A 76-year-old man from Karnataka’s Kalaburagi became the first victim of the deadly pandemic in India. He has been confirmed positive for COVID-19, state Health Minister B Sriramulu confirmed on Thursday night.
According to the reports, in an official notification, a senior health official Dr Suresh Shastri said that the lab test has confirmed that the deceased man had COVID-19. Previously, the doctors had suspected that the man had coronavirus, however, the test had not confirmed it.
Commissioner,Karnataka Health Dept:76-yr-old man from Kalaburagi who passed away&was a suspected COVID-19 patient has been confirmed positive for COVID-19. Contact tracing, isolation&other measures being taken. Telangana Govt. has also been informed as he went to a hospital there
Reportedly, the deceased returned to Kalaburgi on February 29 from the Middle East and passed away on Wednesday. He went to a private hospital in Kalburgi district on March 5 and was admitted there following respiratory issues and hypertension. On March 8, he was shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad in the nearby state of Telangana. His family reportedly checked him out of the hospital the same day and his death occurred late at night.
According to the Union health ministry official, the old man visited Saudi Arabia on January 29 and returned to India a month later on February 29.
“He was a known case of hypertension and asthma. He reached back to Hyderabad on February 29 and went to Kalaburgi. While he was asymptomatic on his return, he developed symptoms of fever and cough on March 6. One private doctor visited him at his home and treated him there,” the statement read.
However, on March 9, the Kalaburgi man’s health deteriorated with aggravated symptoms and a private hospital in the town provisionally diagnosed his case as mid-zone viral pneumonia and suspected COVID-19.
“The samples were collected on March 9th by Viral Research Diagnostic Laboratory, Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Kalaburgi collected his sample to rule out the COVID-19 and dispatched it to VDRL, Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, Bengaluru to rule out Coronavirus. Without waiting for the test results, the attendees insisted and the patient was discharged against medical advice (DAMA) and the attendees took him to a private hospital in Hyderabad,” said the statement.
Though Kalaburgi District Health Officer met the patient’s relatives and requested them to shift the patient to an isolated ward within GIMS, according to the instructions of the Deputy Commissioner of the district, the relatives did not heed them and moved the patient without the officer’s knowledge to Hyderabad.
“The patient was admitted in a private hospital in Hyderabad and treated. Later he was discharged and while he was being brought back he died on the way to GIMS, Kalaburgi on Tuesday,” a said the statement.
Currently, all precautionary measures as per protocol such as contact tracing, screening and home quarantine of the contacts have been initiated by the Kalaburgi district health and family welfare department and being monitored continuously.
Apart from the deceased, Karnataka has confirmed five other positive cases of the novel coronavirus. The fifth case, confirmed on Thursday is of a 26-year-old man who recently returned from Greece.
Coronavirus is a deadly respiratory disease which has killed more than 4,600 and so far more than 1,26,0000 cases are reported globally, according to the World Health Organisation. The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019.
On Thursday, the number of people infected with coronavirus in India rose to 73, with fresh cases reported from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh. The transmission of the virus takes place when someone who is infected comes in contact with another person. According to medical experts, coughing, sneezing or even shaking hands with an infected person can cause exposure.
The Sensex has plunged to 3090.62 points and is currently under 30,000 points at 29,687.52. The Nifty has also tanked by 966.10 points to 8,624.05 points. The trading has been halted for 45 minutes at Nifty as the market fell by 10% in the initial trade and hit the lower circuit limit.
The market trading has been halted for the first time since May 2008. Trading will resume at 10:20 AM.
Update: The Sensex gained 242.2 points, currently at 33,020.34.
Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi on Thursday indirectly wished that Prime Minister Modi be tested positive for the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus that has now become a global pandemic.
On Thursday, an Islamist took to social media to share the news that Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has tested for the deadly coronavirus. Taking a dig at the incident, the radical Islamist went on to wish that Prime Minister Modi, who had recently met the Brazilian President Bolsonaro during the Republic Day celebrations, too should test for the contagious disease. Jair Bolsonaro has been tested for the virus after his secretary Fabio Wajngarten tested positive. Bolsonaro’s results are still awaited.
