Alt News, the self-proclaimed ‘fact-checking’ website has been relentless in cyber stalking, doxxing, and spinning instances of communal crimes that are perpetrated by a specific community has now against indulged in a blatant display of Hinduphobia. One of the editors of AltNews, Pooja Chaudhuri, has now resorted to character assassination and targeted harassment of Bollywood actors who chose to publicly profess their religious views.
Following the Bhoomi Pujan of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, actor Akshay Kumar compared the historic day to the Hindu festival of lights. He wrote, “Diwali came early this year. Historic day indeed! Jai Siya Ram.” However, Alt News’ Pooja Chaudhari was clearly miffed. She called for a boycott of his movies by emphasising that celebrating the foundation of Ram Mandir was ‘worse’ than romancing a girl half his age. Pooja tweeted, “Next time another film releases where Akshay Kumar romances a woman half his age, remember that there are worse reasons to not watch him.”
Next time another film releases where Akshay Kumar romances a woman half his age, remember that there are worse reasons to not watch him. pic.twitter.com/PoE0bC5cQZ
— Pooja 🌈 (@Pooja_Chaudhuri) August 6, 2020
Pooja did not stop at Akshay Kumar. She also hit out at ‘Pyaar ka Punchnama’ actor Kartik Aryan who wrote a nuanced tweet highlighting the significance of ‘patience’ in the long-standing fight for a majestic Ram temple. With a picture of him eating watermelon, Kartik wrote, “Aaj breakfast mein Sabr ka Phal khaya… Aap logon ne kya khaya? (I ate the fruits of patience today. What did you eat?).”
However, the agitated AltNews editor, whose only claim to fame are ‘fact-check’ articles deliberately written to absolve Islamists of their heinous crimes, claimed that the ‘sexist’ actor has less talent than the watermelon. “That plate of watermelon has more talent than this man whose entire career is built piggy-backing on sexism,” Pooja remarked.
Have nothing to say about this dude. Don’t remember the last time I watched one of his films. pic.twitter.com/0TKOrbz0gx
— Pooja 🌈 (@Pooja_Chaudhuri) August 6, 2020
A disenchanted Pooja then chose to target actor Varun Dhawan. The actor had shared a picture of Lord Ram and Hanuman embracing each other. The AltNews editor tweeted, “Have nothing to say about this dude. Don’t remember the last time I watched one of his films.”
Although Varun Dhawan did not seek for validation of his films from her, she nevertheless made her point clear – Anyone who wishes or celebrates the construction of Ram temple and is proud of their Hindu heritage, must be condemned. It is only then one can become ‘secular’ in the eyes of the ecosystem that nurtures and encourages such a vicious and toxic mindset.
Alt News editor uses underage girl to target grandfather
Yesterday, AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair targeted a minor girl in his Twitter fight with a social media user. Zubair referred to the image of the minor granddaughter of a Twitter user named Jagdish Singh going by the account JSINGH2252 in an attempt to shame him publicly.
Zubair had replied to the tweet of IPS officer Dipanshu Kabra who had posted a video showing vehicles jumping wildly over a large pothole on a road. He had posted a ‘fact-check’ article by Alt News, where it was said that it is an old video from China. Mr Kabra had not claimed that video is recent, or that it is from a particular city. He had just asked to guess the city. But Zubair assumed that he is claiming it to be from India, and posted the fact-check saying it is from China.
The Twitter user Jagdish Singh was not happy with such needless fact-checking used a colloquial term in response to Zubair, which is often used by netizens to express how AltNews is hardly a fact-checking website. Responding to Zubair, Jagdish said “l*vde ka fact-checker’, which essentially is used by several detractors to discredit AltNews. The reaction of Zubair was over the top and dangerous. Instead of responding to him directly, he chose to use the DP (display image) of the user on Twitter, where he was seen with his granddaughter.
