Fact Check: Cropped Screenshot Of The Wire Article Shared Claiming The Platform Demeaned Goddess Durga

Fact Check: Cropped Screenshot Of The Wire Article Shared Claiming The Platform Demeaned Goddess Durga

Screenshot of a part of an old article published in The Wire has been shared with the context that the organisation tried to demean Goddess Durga.

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Facebook page, 'Post Card English' has shared a cropped screenshot of an article of a news website The Wire. The content of the screenshot is, "Durga Puja is the most controversial racial festival, where a fair-skinned beautiful goddess Durga is depicted brutally killing a dark-skinned native called Mahishasura. Mahishasura, a brave self-respecting leader, was tricked into marriage by the Aryans. They hired a sex worker called Durga, who enticed Mahishasura into marriage and killed him after nine nights of honeymooning, during sleep."

The Post Card shared it with the caption, "It's their freedom or speech?" The content has been shared over 150 times.


Twitter handle, 'Indian Right Wing Community' also shared the same screenshot with the caption, "I had never imagined that I'd get to see such disgusting piece of total hatred, intellectual terrorism, manipulation of history and " Maa durga being called a s*x worker that too during navratri" by@thewire_in. There can be no punishment except for legal death sentence."

Claim:

The Wire has disparaged the image of Goddess Durga in its article.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian used the first line of the article and found the original article on The Wire. The original article was published in February 2016 with the headline, 'Mahishasura and Minister'.

The complete article spoke about a speech that was given by Smriti Irani in Lok Sabha in 2016 with regards to the events that took place in JNU campus. In the same speech, Smriti Irani had read an article from the pamphlet which allegedly belonged to the organizers of JNU anti-government protest. She did so to respond to the criticism against the government and inform the Parliament about the alleged anti-national protests that were being held in JNU.

In 2016, a massive scuffle took place in Jawaharlal Nehru University, many students were arrested and some were charged with sedition.

The then HRD Minister Smriti Irani read an excerpt from the pamphlet which allegedly was created by the organisers of the event, "Mahishasur Martyrdom Day".



The statement of the speech by Smriti Irani in Lok Sabha about the same can also be seen on the official YouTube channel of Bhartiya Janta Party.

Responding to the screenshot being circulated, Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire also tweeted, saying that the article is fabricated. He Tweeted, "Look at how the Hindutva fake news brigade fabricates! Something @smritiirani read in parliament—and which a story in @thewire_in quoted her saying—is passed off as "The Wire's view".


Thus, a part of an old article published by The Wire has gone viral on social media with a false context.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Fact Check: Old Image Of Narendra Modi's Rally Revived As Crowd In Modi's Recent Bihar Rally

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Editor : Bharat Nayak
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Creatives : Rajath

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