While it is not a new phenomenon to see rabid Islamists get excited at the prospect of Prime Minister falling ill, what was shocking was that former Election Commissioner SY Quraishi too turned out to be an Islamist who could wish ill on the PM. Quraishi retweeted the tweet which was in poor taste.
A Twitter post retweeted by SY Quraishi wishing PM Modi tested positive for Coronavirus.
SY Quraishi who had until now put up a ‘secular’ face and was often hailed for his objective assessment, seems to have dropped his masks off. Quraishi, an accomplished Muslim man, perhaps has now decided to openly express his Islamist credentials by tweeting death for PM Modi through coronavirus. It is rather disturbing to comprehend that Quraishi was once responsible for India’s Election Commission which is supposed to be as neutral as they come.
While these very “intellectuals” who have pretended to be ‘neutral’ all these days, their death wish for PM Modi betrays their stand. The so-called intellectuals, Islamists who have traditionally been anti-Modi, had often worn the cloak of neutrality to mask their hatred and bias and it is at such times that their masks slip, giving a glimpse into their real hostility.
This is not the first time that somebody from the “liberal-secular” coterie had wished ill for Prime Minister Modi. Former NDTV journalist cum troll, Sunetra Chowdhury had a few years ago in 2009 had expressed glee when Narendra Modi had been diagnosed with Swine Flu.
Sunetra Chowdhury’s tweet from 2009
Earlier as well, a journalist associated with The Quint, Suprateek Chatterjee, had tweeted that he was happy to know that Prime Minister Modi was one year closer to death. Incidentally, it was just past PM’s birthday for him when he tweeted, as the Modi hater was in the US when he expressed his desire to see Modi dead. He was a repeat offender and had brazened it out when The Quint disassociated themselves from him.
Even a Times Now journalist had waited for Modi to be assassinated, and another columnist with The Quint wanted Modi to be shot dead.
Update: After being called out by netizens for his hateful behaviour, Quraishi has undone his retweet and claimed that he was trying to ‘report’ the hateful tweet as ‘offensive’ when he retweeted it ‘by mistake’.
My extreme and sincere apology. I was trying to report this offensive and unacceptable tweet when perhaps I pressed a wrong button. https://t.co/E3wiDgcywh
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife has tested positive for coronavirus. Last night, Prime Minister Trudeau had self-isolated after his wife developed symptoms for the deadly virus which has claimed lives of thousands across the globe.
According to a statement issued by Trudeau’s communication director, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau developed mild symptoms and following the medical advice was put in isolation. The health professionals will reach out to those who were in close contact with her.
As of Thursday, Canada has 138 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The WHO has declared coronavirus outbreak a pandemic which has affected at least 1,25,000 people worldwide. Yesterday, Hollywood star Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, had also issued a statement confirming the duo had tested positive for coronavirus while in Australia.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the centre has received information that money that was used for Delhi violence had come from abroad and the rest of the country and was distributed before 24 February.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Shah said, “We have information from several agencies that money came from abroad and rest of the country and distributed in Delhi before 24 February morning. We started our preliminary investigation right away, but the riots happened. Five people have been arrested so far in this regard. There is a conspiracy behind these riots.”
The home minister also informed that incidents of using personal weapons came to light during the Delhi riots. “49 such cases have been registered and 52 people have been arrested. Out of the total weapons used during riots nearly a hundred weapons were found to be confiscated.” Shah also informed that 700 FIRs have been registered and more than 2,600 people arrested based on evidence.
As many as 1,922 rioters have been identified by using facial recognition software, he said, adding that driving licence, voter ID data are being used in the software. More than 40 special teams have been constituted to arrest those identified. Moreover, 50 serious cases of murder, attacks on religious places, hospitals, and educational institutions have been handed over to 3 SITs. The people who have been identified, whose details such as names, addresses and car numbers are with the government, were going to be arrested, Shah said.
