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Self-Styled Fact-Checker Maintains No Pro-Pak Slogans Were Raised In Vidhana Soudha Despite FSL Report & K’taka Home Min Confirmation

The Commune

A few days ago, social media was abuzz with allegations of the Karnataka Congress members chanting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans. This happened after the Congress candidate Syed Naseer Hussain’s Rajya Sabha victory in Karnataka was announced. A video of his supporters “allegedly” chanting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ was circulated on social media platforms. 

Alleged fact-checker Mohammed Zubair immediately jumped into action to prove that Pakistan Zindabad slogans were not raised. He claimed that instead of Pakistan Zindabad, the supporters were chanting ‘Naseer Saab Zindabad’. 

The footage was analysed by a private forensic agency FSL which proved that pro-Pakistani slogans were indeed raised. The presence of these slogans was identified in both the audio and video components. The submitted report to the state government asserted that the footage remained unaltered as reported by India Today. 

Police arrested three people Mohammed Shafi Nashipudi, Munavar Ahmed, and Mohammed Iltaj. It has been revealed that all three of them have close ties with the Congress party. 

Days after being disproved, the alleged fact-checker wrote a long post on his social media handle justifying his stand that Pro-Pakistan slogans were not raised. 

He wrote, “Karnataka Police has arrested 3 individuals for allegedly raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans in Vidhana Soudha. The Home Minister has also given a statement confirming that Pro-Pakistan sloganeering were raised. Many want to arrest me for my tweet. But 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝟏𝟎𝟎% 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨-𝐏𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 ‘𝐍𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐛 𝐙𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐝’.”

He twisted the narrative to prove his lies by shifting focus to the “right-wing” and the media. He continued in the same post, “We’ve seen a pattern in the X thread below of how Right Wing and the media have been accusing opponents and their supporters of raising Pro-Pakistan slogans during celebrations. Even in this case, The FALSE claim was started by Kannada News channels which were denied by many reporters present on the ground, including Smita Prakash’s colleague. She and many other RW trolls want BlrCityPolice to arrest me for starting facts. You see a pattern of how misinformation has been doing rounds in Karnataka.”

He then went on to narrate instances where media, BJP, and “propaganda news agencies” like ANI shared “fake news”. 

“1. In January, the BJP and (Media including propaganda News Agency 

ANI) heightened its criticism of Congress as anti-Hindu while alleging that on the orders of the state government, police personnel had removed a Hanuman flag from a flag post in the Keragodu village of Mandya. However, in reality, the flag post was on government land, on which only the national flag and the flag of Karnataka were permitted to be hoisted. But the Anti Congress Propaganda ran for more than a week on Television. Congress in Karnataka was clueless on how to counter it. 

2. In Feb, After the budget, BJP leaders and Media targeted the Congress government claiming Congress took money from Hindu temples and was using it to fund religious institutions that were non-Hindu. This was run for 2-4 days. Again Congress in Karnataka was clueless on how to counter these false claims. Neither was there any FIR against people who spread this False Propaganda. 

 3. After Endowment Amendment bill, BJP and Media claimed that Siddaramaiah govt began taxing Jaziya to Hindu temples by 10%. But it was under Yeddyurappa’s govt who first Amended the bill in 2011. Infact, The Akhila Karnataka Archakas (Priests) Association supported the bill in a press conference and said that small temples were short of funds, They urged the opposition BJP to support the Congress govt’s move to divert tax money from rich A grade temples to smaller temples for the uplift of 36,000 C grade temples in the state, categorized on the basis of income. But here again, BJP and Media were successful in their False Propaganda claiming Congress in Anti Hindu and Pro Muslims. Congress couldn’t counter counter their Propaganda, Nor did it take any action against fake news peddlers for amplifying these false claims.”

He concluded by saying that this was how the BJP with the help of local and national media was winning the propaganda war and also stated that “Congress in Karnataka is still clueless on how to counter it.”  

Interestingly, he deleted his “fact-check” posts that gave a clean chit to “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans raised in Jaunpur, UP. He has not apologised or expressed regret for misleading the public about his mistake. 

Here are some netizen reactions:

 

It is noteworthy that the Karnataka government in August 2023 was pondering over seeking help from Zubair’s AltNews to “combat fake news”. 

In December 2023, the Karnataka government selected five firms, including Gauri Media named after murdered journalist Gauri Lankesh, for its fact-checking units to combat fake news on social media. Logically, Trylika and OW Data Leads will focus on fact-checking, analytics, and capacity building, while Gauri Media’s expertise in the Kannada language contributed to its selection. It was also announced that independent fact-checkers would also be enlisted to aid the government’s misinformation prevention efforts. Critics argue that if the likes of Zubair are enlisted, then the quality of fact-checking can be assumed to be of the level of this fact-check. 

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