hijab
The hijab controversy that started from Udupi in Karnataka quickly snowballed into a national issue. The flames in Udupi have now spread to other cities. Recently, a video of PES College in Mandya went viral, in which hundreds of boys and girls wearing saffron scarves were harassing a Muslim girl wearing a burqa and shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram. In response, the student also stood up against the crowd and raised the slogan of ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’.
DFRAC explains the Muskan row
The Muskan controversy, dfrac.org explained in detail, started at the government PU college in UDUPI, Karnataka. PU college banned the students wearing Hijab to attend the classes. a video got viral on the internet. In the video, a girl was wearing a hijab, parking her scooty, and walking along. And, then some men started heckling her and started shouting the slogan of “Jai Shri Ram.” In response, the Hijab girl identified as Muskan started shouting the slogan of Allah hu Akbar. Some people are describing it as the supreme act of bravery. After this, there was fierce politics on this issue.
There are many false and misleading news spread over the internet on Muskan. Such as Salman Khan-Aamir Khan and Turkey gave a reward to hijab girl Muskan. Further, many fake pictures of her got viral. Moreover, There was a girl with Rahul Gandhi. People claim she is the same girl involved in the HijabRow controversy in Karnataka.
In an interview with a news channel, Muskan, a student of PES College, said that only 5-10 boys in the crowd were from her college. Most of the people were ‘outsiders’.
Currently, the matter is sub-judice with Karnatak high court’s larger bench hearing the matter. Meanwhile, the Karnataka government is mulling bringing hijab norms based on the high court’s recommendations.
But following the trend, people maintained the trend of fake news this time too. DFrac.org once again proved the accounts spreading propaganda as false. According to dfrac, a pro-BJP propaganda outlet shared a graphic in which a picture of a burqa-clad Muskan is being shared with another image of a girl in modern clothes. Muskan’s picture is from the day she was harassed in college.
An attempt was made in the graphic to show that both the pictures are of muskan. Dfrac.org investigated how multiple accounts with hashtag muskan were floated from Pakistan, which in some earlier posts thanked the Taliban.
Sudden creation of accounts
Dfrac probed the time of the creation of accounts that interacted with the hashtag to add more fuel to the controversy. According to the data, there were more than 125 new accounts created for this hashtag on Feb 9, 2022, just when the hashtag was at its peak.
Moreover, #Muskan and other related hashtags are the most trending Hashtags these days. Many national and international personalities and firms had shared their opinion on the topic. In a report #HijabRow – A Row of Communalism, dfrac.org covered the ongoing controversy regarding Hijab. Furthermore, this exclusive report on Muskan, it informs readers of the genesis of the ongoing controversy and who is involved to amplify the same.
I&B ministry’s crackdown on YouTube channels
Based on such revelations, in the past, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting took action even on YouTube channels spreading anti-national propaganda. These were 20 channels from different countries. These channels had over 3.5 million subscribers on the network and their videos were viewed more than 550 million times. 15 YouTube channels of Naya Pakistan Group (NPG) and five other YouTube channels were run by news anchors of Pakistani news channels. Misleading, provocative, and fake content was being put on them on issues like NRC, CAA, Ayodhya. Apart from this, the DoT has also ordered internet service providers to block two websites for promoting anti-India campaigns.
According to sources, this operation was done after a coordinated effort between intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The YouTube channels and websites were blocked in the country and operated from Pakistan. Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that attempts were being made from across the border to spoil the atmosphere through fake news inside the country. Action has been taken against him. 15 YouTube channels, five other YouTube channels and two websites have been shut down, whether it was the Naya Pakistan group or through it. So that Pakistani agenda against the country and such forces were not allowed to work against the country.
Were spreading sensitive news about India
Fake news about various sensitive subjects were being spread through channels and websites that were being shut down by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. These channels were being used to post misleading and false information on topics like Kashmir, Indian Army, condition of minority communities in India. Latest in the similar series is the hijab controversy, which is constantly being probed by dfrac.org.
Apart from the hijab issue, false news was spread by these channels about Ram Mandir, General Bipin Rawat, Jammu and Kashmir and Ayodhya. Not only this, inflammatory content was posted on CAA, NRC and other issues. According to officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the modus operandi of the anti-India propaganda campaign includes the Pakistan-based Naya Pakistan Group (NPG), which has a network of YouTube channels, and some other standalone YouTube channels that are not related to the NPG.