Shah claimed that the authorities conducted meetings and requested religious leaders of various sect to call for stopping violence. “From the morning of February 25, a meeting of peace committees was commenced in every police station in Delhi. By calling a meeting of 321 peace committees by February 26, we requested religious leaders of every sect to use their influence to stop the violence. More than 40 special teams have been formed to apprehend rioters, which are working day and night to arrest the guilty,” Shah said.
“The culprits behind the killing of Constable Ratan Lal and IB Officer Ankit Sharma have been arrested while the investigations into the wider conspiracy are going on,” HM Amit Shah said.
As per the figures provided by Home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday in Lok Sabha, there are 52 people killed, 526 people injured, 371 shops are burnt and 142 homes were destroyed during the Delhi riots.
Zee News journalist Sudhir Chaudhary in his primetime programme on Wednesday evening attempted to elucidate how the land encroachment scam in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir not only existed but was also carried out in the behest of the then ruling party’s in the guise of a constituted law- the Roshni Act. This conspiracy which Sudhir Chaudhary called ‘Zameen Jihad’ of ‘Land Jihad’ was hatched to Islamise the Jammu region of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
In his show, Sudhir not only highlighted the ill effects of the Roshni Act by elaborating on many types of Jihad but also exposed the nexus of PDP and National Conference leaders with terrorists. Topics which has been conveniently swept under the carpet by the Lutyens’ media circle in order to carefully safeguard the menace caused by Islamists.
Though journalist Sudhir Chaudhary was merely stating facts, his description did not go down well with the usual section of leftist media and the so-called intellectuals. One such honorary member of this leftist brigade and a so-called ‘journalist’, Rajdeep Sardesai was particularly irked with the Zee News Editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary’s analogy.
Rajdeep Sardesai, while questioning Sudhir Chaudhary’s show, wrote in a tweet this morning: “The unspeakable communal HATE being spread on a daily basis by this channel is shocking, shameful, dangerous. And it’s a channel owned by a govt supporting MP! Will anyone in power take note and stop this shit? Or indulge this further? @PrakashJavdekar @DelhiPolice.”
The unspeakable communal HATE being spread on a daily basis by this channel is shocking, shameful, dangerous. And it’s a channel owned by a govt supporting MP! Will anyone in power take note and stop this shit? Or indulge this further? @PrakashJavdekar@DelhiPolicepic.twitter.com/g9FZoCfEtB
However, Sudhir Chaudhary was quick to take note of Sardesai’s Tweet and school him with his befitting response. In reply to Sardesai’s repugnant Tweet, the Zee News journalist wrote: “We showed the truth of jihad and the ‘jihadis of the media’ flared up. These ‘darbari’ or the Lutyen reporters, who won the Padma award by selling the Gujarat riots, continued to show lies to the audience by becoming agents of previous governments. Now they are not being able to hear the truth. I’m surprised, they still get work. Speaking of Hindu terrorism is right but Jihad is wrong for these people?” said Sudhir Chaudhary in his Tweet.
हमने जेहाद का सच दिखाया तो ‘मीडिया के जेहादी’ भड़क गए।गुजरात दंगो को बेच बेच कर पद्म पुरस्कार पाने वाले ये दरबारी पत्रकार पिछली सरकारों के एजेंट बनकर दर्शकों को झूठ दिखाते रहे।अब सच इनसे देखा नहीं जा रहा।हैरान हूँ इन्हें अब भी रोज़गार मिल जाता है।हिंदू आतंकवाद ठीक,जेहाद ग़लत? https://t.co/6daNkW7xk6
However bitter it might be for the leftist media, the fact remains that, during his show on Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary exposed the truth of the land encroachment scams in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Zee News, 25,000 people were settled in Jammu under the provisions of this law as compared to 5000 people in Kashmir. Out of these 25,000 illegal occupants who benefitted from the Roshni Act in the Jammu region, about 90 per cent were Muslims. This could be therefore clearly called a state-sponsored attempt at Islamising and radicalising the Jammu region of the Union Territory.
