Covid tourism and vulture journalism have become the core tenets of so-called reporter turned nomads in the country who have been picking up the news report of dead bodies floating in and buried along the banks of Ganga in Uttar Pradesh to paint the Yogi Adityanath government in a bad light. However, in light of the new facts, even those stories have not managed to stand the test of truth.
According to a Jagran report, most of the pictures traversing the realms of social media platforms have been picked from the photos of dead bodies buried in Shringverpur Ghat in Prayagraj in 2018 – much before the coronavirus infection came into existence.
The report states that burying dead bodies in the sand along the banks of river Ganga is an age-old custom. Most of the dead bodies associated with diseases like vitiligo, leprosy, or snakebites are brought here and buried. The pictures clicked by Jagran photojournalists in 2018 are now being used to further the propaganda of besmirching the UP government.
The report cites the example of a village named Mendara which is just three km from Shringverpur in Prayagraj. About 50 people died in the village between April 10 and May 10. Newly elected village head Maheshwar Kumar Sonu was quoted as saying by Jagran that about 35 of these bodies were buried on the sandbank of Ganga, according to the tradition of the villagers.
BJP’s National in-charge of Information and Technology department Amit Malviya took to Twitter to share the report and questioned the ‘journalists’ for toying with the beliefs and customs of Hindus.
“Three years ago there was no corona, yet this was the picture of the banks of Ganga. Those who neither know the local traditions nor have the discretion to understand them, are indulging in politics in the name of Covid tourism, over regional beliefs — bringing the entire Hindu society into disrepute.” tweeted Malviya in Hindi.
तीन साल पहले कोरोना नहीं था, फिर भी ऐसी ही थी गंगा किनारे की तस्वीर। जो लोग स्थानीय परम्पराओं को न तो जानते हैं और न उसे समझने का विवेक रखते हैं, वो कोविड पर्यटन के नाम पर, क्षेत्रीय मान्यताओं के ऊपर राजनीति कर रहे हैं, पूरे हिंदू समाज को बदनाम कर रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/dYy3xTBQch
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 26, 2021
शवों और परम्पराओं पर राजनीती करने वाला विपक्ष क्या इस खबर के बाद उत्तर प्रदेश की 24 करोड़ जनता से माफ़ी मांगेगा ? pic.twitter.com/x4NM6JIWFI
— Sidharth Nath Singh (@SidharthNSingh) May 26, 2021
As reported by TFI, Aaj Tak recently made a story out of a burial ground in Prayagraj where people mainly of the Buddhist faith bury their loved ones. Visuals of the said burial ground were flashed around as though the bodies lying covered with orange, yellow and red cloths were a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
Aaj Tak thought that it could get away with spreading fallacious misinformation. However, it had been caught red-handed trying to spread sheer propaganda against the Yogi administration.
Read More: Aaj Tak uses Buddhist deaths to peddle anti-Yogi propaganda, gets exposed by a mahant
According to a mahant, who has for the past 40 years conducted burials at the very exact riverbank area of Ganga, followers of certain tribes and sects, particularly belonging to the Buddhist faith have a tradition of burying the dead along the riverside. In fact, even a Washington Post report quoted a Buddhist man who was performing the burial of his mother as saying, “She was not infected with COVID-19.” He added that his religion allows both cremation and burial, “but I chose burial.”
Prayagraj observes an age-old tradition of burying dead bodies along the holy river Ganges. It seems all the lies spread by the opposition is coming to the fore one by one..#Ganga #ganges #GangaRiver #Prayagraj #UttarPradesh #IndiaFightsCorona #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/6C4cuHvcst
— Know The Nation (@knowthenation) May 21, 2021
The ‘covi-idiots’ masquerading as journalists are trying their level best to create an environment of fear and psychosis in the minds of the general public by routinely flashing insensitive images. Their sole aim is to repeat a lie thousand times so that it becomes the cardinal truth. However, their reality has been exposed to the tee by the aforementioned reports.
