TIME Magazine has always been notorious for pushing propaganda under the garb of being a platform for ‘intellectual’ opinions. It has served as a leftist mouthpiece since it came into being, propagating myths and peddling narratives far removed from reality. While exhibiting hypocrisies is a routine staple for TIME Magazine, it committed a mother of all ironies recently when it included Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha of the Alt News in the list of deserving candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize 2022.
Though Nobel Peace Prize has long lost its credibility, especially after former US President Barack Obama won it in 2009, just days after dropping bombs in the middle east that led to scores of death, it has done little to dampen the fascination of ‘liberal’ bastions, including the TIME Magazine, with the sham award.
TIME Magazine placed Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha, founders of the fake news factory that calls itself the “fact-checking” website Alt News, among the list of prospective winners for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize alongside Volodymyr Zelensky, WHO, David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, Alexey Navalny among others.
However, the inclusion of Mohammed Zubair, the man responsible for unleashing the wave of Islamist violence in India that resulted in the death of at least 6 Hindus, including Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, in the prospective list of winners for the Nobel Peace Prize 2022 is profoundly deplorable, even by the abysmally low standards of the TIME Magazine.
While making a case for their win, TIME Magazine did what western publications are known for covering news about India: resorting to obscurantism, distorting facts, and presenting a lopsided narrative. It described Sinha and Zubair as crusaders battling misinformation online, conveniently missing out and pointing out occasions when the two were caught red-handed spreading fake news and falsehoods.
“Journalists Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair, co-founders of Indian fact-checking website AltNews, have relentlessly been battling misinformation in India, where the Hindu nationalist BJP party has been accused of frequently stoking discrimination against Muslims,” read the article on TIME Magazine, dressing up pro-Congress propagandists as ‘journalists’ and revealing the organisation’s penchant for vilifying the democratically elected government of India, besides scaremongering over the imaginary institutional “discrimination” against Muslims.
“Indian authorities arrested Zubair in June for a meme he tweeted four years ago. Journalists around the world condemned the arrest and argued it was retribution for his fact-checking work,” the TIME article further read. What it conveniently omitted mentioning is how Zubair touched off a wave of Islamist violence in India with his dog-whistling against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. It also cleverly leaned on condemnation from leftist populated organisations to portray Zubair’s arrest as an act of retribution, drawing over a veil over his alleged culpability in hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus with his Hinduphobic posts.
No, Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair have not been shortlisted for Nobel Peace Prize
And while the list is speculative, it did not stop distorters and sympathisers from fuelling misinformation that Zubair and Sinha are on the shortlist for the Nobel Peace Prize. Several supporters of Zubair and Sinha took to social media to peddle fake news that the duo is shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize.
@free_thinker & @zoo_bear among Nobel Peace Prize shortlist https://t.co/dhX27xvCdC pic.twitter.com/NvfPXnvTTq
— Manu Sebastian (@manuvichar) October 5, 2022
So so proud of @free_thinker & @zoo_bear .Both among Nobel Peace Prize shortlist. @TIME pic.twitter.com/hV4Nq6Lsn2
— Samriddhi K Sakunia (@Samriddhi0809) October 5, 2022
There’s nothing like an official list from among whom Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, the names mentioned by TIME Magazine are just speculations made by a media organisation whose ideology is rooted in the global left. But cheerleaders of Zubair and Sinha, who extol them for “fact-checking”, could not distinguish between a shortlist and a speculative list by a media organisation.
Since TIME has been economical with truth and facts about Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha, it becomes imperative to call attention to the murkier aspects of the duo.
Mohammed Zubair triggers Islamist violence in India, resulting in the deaths of innocent Hindus, including Kanhaiya Lal and Umesh Kolhe
Earlier this year, Mohammed Zubair sparked controversy after sharing a truncated video of Nupur Sharma’s comments on the Times Now debate and accused her of making derogatory remarks against the Islamic Prophet.