The Roshni Act was nothing but an eyewash to alter the demographics of the region. As a part of this Act enacted in the year 2001 by Ghulam Nabi Azad, it was aimed at ‘conferring 20.55 kanals of state land to the occupants’. The law patronised illegal occupants of government lands by selling away the land to them at throwaway prices. This is exactly where the claims of the Act being an instrument to change the demography of the region drastically come into the picture.
Initially, the Roshni Act allowed the illegal occupants of state lands up to 1990 to own the land after paying the price of Rs 20 lakh per Kanal. However, in 2005, the Ghulam Nabi Azad government brought amendments in the Act that allowed illegal occupants up to 2004 to own the state-owned land at the meagre price of 10 to 15 % the actual price for commercial and residential properties and a paltry Rs 100 per Kanal for agricultural land. The Act was repealed in November 2018.
The Rs 25,000 crore land scam carried out with misuse of the Roshni Act – the biggest scam in the history of Jammu and Kashmir – first came to limelight in the year 2014 when it was unravelled by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). Presently, the matter is pending before the Jammu & Kashmir High Court.
This appalling state-sponsored perfidy against the indigenous Hindus of the Jammu region in the past has been continuously downplayed by the leftist media, obviously because it did not suit their narrative which is clearly sympathetic towards the Islamists and the past PDP, Congress and NC regimes in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir.
After the Congress party suffered a major setback as its senior leader Jyotiraditya Scinidya joined BJP yesterday, Rahul Gandhi talked to media for the first time today. During the media interaction, he accused the central government of underplaying the threat of coronavirus, saying the virus has created a havoc in India, and in turn that has created a havoc in the economy. But how he introduced himself while talking about coronavirus threat has created confusion among people, as he called himself leader of opposition.
Before talking about the issue, Rahul Gandhi said, “I am not
an expert, and it is not my place to start giving tactical answers to this question,
that what should be done on Coronavirus. There are experts, who understand what
should be done. I am leader of the opposition, I am bringing the attention of the
people of India to a serious problem”.
#WATCH Rahul Gandhi, Congress: I am leader of the opposition, I am bringing the attention of people of India to a very serious problem. The central problem is that our biggest strength which was our economy has now become a huge weakness. pic.twitter.com/VXDKC8WWRl
Rahul Gandhi called himself “leader of the opposition”, which has puzzled many people on social media. Because, he is not the leader of the opposition in the current Lok Sabha, where he is a member from Kerala. Although Rahul Gandhi just said ‘leader of opposition’, which can be a generic term to mean a leader from the opposition instead of the specific post of the ‘leader of the opposition’ in parliament or assembly, many people assumed he meant the official position, and started mocking him. Some people also asked, if Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition, who is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury?
The leader of Cong in LS is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The leader of Cong in RS is Ghulam Nabi Azad. The interim president of Cong is Sonia Gandhi. How the hell are you the leader of opposition, Pappu @RahulGandhi ?
Although Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhury is mistaken for the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, in fact, he also does not hold that post, and he is only the leader of the largest opposition party in the lower house, which is the Congress party. Because the fact is, the current Lok Sabha does have any leader of the opposition, just like the previous Lok Sabha. The post of leader of the opposition is a cabinet ranked post, and to get that post, an opposition party must win a minimum 10% of the seats. As no opposition party won a minimum 10% seats in both 16th and 17th Lok Sabha, there is no leader of opposition in both of them.
Although there is no leader of the opposition, leader of the largest opposition takes that place in various committees where the LoP is required as per laws, but that leader is not called the leader of the opposition and does not enjoy the perks and privileges that come with the position. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha.
Therefore, neither Rahul Gandhi nor Adhir Ranjan Choudhury is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and many people think that Rahul Gandhi is mistaken about his position in the parliament.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s comment, Tripura chief minister
Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted, “No Mr. Rahul Gandhi, you’re not the leader of
opposition. However, we wish you were.”
