'Synchronised propaganda by mainstream media to create a sense of fear'

AltNews co-founder Pratik puts forth his observations on right-wing propaganda at Anti-Fascist Film Festival

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Fact-checkers and AltNews founders Pratik Sinha and Muhammed Zubair, who recently spent close to a month in jail on charges of hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets and whose arrest received widespread condemnation in the country and abroad, were part of a panel that spoke on the closing day of the AntiFascist Fim Festival held in central Kolkata.

The event was organised by a forum called Bengal Against Fascist RSS-BJP and the People’s Film Collective which is an independent people-funded body that hosts discussions and screens films. 'How to Stop Facism' was the topic of conversation.

Speaking in relation to the Aftab Poonawala case, which has been making headlines in recent days, Pratik noted that there is massive interest being given to the particular incident by the mainstream media.“It is a heinous crime but minute details such as his narco and polygraph test, every single detail about Aftab is being publicised by the media.

There are various points of discussion and the love jihad issue is being aggravated again. A synchronised propaganda is being used to create a sense of fear, so much fear that the next time someone wants to date an individual belonging to another community, the family must wonder if their daughter will turn into pieces,” Sinha said.

He added that Aftab must be punished when proven guilty and the crime must not be looked at with the lens of religion. He also brought out the example of attempts to demonise the Muslim community during the period of the pandemic in March 2020, when they were blamed for the spread of Covid from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation that took place in Delhi.

He shared a story of a Muslim man with a paralysed right hand who accidentally dropped a currency note at a petrol pump in Gujarat in April 2020. The man was accused of dropping the note deliberately with the motive of spreading the virus and had to spend over 48 hours in jail, Sinha said.

“Similar to Aftab’s case, the mainstream media was all over Tablighi Jamaat, diverting the masses from paying attention to the plight of tens of thousands of migrant workers returning home barefoot. We were told that Muslims kept spitting to spread Corona which led to some Muslims being attacked,” he explained.

“All these attempts force the communities to live separately, leading to further ghettoisation of Muslims. That is what they want… Any crime by a Muslim will make national headline. It is their agenda,” he explained. In order to fight these attempts, a country requires “empathetic and informed citizens,” he concluded.

Zubair on the other hand, who was uncomfortable giving a speech, took a few questions from the audience. He was mostly questioned about his life in prison. “The cops were after the Alt-News as an organisation. They asked how many employees worked there and what their names were. They were surprised when they found out most of the employees were Hindu and questioned why we were publishing anti-Hindu content. They have also been fed with right-wing propaganda,” he said, recalling tales from when he was in jail.

He also recalled an incident when he went to access the library in the prison. One day he had borrowed a book by Subhas Chandra Bose but a senior officer keeping an eye on him mistook the book to be written by the Hindutva icon Vinayak Savarkar.