On December 4, OpIndia’s ground team at Haldwani had an encounter with a freelance journalist who was inspired by the likes of The Wire. He tutored the encroachers to speak on camera and address Supreme Court in their statements. This was not the first time the left-wing media geared up to set an agenda using “emotional” messages from the locals.
From time to time, OpIndia has reported such cases where reporters and activists were seen tutoring protesters and even supporters of an ideology or a political party to build up the news reports. Some were even caught planting bytes and statements multiple times per their agenda.
Teesta Setalvad tutored Gujarat Riots victims and Shaheen Bagh Protesters
The infamous activist Teesta Setalvad who was arrested last year for conspiring against then-Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Riots of 2002, was caught on at least two occasions tutoring witnesses and protesters to plant her agenda. Even the Supreme Court had said that Teesta Setalvad was involved in fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses to frame PM Modi in false cases.
The Shaheen Bagh case
In February 2020, OpIndia reported how Teesta Setalvad was caught on camera tutoring the Shaheen Bagh protesters demonstrating against Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizens (NRC). Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya published a video on Twitter on February 19, 2020, where Setalvad could be seen tutoring the protesters. Notably, Setalvad has also been accused of embezzling money she collected for Gujarat Riots victims for personal expenses.
In the 2-minutes long video, a lady can be heard reading out a list of questions the women could ask the interlocutors appointed by the Supreme Court to mediate and convince the Shaheen Bagh protestors to relocate to an alternative place. Teesta Setalvad could be spotted right behind her overseeing the tutoring.
Teesta also asked the ‘protestors’ if they were satisfied with the questions. The woman in pink then explained how one of them would sit with women in groups of 25-30 and explain in detail. Later Teesta explained what exactly change in elements of protests means.
The Gujarat Riots case
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of India gave a clean chit to the then-Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, in the Gujarat Riots of 2002. In the judgment, the apex court noted that Teesta Setalvad tutored the witnesses and submitted statements without checking with them. Notably, witnesses were unaware of the statements submitted in their names.
On Page 118 of the judgment, the court observed that Zakia Jafri, the main petitioner in the case, had admitted to concealing the fact that she had known Teesta for some time. She admitted during her cross-examination that Teesta Setalvad tutored the statement she gave to Nanavati-Shah Commission. Interestingly, during cross-examination, Zakia admitted she never read the copy of her statement to the Commission.
The court further observed, “She fabricated the documents by persons who were to be prospective witnesses of the complainant. It is not only a case of fabrication of documents but also of influencing and tutoring the witnesses and making them depose on pre-typed affidavit, as noted in the High Court judgment dated 11.7.2011 in Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 1692/2011.”
Journalist Mausami Singh of India Today was caught tutoring Congress workers.
In January 2019, when India was gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections, India Today journalist Mausami Singh was caught on camera tutoring Congress workers to look “excited” for Priyanka Gandhi’s visit. On an eventful day, she was present at Anand Bhavan to record the celebratory events of Congress workers to welcome the joining of Priyanka Gandhi as the UP East in charge. However, in a video that has gone viral now, it can be seen that the journalist was orchestrating the event all along to create a narrative of excitement.
In a series of videos, a Twitter user recounted the scenes at an event that was purposefully staged so that it could be broadcasted in the media to sustain a narrative. The social media user who was at the spot claimed that a few supporters of the Congress party were chanting “Priyanka Gandhi Zindabad” after it was announced that she would be joining politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
In the video, it can be seen that Mausami Singh was indeed instructing those Congress workers to make certain statements to the media. The social media user further added that Mausami Singh had successfully managed to bring in some more crowd, especially women, to the spot, who claimed to be Congress party workers.
Two journalists were found tutoring local women villagers about giving statements against Bajrang Dal.
In December 2018, during a ground report in Bulandshehr, OpIndia reported how two make journalists led a group of women to give statements that they witnessed members of Bajrang Dal gather for a meeting on December 2 night. “We men were at Itjima, and only women and old people were present when the announcement was made. Hours later, the carcass was found,” a local villager told OpIndia. It was strange to witness a closed-door meeting between the witnesses and journalists. Those journalists were from a video platform which had partnered with a data analysis website which was called out for misreporting on ‘hate crimes’.
OpIndia’s encounter with a propaganda ‘journalist’ in Haldwani
The leftist media has geared up to make the Haldwani protests by the illegal encroachers their new propaganda tool. That the illegal encroachers are mostly Muslims, and state administration is getting the encroachment removed on a High Court order (now stayed by Supreme Court) the leftists have things served on a platter to make a communal issue out of it and cry ‘Muslims under attack by Hindu nationalist party’ on international platforms.
Appeals are made in the name of ‘humanity’, and requests for facilities are made so that eventually, the illegal structures can be regularised and government land is usurped illegally. It had all the elements to become yet another ‘Shaheen Bagh’ like movement where a law was opposed over fabricated allegations and ‘Muslims under attack’ was peddled. This is when Citizenship Amendment Act does not affect Indians, Muslims or otherwise, in any case. Propagandists cried ‘kagaz nahin dikhayenge’ in defiance over laws that did not affect them – no one wanted to see their papers if they were Indian citizens. However, those protests and ‘chakkajams’ eventually led to anti-Hindu riots in the national capital.
The OpIndia team went to Haldwani to verify what was going on in Haldwani. On January 4, OpIndia’s team was in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, to take stock of the situation amidst a notice issued to clear the encroachment of the Indian Railways land. Social media has been flooded with viral videos claiming that the court-ordered removal of illegal encroachers is a ‘conspiracy’ against Muslims. Most of the illegal encroachers on the railway land are Muslims.
During our time at the location, we spotted a man who identified himself as a journalist talking to the encroachers and tutoring them on what to say. Notably, he clearly asked them not to speak in Urdu but speak in Hindi and how it will come on channels such as the leftist propaganda outlet The Wire. He specifically asked one of the encroachers to address the Supreme Court, where the case was scheduled for hearing on January 5.