No Mr. Rahul Gandhi, you’re not the leader of opposition. However, we wish you were ? pic.twitter.com/KVrUyBT1Xk
Dear @INCIndia there is no leader of opposition in Loksabha in this term…. Pls advice your leader @RahulGandhi not to make irresponsible statements and make a fool of himself… https://t.co/K2SOafYaNG
God !! He doesn’t even know he is not leader of the opposition. This guy was presented to us as the best thing since sliced bread. https://t.co/OCPl9EpvaP
Even if Rahul Gandhi wanted that to mean a leader of an opposition party, that is also confusing as at present Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the Congress party after his resigned from the post of Congress president. But he is indeed an opposition leader, as a senior leader and former president of the Congress party, which is an opposition party. But the words ‘Leader of Opposition’ usually refers to the post of Leader of the Opposition in parliament or assembly, and therefore when Rahul Gandhi called himself ‘leader of opposition’, most people assumed he made yet another goof up, and started mocking him.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has finally spoken about the departure of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the party. The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar said that Jyotiraditya had joined the BJP because he became ‘worried’ about his ‘political future’ in the Congress party. Rahul Gandhi said that it was a ‘battle of ideology’ with Congress on one side and the BJP-RSS on the other.
#WATCH Rahul Gandhi, Congress: This is a fight of ideology, on one side is Congress & BJP-RSS on the other. I know Jyotiraditya Scindia’s ideology, he was with me in college, I know him well. He got worried about his political future, abandoned his ideology and went with RSS. pic.twitter.com/YhtNEam29f
Rahul Gandhi said, “This is a fight of ideology, on one side is Congress and BJP-RSS on the other. I know Jyotiraditya Scindia’s ideology, he was with me in college, I know him well. He got worried about his political future, abandoned his ideology and went with RSS.” He also said that Jyotiraditya would neither get respect in the BJP nor would he derive any satisfaction working for the party.
This comment by Rahul Gandhi seems to imply that he admits that Congress leaders have no political future in the party, and that’s why they are abandoning it. It has been alleged that for a long time that leaders in Congress party are often cut so size if they are seen as a threat to the Gandhi family. Politicians with significant ground support are often ignored to favour family loyalists, which causes defections by popular leaders.
Jyotiraditya Scindia had resigned from the Congress party on the 9th of March. Following his lead, 22 Congress MLAs have resigned from the Assembly, bringing Kamal Nath’s government to the brink of collapse. Two days after he resigned, Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP. The moment was hailed as ‘Gharwapsi’ by the Scindia family, which is already a part of the BJP.
The resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia was regarded by political analysts across the board as a giant failure of the central leadership of the Congress party. And today’s statement by Rahul Gandhi just proved the point that was being made. He appears to concede that Jyotiraditya Scindia had no future in the Congress party. His statement makes it clear that the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar was aware of the dissatisfaction brewing within Jyotiraditya and yet, no efforts appear to have been made to dissuade such concerns. It is either that or Rahul Gandhi appears to be conceding that the Congress party has no future which made Jyotiraditya worried about his own political prospects and hence, switch over to the RSS.
Freelance ‘journalist’ and Pro-AAP blogger Dhruv Rathee recently published an analysis of the Delhi Riots which was published on March 3 2020 on YouTube. However, Rathee uses sources that have been publicly called out for false reporting and he himself leaves out some integral facts about the riots in his analysis.
Here are the inaccuracies and what is missing from Dhruv Rathee’s analysis on the Delhi Riots.
MEDIA
Dhruv starts out his video by speaking about Kapil Mishra’s aggression and violence in the Delhi riots. For this, let’s look at the available images and video footage available where we can very objectively observe who is inciting violence very easily. At no point does Kapil Mishra have a firearm or weapon in his hand. This in comparison to protestor Mohammad Shahrukh, who Dhruv Rathee mentions in his analysis. Video footage released on Feb 24 and 25, 2020 shows protestor Mohammad Shahrukh not only threatening a police officer but also firing blindly- risking innocent lives of anyone and everyone there. Dhruv Rathee conveniently fails to mention this.
