With the nation finally heaving a huge sigh of relief after the 41 workers’ successful rescue from the Silkyara tunnel, liberals and leftist media were focused on naming the rat-hole miners who were able to cross the final hurdle that enabled the rescue of the trapped tunnel workers.
Notorious senior journalists associated with NDTV at some point in time, Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghose, were among those who also carried on this divisive agenda. Sagarika posted on her X handle,
“The roll of honour of rescuers at #UttarakhandTunnelRescue : DG NDRF Atul Karwal, Lt Gen. Harpal Singh, Syed Ata Hasnain of NDMA, Mahmood Ahmed, managing director NHIDCL, Cyriac Joseph of Squadrone, and rat hole miners, from India’s poorest sections, among them Wakeel Khan and Munna Quraishi. Politicians are intent on dividing us, but it is when India rises above divisive identities, that India can move even a mountain.”
The roll of honour of rescuers at #UttarakhandTunnelRescue : DG NDRF Atul Karwal, Lt Gen. Harpal Singh, Syed Ata Hasnain of NDMA, Mahmood Ahmed, managing director NHIDCL, Cyriac Joseph of Squadrone, and rat hole miners, from India’s poorest sections, among them Wakeel Khan and…
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) November 28, 2023
Rajdeep Sardesai wrote, “Roll call of honour: Remember the names of our Rat miner super—heroes: Feroz and Munna Quereshi, Rashid, Irshad, Naseem, Monu, Naseer, Ankur, Jatin, Saurabh, Waqeel Hasan, Devender. Aap sabko desh ka salaam! When India stays united, India wins!” on his X handle.
Roll call of honour: Remember the names of our Rat miner super—heroes: Feroz and Munna Quereshi, Rashid ,Irshad ,Naseem ,Monu ,Naseer , Ankur ,Jatin ,Saurabh, Waqeel Hasan , Devender. Aap sabko desh ka salaam! 🙏When India stays united, India wins! ⭐️⭐️
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) November 29, 2023
Self-styled fact-checked Mohammed Zubair was not far behind in singing praises for one particular community. He shared pictures of the 12 rat-hole miners who enabled the rescue operation and also a clipping of a news article that detailed the circumstances under which they carried out the operation.
Here's why it is important to highlight the names of the 12 Heros who pulled off the #UttarakhandTunnelRescue operation.
Godi media and BJP IT cell will be the first to selectively highlight any case if an accused is a Muslim. Far-Right accounts will be first to highlight if the… pic.twitter.com/b8pNmOVBix— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) November 30, 2023
Member of Polit Bureau Subhashini Ali posted on her handle, “Names of our Rat miner superheroes: Feroz, Munna Qureshi, Rashid, Irshad, Naseem, Monu, Naseer, Ankur, Jatin, Saurabh, Waqeel Hasan, Devender. Aap sabko salaam! Agar Dhami aur BJP ka Uttarakhand se Muslims ko bhagane ki yojna safal ho jaati to kya hota. EKTA MEIN HI TAAKAT!”
(What if Dhami and BJP’s agenda of chasing Muslims from Uttarakhand was successful? Unity is strength)
Names of our Rat miner superheroes:
Feroz, Munna Qureshi, Rashid, Irshad, Naseem, Monu, Naseer,Ankur, Jatin, Saurabh, Waqeel Hasan, Devender.
Aap sabko salaam! Agar Dhami aur BJP ka Uttarakhand se Muslims ko bhagane ki yojna safal ho jaati to kya hota. EKTA MEIN HI TAAKAT!— Subhashini Ali (@SubhashiniAli) November 29, 2023
No doubt, rat-mining or rat-hole mining is no easy task for humans, given its name and the nature and size of the hole in question. The nation lauds the efforts of every single person associated with the rescue while also offering prayers to every single person trapped inside the tunnel and the rescue persons carrying out the nerve-wracking task of rescue. The nation did not see them as Hindus or Muslims or Christians – the prayers were for everyone equally to come out safely.
Divisive media however needed to highlight everyone’s names to indicate their religion. This agenda received a royal slapping when the rat miners shouted slogans, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Narender Modi Ki Jai”
Rat miners says bharat mata ki jai, narender modi ki jai #TunnelVictory pic.twitter.com/oFHZ82tyzF
— Ravi Ranjan🇮🇳 (@RaviRanjanIn) November 29, 2023
This only goes to show that people are united and do not look at each other based on their religion or names but as Indians, as people who did a fantastic job to rescue the trapped workers.