Before long, the controversy gained epic proportions and transcended national boundaries as Arab countries made unsolicited comments, causing a diplomatic nightmare for India’s mission in the Persian Gulf. Islamists took to the streets, running riot and indulging in vandalism, and arson against what they perceived as an insult to Prophet Muhammad. Protest marches calling for the beheading of Nupur Sharma were carried out as participants shouted “sar tan se juda” chants against Nupur Sharma. In one instance, her effigy was left hanging from a cable, reminding Hindus of the fate that awaits them should they dare cite authentic and reliable Islamic Hadiths to comment on Prophet Muhammad.
While Islamists went on a rampage on the streets in many cities across the country, it was essentially Mohammed Zubair who was responsible for kindling a fire that had gone on to assume uncontrollable proportions. It was Zubair’s dog-whistling that made a mountain out of a molehill and painted a target behind the back of Nupur Sharma and anyone and everyone who came out in her support.
The ominous hounding of Nupur Sharma prompted many to extend their support to her. Kanhaiya Lal from Udaipur, Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, and many others extended their solidarity with the beleaguered leader, voicing their support for her amid the death threats from Islamists.
And so, Lal was a marked man the moment he came out in support of Nupur Sharma. Islamists, provoked by Mohammed Zubair, dished out death threats to him for what they considered an unpardonable sin committed against Prophet. And days later, the Hindu man was killed for something as trivial as just sharing a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma.
Even though the Islamists on the ground were responsible for killing him, the buck does not stop there. They were puppets working at the behest of their masters, who were equally blameworthy for goading them into murdering Lal. In essence, Mohammed Zubair’s dog-whistling against Nupur Sharma instigated Islamists, who then went on to kill Lal for his support to the former BJP leader.
This makes Mohammed Zubair guilty of ‘stochastic terrorism’, a concept defined as the public demonisation of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted. It was Mohammed Zubair who spearheaded a campaign against Nupur Sharma, accusing her of insulting the Prophet Muhammad and letting loose an army of Islamists against her that ultimately hacked Lal to death.
A similar fate befell Umesh Kolhe, a chemist living in Maharashtra’s Amravati, who was murdered by four Muslim assailants while he was returning from his pharmacy on the night of June 22. Kolhe, too, was murdered for his social media post supporting Nupur Sharma, who was hounded by Islamists and egged on by the likes of Mohammed Zubair for her comments defending her faith on a TV news debate where a fellow Muslim panellist was mocking Shivling discovered inside the premises of the contentious Gyanvapi mosque compound.
The horrifying killing of Lal came a day after Delhi Police arrested Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for hurting religious sentiments. The police acted on the basis of a complaint filed against him by a Twitter user who cited the notorious fact-checker’s old tweet where he had a derogatory reference to Lord Hanuman. But that was not his only Hinduphobic post.
Mohammed Zubair: Chronic fake news peddler with Hinduphobic tendencies
Days after India witnessed violent protests that saw Islamists running riot, indulging in violence over the alleged insult of Prophet Muhammad, Twitter user The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeye) shared a collage of past tweets and posts by Mohammed Zubair mocking Hindu Gods and beliefs.
In one of the tweets shared by The Hawk Eye, Zubair is seen mocking Shivling and comparing it with the top view of the Vatican City. He said the post comparing Shivling with the Vatican City inspired him to come up with a parody Facebook page ‘Unofficial: Subramanian Swamy’ in 2014.
Apparently, one of the posts on the Facebook page ‘Unofficial Mohammed Zubair‘ mocks Arun Govil to take a swipe at Lord Ram, suggesting that ISRO must consult the actor because he would know more about the rocketry.
Another post by ‘Unofficial Mohammed Zubair’ shows an aeroplane under the water with the caption: “Breaking: Pushpak Vimana used by Ravan 5000 years ago found in the Indian Ocean.”
