‘Half-truth peddler’: BJP upset after TN honours Zubair with communal harmony award

The BJP is displeased with the DMK government in Tamil Nadu after it gave Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair an award for promoting communal harmony.

State BJP chief K Annamalai complained that “creating social disharmony would be the right category to place” Zubair. He accused the DMK government of developing a “new liking for half-truth peddlers under the disguise of fact-checkers”.

Zubair received the Kottai Ameer Communal Harmony Award during Tamil Nadu’s Republic Day celebrations yesterday at Chennai. The award was handed over by Chief Minister MK Stalin.

The award, instituted in 2000, honours persons from Tamil Nadu for “outstanding services rendered to promote communal harmony”. It includes a medal, certificate and cash prize of Rs 25,000.

In the case of Zubair, who is from Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri district, the state government’s citation said his work “helps to prevent the occurrence of violence in society likely to be caused by fake news”.

“In March 2023, there was a rapid spread on social media that migrant workers were being attacked in Tamil Nadu,” it said. “After verifying the authenticity of the video footage, he published on his website Alt News...that the footage in the video posted on social media was not actually taken place in Tamil Nadu and thus stopped the spread of rumours against Tamil Nadu and acted to prevent violence caused by caste, religion, race and language in Tamil Nadu.”

Newslaundry had reported on the wild rumours at the time, where videos of random events were passed off as “attacks” on North Indian migrants in the state. The BJP hoped to gain from the entire affair – but didn’t. Read about it here.

But Zubair has often been a thorn in the BJP’s side. He was arrested in June 2022 for purportedly hurting Hindu sentiments. As recently as November 2023, a Hindutva group’s hate campaign spread wild theories about him online.

This report was published with AI assistance.



source https://www.newslaundry.com/2024/01/27/half-truth-peddler-bjp-upset-after-tn-honours-zubair-with-communal-harmony-award

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sushant Rajput case to Zubair arrest: The rise and rise of cop KPS Malhotra

“Time is not a factor. An old tweet becomes new just by a retweet. Police action is contingent upon when police takes cognisance of an issue,” KPS Malhotra, deputy commissioner of Delhi police, told the news agency ANI after the cyber crimes division he heads arrested Alt News cofounder Muhammad Zubair on Monday. Zubair’s arrest is under a cloud of suspicion, drawing condemnation from several press bodies, including the Editors Guild and the Press Club of India. The journalist was called for questioning in a 2020 case in which he has protection from arrest from the Delhi high court, only to be held for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity through a four-year-old tweet , which an anonymous tweeter who has since vanished from the social media platform apparently found offensive. Zubair’s is the latest high-profile case to be investigated by Malhotra, who was chosen to lead the cyber cell – officially Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations – last Septemb
Read more

प्राइम टाइम पर हिंदू राष्ट्र की चर्चा: सीएनएन न्यूज़-18 पर पुरी शंकराचार्य का इंटरव्यू

Image
“क्या अपने कर्म के द्वारा अपने वर्ण को बदला जा सकता है, क्योंकि कहीं न कहीं यहीं पर समाज में बसे ज्यादा कुंठा है?” “ऐसा है कि विदुरजी थे तो, ब्राह्मण तो नहीं माने गए, लेकिन ब्राह्मणोचित शील और स्वभाव को धारण कर सकते हैं. लेकिन ब्राह्मण की बेटी से विवाह नहीं कर सकते.” पुरी स्थित गोवर्धन मठ के शंकराचार्य का ये जातिवादी जवाब वायरल हो रहा है. यह बातचीत सीएनएन न्यूज़-18 पर शंकराचार्य के साथ हुई. इस पूरी बातचीत में सबसे ज्यादा चर्चा इस बात की हो रही है कि सामने बैठे पत्रकार (आनंद नरसिम्हन) ने शंकराचार्य से पलट कर सवाल क्यों नहीं किया. वह बस मुस्कराते रहे. शंकराचार्य के जातिगत श्रेष्ठता जैसे मूर्खतापूर्ण तर्क पत्रकार ने कोई प्रतिकार दर्ज नहीं किया, उल्टे नतमस्तक होकर दांत दिखाता रहा.  सीएनएन न्यूज़18 के आनंद नरसिम्हन ने इस पूरे इंटरव्यू के दौरान शायद ही पलटकर कोई सवाल किया हो. बल्कि कुछ सवाल भी ऐसे थे जो सीधे तौर पर जातिवाद, सांप्रदायिकता को बढ़ावा देने वाले थे.  इंटरव्यू के दौरान आनंद हिंदू राष्ट्र की अवधारणा पर भी सवाल करते हैं, वे पूछते हैं, “कुछ लोग कहते हैं कि भारत को हिंदू राष्ट्र घ
Read more

Unravelling the friction between CPIM and Kerala’s major media houses

Image
Malayalam news anchor Hashmi Taj Ibrahim, known for his passionate delivery of opinions on his show Encounter , unleashed a powerful monologue in defence of his colleague Vineetha VG, recently named in a bizarre case.  The drama unfolded on December 23, 2023 after Vineetha, simply reporting on a protest where a shoe was hurled at Pinarayi Vijayan’s vehicle, found herself accused of conspiring against Pinarayi. This absurdity ignited a wave of outrage among journalists, culminating in Hashmi's electrifying on-camera address. “Phone call snippets and flimsy accusations? That's not how you silence us,” Hashmi said. “Vineetha is one of us, and we stand by her.” He challenged the authorities: “If you are doing this only to scare us – knowing well that the case is a sham and will fail miserably in the court – register 100 cases, not just one. We are not going to cut off our tongues and place them in baskets to do your bidding.” Ironically, Hashmi is a former leader of the Student
Read more