Netizens slammed each of these people for promoting the divisive narrative when people were in fact hailing the members of the rescue team as a whole.
Why belittle their noble contribution by dividing them in religion and caste.
They were all Indians,Who saved lives of fellow Indians…..Period— Rajive Sood 🇮🇳 (@SoodRajive) November 30, 2023
This represents the black spot. During this mission, political agendas were set aside, and we witnessed international support. However, individuals like M Zubair attempt to turn the entire rescue effort into a 'religion'-focused mission. Disappointing journalism, @zoo_bear. Every… https://t.co/HgM6TgCYpj
— Ritika Chandola (@RitikaChandola) November 30, 2023
Why do you reduce everything to Amar Akbar Antony? Please take a lesson from the Armed Forces to understand how cohesiveness works without spelling out faith, region, caste. Its dignifies both, man and mission.
— Nandini 🇮🇳 (@NAN_DINI_) November 29, 2023
The people of this country were looking at all rescue workers, engineers as ONE cohesive UNIT for 17 long and arduous days.
………..…
There is NONE more communal and divisive in his/her thinking than he/she who asks the question "Tumhara naam kya hai?Batao?"— Nalini Rathnam (@nalinirathnam) November 29, 2023
Did India rise above divisive identities since 1947?Which mountains secularism moved?Didn’t vote bank politics/terrorism/communal riots exist before 2014? Divisive to use this event to list “identities”. Ironically this “multiple identity” success under BJP govt in state/centre! https://t.co/GulSPfmBl8
— Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) November 29, 2023
Netizens also reminded the fact checker and the liberal media that only terrorists have no religion while rat-hole miners have.
Important to highlight the names 👍 @zoo_bear https://t.co/tPAymzgY2v pic.twitter.com/MMFK93pMeC
— Ashwini Shrivastava (@AshwiniSahaya) November 30, 2023
Terror has no religion but miner has. https://t.co/gA54o6ONoc pic.twitter.com/ijvl3iB4kj
— Dutchess of Saffronation (@Kaalbhairavee) November 30, 2023
-TERRORIST Afzal Guru: No religion
-TERRORIST Ajmal Kasab: No religion
-TERRORIST Hafeez Saeed: No religion
-TERRORIST Yasin Bhatkal: No religion
-TERRORIST Burhan Wani : No religion
-TERRORIST Yakub Menon: No religion-WELDER and Other people who saved Workers: MusIim😍 https://t.co/aOv4dcJYHT
— Rohan Khanna (@rohan31khanna) November 30, 2023
Out of over 2000 life savers…this propagandist Hamas sympathizer found only 12 names!
What a shame for such kind of fact checkers, who takes alms of 14 lacs rs & can't give complete information also!
More than this, we feel pity for those who give alms to such people!😭 https://t.co/mSaWlJWrsn
— Satya _ Swar ( सत्य _ स्वर) (@Satya_Swara) November 30, 2023
The impulse to celebrate Indian diversity is good, but the impulse to turn every event into a single-note morality play can be grating. Do-gooders need to learn how to allow people to just be people. Every single thing doesn't need to hinge on religious identity. https://t.co/WhtL0w0ln2
— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) November 29, 2023
If they were all Hindus no roll call of honour would be needed? There would be no heroes? Because some of them are Muslims, the names of Rat miners have to be remembered. Rescue has to be remembered because it was secular? Why think in these terms? https://t.co/e6ClZzJfNg
— Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) November 29, 2023
Several questioned why the names of other rescue operation heroes were never mentioned.
Earlier this year thousands of Indian citizens were safely evacuated from Sudan. The C-17 pilot was the one and only woman pilot Har Raj Kaur Boparai but LKFC will not mention such a success because her name isn’t Har Qureshi
That’s LKFC for y’all— ExtraSpiceAni (@ShrivastavAni) November 30, 2023
Where are the other names?
Dangerous people can find nefarious things to do in a disastrous situation or humanitarian crisis or catastrophe !!
What can one say to such people? Grace demands that “u refrain from playing communal cards” to tarnish someone and eulogise others https://t.co/Zt7mIVtmaE
— AlQamar Aftab-e-Hind (@AftabHind) November 29, 2023
Such collapses and accidents occur pretty much worldwide in mines and construction sites, especially tunnels. The under-construction Silkyara tunnel is probably one of the toughest ones to work on since it is the Himalayas we are dealing with.
Peddling divisive agenda by the playbook by the leftist liberals is no surprise. This time, their agenda failed and their masks came off well before they tried to set a narrative.
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