'Coronavirus is declared a pandemic, India restricts the entry of foreigners, stock markets crash, Madhya Pradesh’s government teeters on the brink of collapse, a big private bank is in crisis, the home minister finally responds to questions about the Delhi carnage. These were the major news stories of March 11. For Sudhir Chaudhary of Zee News, however, the most important story of the day was…jihad.
'On 17 April 2018, the Pune Police raided the Delhi home of Rona Wilson, a noted prison-rights activist, and arrested him for his alleged role in the violence at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in January that year.
'A Times Now broadcast of March 5 ran a video of a man in red, wearing a helmet, opening fire during communal riots in Delhi. “New video of Delhi violence surfaces. Video reportedly from Maujpur…This is the 4th video of attack on police,” the channel claimed. The video was tweeted using #ShaheenLynchModel... A day later, the same clip was tweeted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya who insinuated that the shooter was a member of the Muslim community. He wrote, “Another video of a ‘peaceful’ protestor firing at the cops?
'Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday afternoon, in the presence of party president J.P. Nadda. “I would like to thank J.P. Nadda ji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah that they invited me to their family and gave me a place in it,” he said. Sources have suggested that Scindia will likely be given a Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh and a cabinet ministerial berth for switching over...'
'On March 6, 2020 several right-wing Twitter users in India tweeted screenshots of a tweet that called for 'butchering Hindus', from an account of an individual who claimed to be a correspondent with Al Jazeera and also claimed to have worked with The Wire, in the past. BOOM investigated the claim and found the account to be spurious with both organisations outrightly rejecting the claim that the person behind the account was in any way connected to them...'
'The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear a petition filed by social activist Harsh Manderseeking action against leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party for their hate speeches leading up to communal riots in Delhi until the matter of the activist’s allegedly derogatory comments about the judiciary are sorted out. “You made statements against the Supreme Court,” said Chief Justice of India SA Bobde. “We will not hear you now... If this is what Harsh Mander feels about the Supreme Court, then we will have to decide on that first.”...
'Academician and women’s rights activist Madhu Purnima Kishwar Tuesday tweeted a video of men in skull caps indulging in violence, in a veiled reference to last week’s communal riots in the national capital... The tweet has so far received over 5,200 retweets and 7,500 likes. Kishwar, chair professor in the Indian Council of Social Science Research who founded women’s journal Manushi in 1979, has over 2 million followers on Twitter... The video shared by Madhu Kishwar is not even from India. It shows events that occurred on 1 December 2018 in Bangladesh’s Gazipur...'
'On February 28, several social media users shared a 20-second video of a building engulfed in fire. The viral message blamed “Islamic jihad” for the incident and claimed that this occurred in Paris. “After burning India’s capital, the terrorist community has burnt the French capital as well. #IslamicJihad Now tell did the riots happen because of @KapilMishra_IND’s speech. There is only one solution #EconomicBoycott,” reads the message... Twitter user @Satynistha posted the viral video (archive link).
'Faizan, the 23-year-old Muslim man who was filmed as he was brutally assaulted by policemen who forced him to sing the national anthem between beatings, died after the Delhi Police illegally detained him for over 36 hours and denied him urgent medical attention, HuffPost India can establish. Since news of Faizan’s death was made public on February 28, the Delhi Police has sought to deflect responsibility by claiming they never took Faizan into custody...'
'...When reporters asked him about the incendiary slogan – “desh ke gaddaron ko...” he raised at a rally in Delhi, the Minister of State for Finance said, “You are lying. You people should first enhance your knowledge. Half-knowledge is dangerous. The matter is sub judice, so I am not commenting further.” At an election rally in Rithala, Thakur was caught on camera saying "desh ke gaddaron ko (the nation's traitors)", to which the crowd responded by chanting: "...goli maaro s****n ko (shoot them)"...'
