On September 25, the self-proclaimed fact-checking website Alt News again came to rescue Islamists. This time, they attempted to give clean chit to the Popular Front of India members that were protesting in Pune. As per reports, videos of the protests organized by PFI members in Pune surfaced on social media platforms where they could be heard raising slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad.’ As the videos got traction on social media, the obvious saviours of Islamists, including Alt News and Newslaundry, came rushing to their rescue.
Alt News propaganda to twist the facts
In its report, Alt News talked about the protests that took place to oppose the raids by National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) on several locations linked to PFI in 15 states. During these raids, 106 PFI officials and workers were arrested by the investigating agency.
The protests were organized against the raids and arrests by PFI workers in multiple cities across the country in Pune. In the videos of the Pune protests, the members of PFI were heard raising slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad.’ Several netizens and prominent personalities on social media shared the videos and condemned the slogans. OpIndia had also covered the matter.
Alt News, owing to its reputation, could not digest the fact that such slogans were raised. In their “explanation,” the portal said the slogans were not “Pakistan Zindabad” but “Popular Front Zindabad.” They even targeted those who condemned PFI workers for raising the slogans.
The portal shared a 26-second video and claimed that upon gathering videos from different sources, including journalists on the ground, they “found” that slogans were not “Pakistan Zindabad” but “Popular Front Zindabad.” They also shared a long video version of the protest recorded by Policenama.
The reality of the slogans
OpIndia re-examined the videos, including the video shared by Policenama. There were multiple slogans that were being raised by the protesters. Among those slogans, ‘Nara-e-Takbeer Allah hu Akbar,’ ‘Popular Front Zindabad,’ and others were included. Now, the question is, was the slogan ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ raised? The answer is yes, the slogan was, in fact, raised.
At the 7:34 timestamp in the video, the slogan ‘Popular Front Zindabad’ can be easily heard. However, following the said slogan, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ was also raised by the protesters.
Twitter user Hawk Eye also published the analysis of the video and debunked Alt News claims. In his reply to Alt News, The Hawk Eye published the video compilation at three different speeds. He said, “Sharing the same video in a loop, with 3 different speed variations. The last part is with zoom to read the lip sync. Let ppl decide – “Pakistan” or “Popular front.”
Hawk Eye also slowed down the video and zoomed in on the PFI member who was detained by the Police and raised the controversial slogan. It was clearly evident that the slogan was, in fact, ‘Pakistan Zindabad.’
Same vid with audio noise reduction. Observe the audio amplitude variation if its matching with “Pakistan” or “Polular Front”?
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) September 25, 2022
2/ pic.twitter.com/YZzcYNWtCv
As there was a lot of background noise in the video, there was still a chance that the likes of Alt News may raise questions over the slogans raised. The Hawk Eye went ahead and cleared the background noise to make it clearer. In the three-speed variants of the audio with reduced background noise, the slogan ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ became more prominent.
Newslaundry’s attempt to shield PFI
A similar “fact-check” was done by the Leftist propaganda website Newslaundry. They quoted Pune Police, suggesting that no such slogans were raised, and shared the same video by Policenama as well. They talked to the protesters as well, who “denied” the allegations of raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans.
RJD leader shielded PFI
While Alt News and Newslaundry were insisting that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were not raised, RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari bluntly supported PFI workers and said such slogans are part of routine protests. He said that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans raised during a protest in favour of PFI were only a “sign of protest.” Tiwari’s comments came after over a hundred PFI activists were arrested in several states in a nationwide operation on Thursday, after which PFI workers had chanted Pakistan Zindabad slogans in Pune during a protest against the arrests.