Besides ridiculing Hindu Gods, Zubair has also poked fun at Hindu beliefs and took a dig at Sanskrit, regarded as one of the most important languages of Hinduism and the means of communication by the Hindu Gods. After being exposed for his Hinduphobic posts on Facebook, Zubair deactivated his page.
On top of all this, Zubair is also a consummate fake news peddler. Here are 20 instances when Zubair has resorted to sharing falsehoods and misinformation. Though this list is not exhaustive, it demonstrates Zubair’s penchant for fake news.
Pratik Sinha’s penchant for peddling fake news
Pratik Sinha, the co-founder of Alt News, has an equally unenviable record of peddling fake news. Besides his predilection for fake news, the Alt News co-founder has been a staunch defender of Islamists, and has also indulged in cyber stalking and doxxing private individuals online which has earned him the moniker ‘Stalker Sinha’.
In January 2019, just ahead of the 2019 general elections, Pratik Sinha revealed the names of anonymous Twitter accounts that were questioning and exposing the duplicity of Congress just because he didn’t quite agree with them.
There have been various instances when the so-called ‘fact-checker’ was caught red-handed for disseminating propaganda.
In the aftermath of demonetisation back in 2016, Sinha had shared images of people standing in long queues at financial institutes to allege that people had to go through hardships because of the Modi government’s decision. However, in doing so, Sinha shared a picture from 2014, about two years before the Demonetisation to portray that the decision had caused misery among people.
.@free_thinker is just a hindu hater, masquerading as a fact-checker. made his career abusing Modi n fake propagandas, using Truth of Gujarat, then eopinion/Altnews.
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) November 30, 2020
1- Using picture of 2014 to show a woman suffering due to demonatisation in 2016.
archive- https://t.co/sHo79qniaf pic.twitter.com/hHz5C2JFFW
In another instance shared by the Twitter user, Sinha was caught using an image from 2004 to peddle the condition of cows in Gujarat in 2016. In the year 2016, Sinha shared another picture on his Twitter account where cows were seen lying on the road.
2- Using picture of 2004 to mock Gau Rakshak in 2016. In the picture in 2004 many cows had died to due to Nitrate poisoning but @free_thinker using this pic in 2016 to mock Gau Rakshak.
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) November 30, 2020
Archive- https://t.co/1j0QXv0Y7Z pic.twitter.com/mvMqCWmvTO
Sinha, in his bid to mock the Gau Rakshaks, commented, “Gau Matas rotting and being scavenged on in Gujarat. Where are the sons professing undying love for their mata?”
The image shared by Sinha was from 2004 when many cows had died because of Nitrate poisoning but Sinha felt no compunction in using a 12-year-old picture to ridicule the Gau Rakshaks.
Sinha also actively participated in perpetuating the lie regarding PM Modi’s alleged promise to transfer Rs 15 lakhs to bank accounts if elected to power.
How TIME and Zubair unite in their support for Islamists
It is profoundly ironic but not entirely surprising that TIME Magazine chose Mohammed Zubair as among the ‘favourites’ to win the Nobel Peace Prize, given that the Alt News co-founder had touched off a raging Islamist fire earlier this year that engulfed many Hindus, most notably Kanhaiya Lal and Umesh Kolhe.
But it is a far cry to expect TIME Magazine to acknowledge the menace of Islamists afflicting India, as the organisation has a long history of shielding and glorifying Islamists while perversely portraying their victims as aggressors. In the aftermath of Kanhaiya Lal’s brutal beheading, TIME Magazine published an article that whitewashed the Islamists and instead held the victim responsible for his predicament.
While trying to contextualise the murder of Kanhaiya Lal, Sanya Mansoor, the author of the TIME article, suggested that the poor Hindu tailor had drawn the wrath of the Islamists upon himself by supporting the ‘derogatory comments’ of ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
In light of historical prejudice exhibited by TIME against Hindus and its favouritism for the Islamists, it is not entirely surprising they had speculated Mohammed Zubair of Alt News to be among the ‘favourites’ to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
