Professional fake news peddler and self-proclaimed fact-checker AltNews’ founder, Pratik Sinha reached out to OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan for a ‘comment’. He said he was writing an article about the Twitter handle @padhalikha, and would like Rahul Roushan’s comments on the same.
Here is what OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan said:
1) What is your current association with the account? Are you also part of the team that runs it?
You didn’t need to mention Vivek Agnihotri’s interview to point out my association with it. When a shameless stalker like you had targeted my family – and karma will teach you a lesson I hope, though I guess you don’t believe such ‘regressive’ concepts – I had admitted being associated in some way or the other with the account (and other entities like the parody website juntakareporter) then itself. Yes, I started this account but got busy with various things in my life after a few weeks of starting it, so I gave access to others and virtually about forgot it. For over a couple of years now, since leaving Nework18, I’ve been too busy with OpIndia and personal life to run parody accounts (at one point of time near 2011, I ran five). And the account has in a way lost its character as it’s no longer a parody account i.e. most posts don’t really mimic or caricature what self-styled liberals say; it’s now a vehicle to push politically incorrect ideas and messages.
2) Do you endorse the content that is posted by this account?
Since it’s run by a group of people I gave access to, it has mixed content based on their own beliefs and understanding of issues. I don’t keep track of who posts what, but who they are is a secret safe with me. I may or may not endorse individual tweets (the so-called Right Wing is far more diverse than the group-thinking left, and people often don’t agree with each other). I can’t be policing ideas when I don’t contribute. Further, I’ve become far more politically incorrect over time and I don’t really need a fake account with far less follower-count and reach than my own personal account to say things I want to. For example calling Islamophobia a bogus term even after New Zealand shootings.
Islamophobia is a bogus term. It’s entirely rational to be afraid of some aspects of Islam. You may want to fight Muslimphobia, and thus use that term, but Islamophobia is a term coined to silence criticism of Islam.
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) March 22, 2019
Or the tweets where you desperately twisted my comments on Prashant Bhushan. Again, karma will teach you a lesson. If not karma, Allah will, for secularism’s sake.
And please don’t write to me ever again. Someone from your team may, but not you. I’m putting your email in spam list. I detest you, the individual, after what you did to my family, especially my not-even-two-months-old daughter then. You’re not allowed to intrude into my private space again.
And yes, if you have any ethics, you will publish my response as it is.
Editor’s note: We don’t think the delusions of grandeur and incessant stalking by a deranged man should be newsworthy. However, delusional people often have a tendency to twist words and not comprehend fully what is being said. This response has been published so such elements don’t have the opportunity to twist OpIndia CEO’s statement
