War over Wikipedia Page: How Wiki page of Delhi riots became a platform for a heated information battle

The horrors of Delhi riots that happened last month might have drowned amidst the white noise of coronavirus but the clamour around it on the internet refuses to die down. According to a report by Times of India, there have been in excess of 1600 edits on the Delhi riots page on Wikipedia. Wiki editors have their task cut out, handling the changes sometimes at a staggering rate of one every 2 minutes, the report said.

The open-sourced information website that features as the first on any Google search has long been accused of bias against right-wing or conservative viewpoints. The reportage on North-east Delhi riots on Wikipedia has been indeed blasphemous one. The liberals and the Islamists have been trying to alter many truths on the website by tweaking the content on the page to suit their narrative. 

It is evident from the first line of the article that a certain whole community have been handed the victim card here and the Hindus are made the big-broody villain. Interestingly, the citations for the line “most of whom were Muslims” is referred to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Both newspapers are infamous for their pioneering work in pushing anti-India narrative to the global audience. Not surprisingly, the likes of Barkha Dutta and Rana Ayyub are on their payrolls.

The major bone of contention that many users have had with Wikipedia over the riots is assigning blame to the party privy of inciting the violence. The Wikipedia moderators have been very swift to pin the blame on BJP leaders like Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma, and Abhay Verma but have been relatively mum on AIMIM’s Waris Pathan, so-called secular activist Harsh Mander, AAP’s henchman Tahir Hussain and even radio jockey Sayema. 

When TFI earlier reported of Wikipedia’s biases, the article had at least a few mentions of Mohammed Shahrukh but as of today, the article does not have a single mention of the shooter’s name whereas Kapil Mishra’s name is routinely used in every sentence. The senior editor of the page, who is supposed to be politically neutral while editing and moderating content on Wikipedia, commented that if the man was a Hindu, media would not have focused on him, and there is no need to include more detail on the incident.

The anti-CAA rioters had went on a rampage in Jaffrabad, Maujpur and other areas of Northeast Delhi. Several videos showed how anti-CAA rioters turned the protest sites into virtual warzones attacking both Delhi Police and the ordinary citizens. Videos of Mohammed Shahrukh brandishing his pistol in the open, aiming and firing at the lone police officer went viral and the liberals pinned the whole incident on ‘Bhagwa Atankwad’ (Saffron Terrorism) in order to play the victim card. Some went on to say that rioters were waving Bhagwa flags in the background. It later turned out that it was baskets in which stone pelters had kept the stones and the skull-caps. The whole incident finds no worthy-mention in the Wikipedia report.

It is Wikipedia’s policy that no matter what, every single claim in any Wikipedia article must be verified by multiple sources. In this article, Wikipedia broke its own policy when it made the claim of ‘Several journalists reporting on the riots stated that they had been threatened by pro-CAA mobs’. Who exactly are the several journalists is of course not revealed. 

Wikipedia has dedicated an entire sub-topic of ‘Incitement of Violence’ on Kapil Mishra, it has completely omitted the role of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan as the blame of the riots have been squarely been placed on Mishra’s ‘provocative’ speech on multiple occasions in the article. The moderator has even refused to entertain any mentions of the role of Amanatullah Khan.

The article mentions the attack on a mosque in Ashok Nagar and shouting of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Hinduon ka Hindustan” slogans by the mobs, but have no reference to any attack by Muslims and anti-CAA mobs. On the other hand, while there are videos showing mob shouting “Nara e Taqbeer” and “Allahu Akbar”, but they find no place on the page.

Wikipedia’s biased article on the riots drives the point home that leftists have infiltrated almost every notable institution to run their propaganda. The right-wing ideology is trying to counter it as the 1600 edits on the article prove. But the major chunk of editors and moderators are politically motivated and therefore it is an uphill battle.