Al Jazeera, AFP downplay atrocities committed on Hindus by Muslim mobs in Murshidabad, contextualise violence as protests against Waqf law

Amid the onslaught on the Hindu community in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, foreign media publications like Al Jazeera and AFP have resorted to Goebbels-like propaganda to downplay the atrocities committed by violent Muslim mobs.

OpIndia has reported in detail how Hindus were selectively targeted, including their homes, shops and temples. The carnage began soon after Jumma Namaz on 11th April in the name of ‘protests’ against the new Waqf law and continued till 12th April.

The situation became so grim that 1000s of Hindus had to flee their homes in Murshidabad to the nearby Malda district via boats. On 13th April, Al Jazeera published a report titled ‘India deploys troops after deadly protests over Muslim endowment bill’

Instead of focusing on the actual Hindu victims, the Qatar-funded website resorted to portraying the Muslim perpetrators as ‘victims’. The large-scale riots were trivialised as ‘protests against recently passed controversial bill.’

The mayhem unleashed by Muslim mobs was rationalised by suggesting that the Waqf Amendment Act ‘diluted the rights of Muslims to manage religious endowments (Waqf)’. Terms such as ‘escalation of protests’ were employed to characterise the deadly violence.

Al Jazeera, in its report, focused on the inclusion of non-Muslims in Waqf and laid the justification for Muslims to run riots in Murshidabad against the supposed ‘religious discrimination’.

“Muslims fear that changes to the 1995 law could leave waqf properties, including historic mosques, shops, shrines, graveyards and thousands of acres of land, vulnerable to confiscation, dispute and demolition,” it further contextualised the violence against the Hindu community.

Al Jazeera, through its Goebbels-like propaganda, attempted to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the carnage in Murshidabad instead of the rioting Muslim mobs that set Hindu homes on fire, destroyed livelihoods, issued death and rape threats and poisoned water tanks.

“Modi’s decade as prime minister has seen him cultivate an image as an aggressive champion of the country’s majority Hindu faith and reports show religious polarisation has helped his party gain electoral benefits,” it claimed.

The Qatar-funded outlet additionally tried to make a case for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, Trinamool Congress, which provided a favourable environment for extremists to target Hindus, by pointing out that the Waqf Amendment Act would not be implemented in the State and that TMC leaders were actively pacifying Muslims in the State.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) had also published a wire copy, which tried to downplay the extent of violence committed against Hindus in Murshidabad by frenzied Muslim mobs opposed to the new Waqf law.

The well-coordinated riots were dubbed ‘deadly protests’. A foundation was set to justify the violence by claiming that the protests were over a law that changed ‘how Muslim-owned properties are managed.’

“The Waqf amendment bill that set off the protests was passed earlier this month after heated debate,” the news agency had claimed in its report.

Citing Opposition leaders, AFP presented a demonic imagery of the Waqf Amendment Act, thereby further contextualising the need for ‘protests’ and an inherent justification for the violence that followed over the enactment of the legislation.

“Police fired tear gas at the thousands of demonstrators who gathered on Friday in the state’s Murshidabad district. Three people, including a child, were killed, police told AFP on Saturday,” the agency claimed, giving a false impression about law enforcement authorities using deadly force against mere ‘demonstrators (rioters in reality).’

The AFP report also attempted to blame the Modi government for the violence.

“Modi’s decade as premier has seen him cultivate an image as an aggressive champion of the country’s majority Hindu faith. His government revoked the constitutional autonomy of India’s Muslim-majority Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and backed the construction of a temple on grounds where a mosque stood for centuries before it was torn down by Hindu extremists in 1992,” the news agency claimed.

Due to the deliberate mischaracterization of the riots unleashed against Hindus in Murshidabad, the wire copies of AFP were re-published in Pakistani news portals like Dawn, Geo and The News International.

Targeted attack on Hindus in Murshidabad

The Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district has witnessed large-scale incidents of violence, vandalism, arson and targeted attacks against the Hindu community on Friday (11th April) in the garb of protests against the newly enacted Waqf Amendment Act.

Muslim mobs unleashed mayhem in Suti and Samserganj areas in Murshidabad after the conclusion of the Jumma Namaz.

 In the guise of peaceful protests, the extremists destroyed the sweet shop of a Hindu couple and looted all their belongings.

While breaking down in tears, the owner of the shop said, “I had a sweet shop here.” He then pointed towards his now-destroyed ‘Subha Smriti Hotel.’

“They took away all our belongings. including cash kept inside the shop…There is nothing left. How will we eat now?” the owner’s wife was heard saying.

Muslims also vandalised another establishment named ‘Sri Hari Hindu Hotel & Lodge’. The visuals of the damage were shared by the news agency ANI.

There have also been local reports of attacks on Hindu temples and idol desecration in Murshidabad. In a video shared by Republic Bangla, Trinamool Congress MP Khalilur Rahaman admitted that a temple was vandalised in Jangipur.

According to a report by India Today, the extremists also targeted homes belonging to Hindu families.

“Several houses of Hindu families in the minority-dominated district were targeted and shops were attacked,” it stated.

“The protesters didn’t even spare an ambulance that got caught in the violence and set it ablaze. The driver of the ambulance was brutally thrashed before the vehicle was set on fire,” the report further pointed out.

An eyewitness confirmed to India Today that Muslims set fire to an ambulance and assaulted the driver of the vehicle. “We were scared and sitting inside our homes. I had kept my parents, wife and children at home,” he narrated.

The Hindu man pointed out that the attackers were local Muslims and not outsiders. A CCTV footage that has now surfaced online shows an attacker damaging the vehicle of a Hindu family in Murshidabad.

“They have destroyed and torched bikes, looted our belongings and set shops on fire,” another Hindu victim of the Murshidabad carnage narrated to ANI.

“I couldn’t sleep at night. We were awake and in fear. There was no police force when violence was being carried out here. The cops were running for their lives…Let us see if the government gives us compensation,” he added.

Manju Bhagat, the wife of a Hindu trader Amar Bhagat, told Aaj Tak, “They (Muslim mobs) tried to enter through the front gate. When they failed, they attempted to enter through the back gate.”

“They broke the bike, vandalised our home, and looted everything from chairs, mattresses, TV to expensive household items,” she added.

“Our whole family was praying to God. We were risking our lives and hiding on the terrace. We were chanting the name of God and praying that the mob leave the house. What would I have done if something happened to my daughter at that time” she narrated her ordeal.

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