Moreover, claims of Kapil Mishra’s speech being labelled as a ‘hate speech’ does not hold weight amongst judges themselves. Four judges who have served in various high courts of India were asked point-blank, “Is Kapil Mishra’s speech a hate speech?”
All said a definitive no.
Furthermore, the media sources Dhruv Rathee has used in his examples have been publicly called out for being selective and unsubstantiated. Mainstream publications including NDTV, the Wire, BBC, the Wall Street Journal and the IE have all unethically distorted, outright lied, presented fake news, and even have gone so far as to crop images to misinform millions of readers across the world on the Delhi Riots.
Specific examples?
In an article on Delhi violence, The Wall Street Journal completely made up a quote from Ankur Sharma- brother of intelligence officer Ankit Sharma who died during the attacks. Ankit’s brother Ankur publicly came out with a statement that this was a lie. WSJ quoted Ankur as saying that attackers of Ankit were chanting Jai Shri Ram, implying that they were Hindus.
After this WSJ article was published, Ankur came out in public and said that he did not give any such statement to the WSJ. Ankur said and I quote, “I never gave such a statement to Wall Street Journal. This is a ploy to defame my brother and my family. The Wall Street Journal is lying.”
The Indian Express cropped a photo of a skullcap to make the photo look secular. These are just a few examples of selective journalism and misinformation.
Publications like the BBC, the Quint and the Wire and other mainstream left wing media are only publishing selective information- they are not giving readers the full story.
POLICE
The next thing Dhruv Rathee speaks about is the inaction of the Delhi Police. He tries to say that the police have incited the violence. But that is far from reality.
Delhi police very actively tried to control the sudden violence that took place. And similar to other countries in emergency situations when mobs get out of control- tear gas firing and lathi charges were used- everything except firing live rounds was used- in an attempt to control the unruly mobs by the Delhi Police.
To add to that, it was every rank of officer that was involved in trying to control the riots. In fact, DCP Amit Sharma was in critical condition because he was attacked and severely injured while on duty trying to rest order on February 24, 2020.
Officers also lost their lives in the line of duty. Head Constable Ratan Lal was lynched by a mob and died of bullet injuries. To add to this, several other policemen have been seriously injured and have or are still undergoing treatment at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital located in Shahdara.
Assault to a police officer in any other country is taken very seriously and carries stern punishment. For example, the assault of a police officer in the USA is considered a serious crime and comes along with many years in prison, if not a life sentence. Yet, in these riots, news agencies have put out videos on Feb 24 and 25, 2020 that shows protestors like Mohammad Shahrukh not only threatening a police officer, but also firing a weapon blindly, risking innocent lives of anyone and everyone there!
Media reports are making it out to be that police are doing nothing when in fact, police are taking measures at the risk of their own lives to bring safety and order back to the city.
SELECTIVE REPORTING & PARTIAL TRUTH
The 46+ dead, 250+ injured and the Rs 25,000cr rupee loss so far that Dhruv talks about in his analysis have occurred during the Delhi riots only because of the spread of fake news and misinformation.
It is, in fact, ironic that Dhruv Rathee speaks about the chaos when the very media sources he uses in his analysis have not only been called out for selective reporting but have also misreported on casualties and deaths as well.
Here are some of the things that mainstream media have completely missed in terms of casualties.
The Wire: A ‘ground report’ should include all information. The WIRE’s ground report on the Rajdhani school and the DRP school – did not even make a single mention of the fact that a man named Dinesh Kumar lost his life in the chaos.
NDTV: When two schools got vandalized- NDTV did not make mention of three key things.
1. The Rajdhani school’s rooftop had supplies including sacks of bricks, pelting stones and even made-in-India weapons. Have a look at the images that reporters took of the rooftop of the Rajdhani school after the chaos.
