A Response to NYTs Article on Haldwani Violence

Response to NYT Article

The above article was written by Sameer Yassir a journalist Reporting from New Delhi on the Feb. 9, 2024. Reading it was a depressing exercise on how to fight the battle against fake narratives, fake news and bringing truth out to the people. Sadly individuals like me can do little and at best provide objective take downs as i shall below. What depresses me is the extent main stream media in the West has been compromised to spread fake equivalences and narratives. Reference excerpts one can ascertain the degree of falsehood that the main stream media outlets like NYT spread and prevent readers knowing the reality and truth. Let me meanwhile try and correct the many lies and fake narratives, equivalences the author has stren all over his article.

NYT: The demolition of a mosque and a Muslim seminary has led to deadly clashes and an internet shutdown in northern India. The flare-up, in the hill state of Uttarakhand, is the latest bout of sectarian tensions as Muslim sites have become a broader target of the Hindu right wing after the opening of a major temple last month.

1. Incident has nothing to do with Hindu RW.
2. Incident has nothing to do with opening of a major temple in Ayodhya last month
3. Above A and B are false connections giving rise to a false narrative and equivalence.
4. The orders are issued as per Court Orders.
5. Courts in India are Independent.
6. Courts in India appoint judges independent of Government.
7. Thus, clashes between affected community and legal authorized action is played as Hindu RW vs Victimized Muslims by slantly bringing an unrelated Ayodhya connection.

That Hindu RW has nothing to do with the clashes is evident in the next line:

NYT: An official in Haldwani, the town where the clash took place, said in an interview that two people had been killed and dozens injured, including police officers.

Clashes between the affected Islamist community and Police Officials implementing legal court orders.

NYT: Thursday’s unrest began when officials and the police arrived to raze the structures, which the authorities said had been illegally built on public land, and encountered an angry crowd.

1. Again, undermines legal action legitimately taken after independent court orders cannot be translated to Hindu RW prompted one except by a bigoted Hinduphobic narrative peddler.
2. Authorities claimed they were illegal. Which in reality they were. This was verified by independent courts. If someone occupies the authors house will he peddle this narrative against taking action against the encroachers?

NYT: The violence unfolded against the backdrop of Hinduism’s rise as a national identity in India, a multiethnic state founded as secular republic

1. Again a repeated lie being peddled is about some nationalistic Hindu rise. Also false is India was founded as a Secular republic. This is false as the word was inserted in 1975 during an illegal emergency.

NYT: In his 10 years as prime minister, Mr. Modi has fulfilled many of his campaign promises, like building an enormous Hindu temple where a mosque once stood

1. This again is false. This is not some mosque that was being worshipped. Everyone knew it was built on a demolished Temple for decades. This was debated. It was in courts for decades. The Chief Judicial Officer under hose ruling the property was handed over to Hindus came from a family that opposed Modi and his politics for decades. The evidence that you are glossing over was overwhelming. Archaeological, existing, living memory, lore, Babars own books. This was hotly argued but cannot stand the ground and contention that the mosque was indeed built on a destroyed temple. The independent Courts ruling thus was inevitable. It had to be in favor of Hindus because there indeed was a Temple there. Thus the correspondents harping on destroyed Mosque only serves to foster enmity and hate against Hindus through outright distortion of data and fact. Not clear the air and matter by shedding light on the actual matter.

NYT: Thursday’s demolition was part of a larger government effort that leaders of the opposition say has been targeting Muslims. In 2022, a court in Uttarakhand ordered the destruction of about 4,000 homes of mainly Muslim inhabitants in Haldwani, located on land that the court said encroached on a railway line.

Again, while many in India’s opposition is infamous for creating fake narratives and communalizing issues against the majority Dharmic community it is the need of the hour that main stream outlets maintain a degree of objectivity. Protests against settlements on railway land is not new. Truth is determining whether there was encroachment on railway land. The truthful answer is a resounding yes. This was decided not by some Hindu right wing nationalist bureaucrat on a lazy Monday morning after some phone call from Modi, but by capable courts that are largely independent and even often critical of the Government. Thus, by no stretch the decision regarding the illegality of the mosque was not taken by any Hindu right-wing organization, let alone any relation to the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Linking both is mischief by the author and the NYT

Largely the entire article is seething with fake narratives, distortion, incorrect assumptions, distorted history and poisons and ill informs those not familiar with the problems. It further sharpens the claws and conviction of those who want to take revenge and action against the Hinduphobic, Idol worshipping community in some form. It gives them a reason to retaliate, albeit a false one. This is how Main stream media fans poison and is encouraging terror.

Essentially it whitewashes the law-breaking perpetrators who:

1. Made the illegal construction
2. Attacked on duty police
3. Violated the court order

And does so blaming an alleged Nationalist Hindu Right Wing for the actions!

Trying to support illegal occupants and encroachers and then playing victim keeps India poor, shorn of planning and a hub of illegal activities. Main stream news media supporting encroachers and illegal activity and trying to tar legal actions using fake narratives and equivalences is fraught with danger and certainly ill informing readers. This also encourages individuals taking law into their own hands and fomenting acts of terror over imputed victimization.