On Friday (July 9), New Zealand vlogger Karl Rock took to Youtube to allege that he has been blacklisted by the Indian government. He is a traveller who had shifted to India about 2 years ago to explore the country.
In his 9-minute long monologue, he accused the Modi government of separating him from his family in India. Karl Rock is married to an Indian woman named Manisha. “I left India in October 2020 to live in Dubai and in Pakistan. When I went to the New Delhi International Airport, they cancelled my visa. They did not tell me why they were cancelling my visa. So, when I went to Dubai to re-issue my visa to go back home, I was called in the Indian High Commission and told in person that I have been blacklisted.”
The propagandist masquerading as a vlogger claimed to have written multiple letters and emails to the Ministry of Home Affairs but to no avail. He also alleged that the Indian High Commission in his native Wellington also did not ‘bother’ to help. Karl Rock claimed that the government’s decision to blacklist him coincided with his wife contracting the deadly Coronavirus during the 2nd wave. He said that he was caught in a helpless state, with no option to return back to India. In his long rant, he also claimed that he could stay anywhere in the world but had voluntarily chosen to stay in India.
Karl Rock claimed that he was rendered anxious, depressed and unhappy by the government’s decision and his inability to reunite with his wife. “Imagine being up against the government of India. It was a lot of pressure on my shoulders? But, the one thing I learnt being in a Haryanvi family in India is that you never give up. We will stand up to the Indian government,” he warned. Crying innocence, he claimed that he has no idea why the government banned his entry into the country. He claimed that he was not given the ‘Right to Reply’ before being blacklisted and therefore, would file a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking the revocation of the ban.
Online petition to remove Karl Rock from the visa blacklist
On Friday, content creators Abhi and Niyu shared an online petition, which has been created by Karl Rock. In his petition, he said, “We request my name be removed from the blacklist so I can return home.” At the time of writing this report, the petition had over 30,000 digital signatures.
Ministry of Home Affairs (India): Remove Karl Rock’s name from India’s Blacklist – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/qxPAZgLPrk via @ChangeOrg_India
— Abhi and Niyu (@abhiandniyu) July 9, 2021
Vlogger has been involved in anti-India propaganda
The New Zealand vlogger had been involved in both subtle and brazen anti-India propaganda from the start. On December 19, 2019, he posted a ground report video wherein he participated in the anti-CAA protests against the Indian government. Despite being well-aware that foreign nationals cannot take part in political movements, he went ahead violating his visa rules.
On realising this later, he made the Youtube video private.
However, there are ‘reaction videos’ available on YouTube which show that Karl was participating in the protest with his wife, who was clearly against the CAA.
Foreigners who are here in India under tourist Visas are not allowed to protest against laws passed by the Indian Parliament. Violating the law can attract provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and and Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004. Also, it can attract provisions of Section 121 of the IPC that deals with waging war against the Government of India or abetting the same.
Karl Rock and his wife have also been slammed by netizens for being pretentious. In a Reddit thread, one user wrote, “She (Manisha) visits the Kartarpur site through the newly opened corridor and comes backs, Karl asks she noticed any difference between India & Pakistan. The question is funny because she probably spent just a few hours there that too at a holy/tourist place virtually cut off from real pak. Anyways, she rambles about paki etiquettes and how clean Pakistan is compared to India and declares whoever thinks otherwise and comments anything other than nice words about the video/her views ‘crazy’.”
“See guys how ridiculous and funny she is, herself said she never visited Pakistan. The first 2 min or so are on the Indian side and really don’t see any litter there. It doesn’t matter how clean or dirty either country actually is but the problem here is she is passing judgment based on very limited exposure there. Just tell me, lady, how you know the rest of the pak is as well kept and maintained as this holy site? I love how easily she compares two countries without knowing the reality of one side and at the same time declares whoever dares state facts ‘crazy’,” the commenter said.
“I don’t think she was addressing people who post abuse and filthy language because it’s so common on the Internet and I don’t see any particular reason why she cares to emphasize that in this particular video. It’s how propaganda works. How many people watching this video would actually realize the sublime subversion in this video?” he concluded.
In February 2020, a Bangladeshi student was asked to leave India as well after she shared anti-CAA posters.