2. The second thing NDTV did not report was that owner of DRP School Pankaj Sharma had held up a bomb on camera during an interview that was hurled at DRP School during the attacks. In an interview to Republic TV, he said, and I quote, “Since 2014, we had 100% passing rate and had a great strength of students from both communities [Hindus and Muslims] studying here. We loved everyone. We had built every corner of this school with love. People have looted the school first and then burnt it. This was done on purpose.”
3. NDTV also failed to mention the death of Dinesh Kumar. If you are reporting and publishing information on attacks, isn’t it common sense that you would include casualties in the reporting? Why would you suppress objective facts or not include them? Dinesh’s death was completely missing from NDTV’s report AND the WIRE’s ground report.
Lets look at some other things that mainstream media did not present as mainstream:
JK 24-7 Journalist Akash Napa was covering the violence of Maujpur when a group of men shot him in the back on Feb 26, 2020. Akash clearly said that he was shot by anti CAA protestors on the channel but somehow this was conveniently left out of the reports by mainstream media.
To add to that a journalist from Kerela was jeered and hassled aggressively by protestors and was only let go when he revealed his Muslim identity.
Why was this left out of mainstream media’s narrative? Dhruv does not even address this in his analysis.
On ethical grounds, every death should have been reported by the media out of sheer respect and principle regardless of whether it is a Hindu or Muslim death. However, celebrities and influencers are openly speaking anti-government and GoI supporting an anti-Muslim agenda.
In reality, deaths that should have been reported were left out completely. Here’s an example. On Feb 24, Vinod Kumar died in the middle of a road. He was killed by a lynch mob and was left to die on the street. The video footage even shows a protester slapping his face multiple times to see if he was still alive.
Vinod’s crime? Having a ‘Jai Shri Ram’ sticker on his scooter. Why wasn’t this reported in mainstream media? Was Vinod’s death not important enough?
IMPACT
Dhruv Rathee, mainstream media and influencers should be ashamed of themselves for spreading misinformation and for selective and unsubstantiated reporting. Rathee’s 12 minute analysis is mis-reporting at best and aims to spread a fake narrative by leaving out the whole story. The media sources he is using in his analysis have all been called out for spreading selective information as well.
Rathee puts out a video and people watch. He gets views, likes and a nice pay sum from YouTube. But it becomes a problem if you start believing him as the whole truth. It is integral to deep dive into statements made and the evidence used before formulating your opinion.
Rathee’s analysis is a prime example of misinformation with the aim of spreading a political agenda to paint a false narrative. It has gotten out of hand though. The death toll of Indian citizens for the Delhi riots in over 50 and hundreds have been injured
Out of respect for ALL the people who have LOST their lives in the Delhi violence; regardless of whether it is a Hindu death or a Muslim death; I ask you to please research on your own and speak out for the truth. This is not just for Dhruv Rathee’s analysis but for any content that you can consume. Do not buy into fake narratives that aim to spread lies, fear, division and hate.
As for Dhruv Rathee- he is not misinformed. On the contrary, it is his business to misinform.
Note: All video footages and images referred to in this article can be seen on the embedded video
Twenty-seven years ago, on this very day, the 12th of March, a series of blasts shook the city of Mumbai, then known as Bombay. The city suffered twelve blasts and over three hundred people lost their lives on that fateful day. Around fourteen hundred people were injured. The terrorist attack was orchestrated by Dawood Ibrahmin’s gang and his aide Yakub Memon was convicted for his involvement and eventually hanged to death.
Apart from the monstrosity of Islamic terrorism, what was revealed that day but not often spoken about was the perversity of Indian secularism whose mask fell off that day. Sharad Pawar, hailed by the mainstream media as a great protector of ‘secularism’, invented a mythical 13th bomb blast that day to preserve ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’. In order to protect ‘Hindu-Muslim harmony’, Sharad Pawar claimed that a 13th blast had occurred at Masjid Bunder. Apparently, he did so because the twelve actual blasts had all occurred in Hindu-dominated areas. Later, Sharad Pawar boasted that he was praised for his lie by the Justice Srikrishna Commission.
