A portal funded by separatist Arundhati Roy’s Zindabad Trust, Alt News, yesterday published an article titled “OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan calls for mob violence, deletes tweet”. A screenshot of the deleted tweet was posted, and the tweet said, “See, if you want to make sure ‘intellectuals’ like this ass listen to your grievances, the first thing you’ve to indulge is in largescale mindless violence. Gau Rakshaks you know what to do. Stop with sundry lynchings.”
Rahul Roushan was quoting lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan’s tweet. Bhushan had shared a Reuters article published by India Today humanizing the Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dhar. He had added the following comment: “Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar became terrorist after he was beaten by troops”. It’s imp to understand why so many young men in Kashmir are becoming militants & willing to die. Even US forces couldn’t hold Afghanistan & Iraq after large-scale suicide attacks.
"Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar became terrorist after he was beaten by troops". It's imp to understand why so many young men in Kashmir are becoming militants&willing to die. Even US forces couldn't hold Afghanistan & Iraq after large-scale suicide attackshttps://t.co/2mr5d3WK2Z
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) February 16, 2019
Although Bhushan’s tweet (a screenshot of it) is clearly visible in the article, the writer either did not understand what Rahul Roushan meant when he quoted the tweet, or deliberately chose to mislead Alt News’ readers. It is quite clear that Bhushan is justifying why young men are taking to militancy. Rahul Roushan’s quote clearly indicates that the likes of Bhushan manage to justify large-scale violence like Jihad, but portray the stray beef-related lynching incidents as the pinnacle of all evil. His last two sentences telling Gau Rakshaks that they know what to do and that they should stop with the sundry lynchings are so obviously sarcastic that a child would catch the sarcasm. However, Pratik Sinha or whoever in his team had the bright idea of targeting Rahul Roushan over this, could not catch it.
This means that Rahul Roushan was misquoted in the title of the article. Moreover, Alt News not catching the sarcasm doesn’t mean that its readers did not. In effect, Alt News’ attempts to tarnish Rahul Roushan actually ensured that even Alt News’ readers saw Prashant Bhushan’s tweet for what it was, and furthered the argument that Roushan made. Alt News is no stranger to shooting itself on the foot, so it was just another day for them.
When tfipost.com got in touch with Rahul Roushan, we asked him three specific questions. We asked him to clarify what he meant with his tweet, why he deleted the tweet, and whether he stands by what he said even now. Roushan told us, “Self-declared liberals like Prashant Bhushan are always ready to hear the grievances of those who indulge in mindless largescale violence, be it Naxals or Islamists. They actively help them with activism and legal means. So does it not mean that to attract their support and attention, one has to indulge in large scale violence? I totally stand by this observation, and the deletion of my tweet doesn’t mean disowning my question to hypocrites like Bhushan.”
Roushan went on to add that the tweet was purely rhetorical, and that he deleted it because some people would either fail to understand it or deliberately misinterpret it, and call for the suspension of his Twitter account. This was of course true, since that is precisely what Alt News attempted although they fell short of calling for his suspension because that would have made their objective too obvious.
Others from the cabal like Kavita Krishnan also joined the bandwagon and pointed fingers at Roushan.
It's v clear these Kashmiri women students didn't incite any violence so they can't be charged with sedition. A Delhi MLA, an OpIndia CEO incite violence openly on social media with zero consequences while young women students pay with their education & reputation for far less?
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) February 17, 2019
But when communists talk about violence or anything else for that matter, it is hard to take them seriously.
