On Sunday (September 10), Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair unleashed his troll army on digital strategist and consultant Amritanshu Gupta for ‘managing’ the Twitter handle of ex-Indian cricketer Venkatesh Prasad.
The dubious ‘fact checker’ insinuated that the tweets by Prasad, lambasting him for being a hate monger, were posted by Gupta. Zubair was miffed to learn that he admired the work of PM Modi, interviewed BJP leader Smriti Irani and did not hold Rahul Gandhi in high esteem.
While taking to X, he wrote, “The guy who had himself tweeted about contacting/DM him for ‘Twitter endorsement from Celebrities’, the guy who made fun of opposition leaders, the guy loves PM and his 56 inches.”
He also shared a video of Gaurav Kapoor’s 2017 interview with Ashish Nehra and suggested that Amritanshu Gupta must have approached the former cricketer for paid tweets.
Gaurav Kapoor during an interview in 2017 to Ashish Nehra: "You'll be damn good on twitter".
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 10, 2023
Ashish Nehra: "People have been after me, we'll pay you per month that much… One guy came to me and said, Every month you'll have to do three tweets, Per year we'll give you 80 Lakh,… pic.twitter.com/jXi2RBuIAF
Zubair also shared an article from Outlook magazine and said, “Celebs hire ‘professionals’ who write under their name to manage their social media accounts.”
Celebs hire ‘professionals’ who write under their name to manage their social media accounts. https://t.co/fjBBelo8Yl
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 10, 2023
The Background of the Controversy
On Saturday (September 9), Mohammed Zubair targeted Venkatesh Prasad over a deleted tweet on the mismanagement of World Cup 2023 ticket sales by the BCCI. The former cricket lambasted the fake news peddler for hatemongering on social media.
“Haha…Says a serial hate-monger, who has put so many lives in danger for his agenda. You disguising as a fact-checker is like Terrorists talking about peace. Now post that you need money to survive and ask for donation for your website, no shame in living off by fooling people,” he tweeted.
Haha.. Says a serial hate- monger, who has put so many lives in danger for his agenda. You disguising as a fact-checker is like Terrorists talking about peace.
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) September 9, 2023
Now post that you need money to survive and ask for donation for your website, no shame in living off by fooling… https://t.co/CjPrtAdC24 pic.twitter.com/ei16dx1wPp
Prasad was soon targeted by the close-knit and vicious ecosystem of Congress leaders, leftists and Islamists on X (formerly Twitter). The ex-cricketer held his ground and refused to bow down to the bullying by the coterie.
“There are enough instances of this guy peddling his agenda, editing videos conveniently, working selectively and biasedly against a political party to make money. He is anything but a fact-checker. One doesn’t have to be blind to not see the reality in this. Regards,” he responded to one of the supporters of Zubair.
The dubious ‘fact checker’ was also left red-faced when Venkatesh Prasad reposted the deleted tweet, which was used by him to target the Indian cricketer.
It takes one corrupt, arrogant guy to take away the hardwork of an otherwise non-corrupt organisation and spoil the reputation of an entire organisation & the impact isn’t just micro but at a macro level. This is true in every field, be it politics,sports, journalistm, corporate.
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) September 10, 2023
With no comeback left, Zubair found the media manager of Venkatesh Prasad i.e. Amritanshu Gupta and unleashed his troll army on the latter. This is in line with his past antics, where he had led his online lynch mob after people for virtue of their different political ideology.
Zubair and his targeting of Nupur Sharma
A classic case of his dog whistling and brazen propaganda was the Nupur Sharma controversy of May 2022.
The ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma found herself at the centre of a raging storm after Islamists, egged on by the likes of AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair, issued multiple threats against her and her family for expressing her views on Prophet Muhammad and Islam.
Sharma was part of a debate panel on Times Now, discussing the finding of Shivling in the Gyanvapi complex and the subsequent mockery of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses that followed in the wake of the discovery.
Islamists had claimed that the Shivling discovered inside the wuzukhana of the Gyanvapi disputed structure was not a Shivling but a fountain. Across social media platforms, detractors had repeated ad nauseam that the Shivling found inside the Gyanvapi premises was a fountain and not an idol of a Hindu God.
In response to the contempt and scorn poured over Hindu Gods and Goddesses, BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma asked them to refrain from insulting Hindu Gods and cited Islamic scriptures and Holy Quran for substantiating her remarks on Prophet Muhammad and Islam.
Zubair shared an incomplete video of the debate, touching off Sar Tan Se Juda protests all over the country. 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.
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, 2022. Kolhe, too, was murdered for his social media post supporting Nupur Sharma.
Opindia had reported in details cases of murders and assaults faced by the Hindu community for extending their support to the former BJP spokesperson.
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 snuffed out the life of Lal, Kolhe, and many others.
