuh was killed on Sunday by a group of men. Asif’s group and the prime accused Pradeep alias Patwari’s group were old rivals and have had incidents of violence between them. In fact, just few days prior, Asif’s group had beat up members of Pradeep’s group. The unfortunate incident on Sunday was perpetrated as a revenge for earlier attack.
Here I’d like to make it clear upfront that any kind of crime is not justified and law must take its course and bring Asif’s killers to justice.
However, on Monday a strange pattern emerged on social media.
Sharjeel Usmani
Newslaundry columnist and AMU alumnus Sharjeel Usmani took to Twitter to claim that Khan was killed by ‘Hindu men’. That somehow, the rivalry between two groups was not relevant anymore but that the perpetrators were allegedly Hindu was the most important thing in this incident.
He went on to claim that a Hindu chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is ‘most likely’ to be a terrorist.
Sharjeel Usmani’s tweet
Similar tweets were made by a former journalist with CNN News 18, Asheem PK. He shared an article from Maktoob Media, an online portal based in Kerala which was the first to mention that Asif was ‘forced to chant Jai Shri Ram’.
Asheem’s tweet
Remember, all this narrative till now that Asif was a victim of hate crime perpetrated by a ‘Hindu mob’ and forcing him to chant Jai Shri Ram, was based on only one report by Maktoob Media. Maktoob did not attribute these claims to anyone, so it could very well be figment of someone’s imagination to create communal tension. It seems, minorities in India have first right to nuisance as well.
Maktoob Media
Maktoob, incidentally, has in the past indulged in mischief to peddle propaganda. In the violence at Jamia University episode, Maktoob released a heavily edited video online to cast aspersions at the Delhi Police which was forced to enter the campus to flush out rioters.
Maktoob Media is a Kerala-based media startup founded in March 2014. As per Facebook it states it is based in Kerala, but on its website it mentions it is based in Delhi. It mentions “Shaheen Abdulla” as its Associate Creative Editor in its “About Us” section. Who is Shaheen Abdulla? Shaheen Abdulla is the same person who was ‘saved’ by the “Jamia Sheroes” who were hailed by controversial journalist Barkha Dutt. Husband of Aysha Renna, one of the “Sheroes”, Afsal Rahman, has also worked with Maktoob Media. He has currently deactivated his Facebook profile but as per his LinkedIn profile, he was associated with Maktoob till September 2019 and is currently associated with “Opera News”. Aysha Renna had called India ‘fascist’ for executing Mumbai Blast terrorist Yakub Memon.
In September, 2020, Maktoob Media reported about an incident where it claimed that a Muslim man was beaten up by Hindu mob because he was a Muslim.
Maktoob media tweet
“Those people including two women dragged him inside the house and started beating him brutally and on finding a tattoo on his right hand which read ‘786’, they cut his arm off with a saw blade,” Maktoob Media report claimed. Maktoob was also the first to make such a claim.
Except, it was far from reality. The fact was that Akhlaq was caught molesting a minor. As reported by TheQuint, the family of the child had alleged that when they were sleeping in the verandah in their home near the railway line, they noticed the child was missing. When they started looking for him, they reached a nearby park where they saw Akhlaq with the child who was undressed. Akhlaq then allegedly tried to run away toward the railway track. Family then took their son and brought him home. The child has alleged that Akhlaq tried to push his private parts into his mouth.
But Maktoob and many other Islamist apologist portals such as The Wire had made it about ‘786’ tattoo on his hand.
In current case, the witnesses, Asif’s cousin Rashid, who was also injured, in his witness statement said how they were attacked by a group. He knew most of the attackers.
A report by The Quint says that the two groups were old rivals and have a history between them. The Quint, which has a history of whitewashing criminals, also does not mention anything about ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chant. Neither does India Today report which says how he was killed while he was killed while he was out to get medicine.
It has been a consistent pattern where random crimes are portrayed as hate crimes either to whitewash the crime the criminal was perpetrating (like Akhlaq, who was raping a minor was suddenly victim of ‘hate crime) or to set a narrative of ‘Hindu terror’ as can be seen in the case of Asif Khan.
‘Dara Hua Musalman’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’
The commitment to spread the propaganda was so high that certain propaganda websites came up with a ‘hate crime tracker’. The database was faulty and so subjective that the hate crimes against Hindus were watered down and outrightly rejected from being hate crimes. The Pulwama terror attack, where the Islamist jihadi Ahmed Dar carried out attack to kill those who ‘drink cow urine’ (a jibe often used by Islamists and their ‘liberal’ apologists) to mock Hindus, was also not considered a hate crime.
Ever since PM Modi came to power in 2014, the ‘Dara Husa Musalman’ bogey has been raised time and again in Indian context mostly to whitewash hate crimes carried out against Hindus, like forced religious conversion amongst others, specifically because they are Hindus. In fact, most of the fake hate crimes which were claimed to have been perpetrated against Muslims almost always had the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chant.
In May 2019, media reports of a Muslim man, Barkat Ali, in Gurugram being beaten up by some Hindu men in Sadar Bazar area had gone viral on social media. The alleged victim, Barkat Ali, claimed that he was beaten up by a group of men who removed his skull cap claiming it was now ‘allowed’ in the area and had forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. However, the Police denied that it was a hate crime after going through the facts of the matter. Gurugram police had said that the incident was a case of a minor brawl in a drunken state.
In fact, in his original FIR, he never mentioned the ‘forced to chant Jai Shri Ram’ bit. The police believed he was being tutored to claim that he was beaten up for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Later in June 2019, a controversy had erupted after a Delhi-based Muslim man had claimed that he was allegedly hit by a car after he refused to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. A madarsa teacher named Mohammed Momin had alleged that he was allegedly abused and then run over by the car as he refused to chant Hindu religious slogans. However, eyewitnesses rubbished Momin’s allegations. A Police officer said, “The accounts given by some eyewitnesses of the incident do not substantiate the claims made by the victim”. CCTV footage from near the crime scene was also not able to prove the allegations.
This urge comes from the fact that their pious chant Allahu Akbar has become so dreaded and that they can’t do much about it as Islamic terrorists continue to stab, behead and blow up (themselves and others) chanting it.
So only thing left is to prove that others are equally bad.
