AltNews cofounder Mohammed Zubair joined hands with Islamists in fearmongering when on 15th May 2022, he called the Trishul Deeksha ceremony of Bajrang Dal an ‘arms training camp’ in his tweet. Mohammed Zubair did not stop his fearmongering by posting just his tweets, but he further went on to retweet Islamists like Irena Akbar who called the Trishul Deeksha ceremony a terrorist training camp.
Mohammed Zubair created an air of fear by calling a regular exercise by Bajrang Dal to be an ‘arms training camp’. Posting images of youths in saffron dresses with small trishuls in their hands, Zubair tweeted that “There was an arms training camp for a week in Sai Shankar Educational Institute in Ponnampet, Kodagu district, Karnataka.” He added that the event was organised by Bajrang Dal, where “weapons” were distributed to several Bajrang Dal Karyakartas.
However, alleged ‘fact-checker’ Md Zubair is actually spreading fake news by claiming that Trishul is a weapon, because it is actually divine symbol for Hindus. It one of the principal symbols in Hinduism, which is commonly found in most Hindu temples, especially temples dedicated to Shiva and Shakti. Just like kirpans carried by Sikhs are not considered to be weapons, just like swords and other items used by Muslims during Muharram are not considered illegal weapons, similarly Trishuls are not weapons, they are Hindu religious symbols.
As a religious symbols, Hindus regularly carry Trishul during religious rituals, and Trishul Deeksha is a regular program in Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. The members of the organization are worshippers of Lord Hanuman and Shakti. It is, therefore, a part of their activities to get a ‘Trishul Deeksha’, where they carry miniature Trishuls in their hands.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal have regularly organized such events even in the past. The covid-19 pandemic discontinued this annual activity in many places in the last two years. Recently, one such activity was organized in Karnataka where the members were given the Trishul Deeksha. Mohammed Zubair referred to the same as some arms training camp and peddled his usual Islamist agenda of Hinduphobic fearmongering.
Their Kids…. Your Kids…. pic.twitter.com/82fSqegl6F
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 15, 2022
Allegations that Trishul Deeksha programs are meant to distribute weapons have emerged earlier also, and the Hindu organisations have denied it and clarified about the event. Hindu leaders have been explaining that it is only symbolic programme of distributing ‘trishul’. During such event on the occasion of Ayudha Pooja last year, VHP zonal secretary Sharan Pumpwell had said, “Many people have been opposing the Trishul Deekshe programme organized by us. We have not distributed bombs or grenades. We organized Trishul Deekshe since we are worshippers of ‘Shakti’. We organized this programme during Ayudha Pooja to instill confidence in workers and for the protection of religion. It is not against anyone and not aimed at harming people. Every year we have been organizing this programme, but due to Covid-19, the event was not held in the last two years.”
The VHP leader had also clarified the distributed Trihusls are not weapons as they don’t have sharp edges, and therefore can’t be used to harm anyone. “We distributed trishul made of steel and it has no sharp edges to injure anyone,” he had said.
Mohammed Zubair also tweeted two photos comparing the activities of youths coming from two different backgrounds. In one photo he highlighted minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar’s son during his convocation program implying that a minister’s son is getting higher education. He compared this photo with the one from the Trishul Deeksha program being attended by the Hindu youths. In the caption, he wrote, “Their kids… Your kids…” With this tweet, he tried to paint a picture that the sons of leaders are getting a good education while others are brainwashed to become foot soldiers. Mohammed Zubair comfortably ignored the fact that many of the BJP leaders have been active members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the past and rose to their higher positions on account of their performance.
Irena Akbar retweeted Mohammed Zubair’s tweet with a caption that said, “Nobody would call this a ‘terrorist training camp’.” She essentially compared the Trishul Deeksha program to some terrorist training camps that many Islamist terrorist organizations usually do. Irena Akbar is known for her anti-India Islamist agenda that she always pours into everything she writes anywhere. When the novel coronavirus was playing havoc on the world at that time she had thanked God for Covid-19 and claimed that if not for the novel Coronavirus, Indian Muslims would have been in detention camps. The comments come a day after liberals online were debating fervently whether they should help a ‘Sanghi’ combat Covid-19.
Irena Akbar had said, “If it weren’t for Covid, Indian Muslims would’ve been in detention camps. I’m NOT being grateful for the virus which killed my aunt, sent my dad to the ICU & is causing tragedies across homes. I’m stressing the fact that while fascists were making their plans, God was making His.”
Mohammed Zubair’s Islamist association with this anti-Hindu fake news peddler is quite an old thing. Like Mohammed Zubair, Irena Akbar also has her own version of the Gujarat riots of 2002. In 2020, while responding to the question of why Dalits are not out on the streets in the anti-CAA riots, Irena Akbar had said that she never trusted ‘them’ as Dalits were ‘foot soldiers’ when communal riots broke out in Gujarat after a Muslim mob set a train compartment of Kar Sevaks returning from Ayodhya on fire in Godhra.