Sharad Pawar claimed that his lie could have saved lives because Hindus thought that Muslims were victims too and hence communal violence was avoided. Testifying before the Srikrishna Commission, he even tried to pin the bomb blasts on LTTE. This lie also, he claimed, was told to avoid Hindu-Muslim clashes. Sharad Pawar had also said that he had lied that the material used in the bombing is used by terrorists from the south to mislead people.
On the anniversary of the tragedy twenty-seven years later, in 2020, we see a similar pattern of events unfolding. The mainstream media and the ‘secular’ political establishment have embarked upon a mission to paint the Delhi anti-Hindu communal riots as a ‘pogrom’ against the Muslim community of India. Despite all evidence to the contrary, an effort is being made to paint the Muslim community as victims across the board while the Hindu victims of the said riots are brushed under the carpet.
Despite the fact that Hindus suffered great losses to life and property, the secular media-political establishment has decided to turn a blind eye to their plight while they weep only for one community. The brutal murder of Dilbar Negi, whose limbs were chopped off before he was set on fire, or Intelligence Bureau constable Ankit Sharma, who was stabbed for over 400 times and his body mutilated beyond belief, fails to attract the sort of condemnation it is deserving of. The secular media-political establishment has made it clear, they shall make every effort to deny that there ever were any victims among Hindus in the riots. That badge shall be handed over to the Muslim community alone.
The establishment also denies that Hindu Temples were attacked in the riots despite evidence staring at them right to their face. Propagandists at Scroll claimed that 14 Mosques and a Dargah were attacked in the said riots but asserted that no Hindu Temples were attacked. It was patently a lie as OpIndia itself has reported that a Shiv Mandir at Moonga Nagar near Chand Bagh came under attack by an Islamist mob during the riot. Newslaundry has gone a step ahead and labeled Opindia’s report ‘fake news’. It was despite the fact that they had spoken with the caretaker of the Temple who told them that stones were pelted at the roof of the Temple and he had locked himself up in his home, fearing for the lives of his daughters and the rest of his family.
Even the blame for the communal riots is being placed at the feet of Hindus. Delhi has been in the grip of violence since December and yet when it reached its peak during the communal riots, Kapil Mishra was blamed for it by the media-political establishment. There is enough evidence to indicate that a sinister plot was underway to destabilize the country. Sharjeel Imam who masterminded the Shaheen Bagh protests and wanted Muslims to cut off North East India from the rest of the country, the Jamia ‘sheroes’ who gave a call for Jihad, Harsh Mander who incited Muslims against the Indian State, the far-left organization Pinjra Tod which stands accused of inciting violence by Leftists themselves and urging Muslim women to block road no. 66 at Jafrabad, all of them have contributed to the violence at the national capital and yet, the media-political establishment seeks to pin the blame for the riots on a Hindu, Kapil Mishra.
The propaganda by the media-political establishment is reminiscent of the lie Sharad Pawar said for the sake of ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’. It appears that the fabled ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’ mandates that Hindus can never be the victims of communal riots and Muslims must also be shown to be victims of Islamic Terror Attacks in addition to whitewashing the nature of the Islamic terror attacks in the first place. The former is precisely the same mentality that led to the drafting of the Communal Violence Bill which promulgated that Hindus must be the presumptive guilty party in any communal riots.
Just as Sharad Pawar invented a 13th bomb blast to whitewash the nature of the Mumbai Terror Attack, the secular media-political establishment today has invented a false narrative over the Delhi anti-Hindu riots to paint Hindus as the sole aggressors and Muslims as the sole victims of the said riots. Twenty-seven years have passed, but the perversity of the establishment has not been remedied. And the establishment is perverted beyond repair, beyond any conceivable scope of redemption.
