Online encyclopedia Wikipedia that has a user-interface that grants everyone the power to edit a piece is one again being called anti-Hindu after it termed last week’s riots in Bengaluru as a clash.
In its page, Wikipedia has written, “The clashes between police and agitators started around the residence of Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, a state legislator of the Indian National Congress, and later spread to the police stations of KG Halli and DJ Halli. Provoked by an inflammatory Facebook post on Muhammad that was allegedly shared by the nephew of the legislator, a group of Muslims arrived at his house in protest which turned violent. The property of the legislator was also torched during the period of violence.
In contrast, the Wikipedia page termed the 2020 violence in Delhi a riot. “The 2020 Delhi riots, or North East Delhi riots, were multiple waves of bloodshed, property destruction, and rioting in North East Delhi, beginning on 23 February and caused chiefly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims.”
Notably, this irked several people on Twitter, who said that Indians should not contribute to Wikipedia because of its ‘anti-Hindu rhetoric’. Twitter users R Jagannath and Shefali Vaidya were the first to lead the tirade against the site.
Earlier, BJP I-T cell Chief Amit Malviya on Friday slammed the Congress for not condemning the violence in Bengaluru following a social media post that insulted Prophet Mohammed.
“Not a word of condemnation from the Congress on the rioting that took place in Bengaluru, in which their own Dalit MLAs house was gutted down, nor a word against Shahzeb Rizvi announcing a bounty of 51 lakh on Karnataka Congress MLA’s nephew’s head. Just because they are Dalits?” Malviya tweeted.
Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasamurthy’s house was set on fire by a mob on Tuesday night, after his nephew Naveen had shared the post. Srinivasmirthy had won on a reserved seat.
The MLA admitted to have had a narrow escape and even sought police custody. “They barged into the house late Tuesday evening, looted jewellery, money and saris, burnt the furnishing and eventually the entire house. They targeted the houses of two of my brothers too. I was fortunate to have escaped as I was on my way back home when police alerted me."
The city police Thursday filed as many as 12 FIRs against 17 main accused in the mob violence on Tuesday night that saw three people dead in police firing and over 150, including many policemen, injured in eastern parts of Bengaluru.
Though the FIR has not cited any organisation for the violence, prominent leaders of Secular Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a fringe Muslim organisation, have been named. Five people, including SDPI’s Bengaluru district president Muzamil Pasha, have been arrested even as there was a growing chorus to ban the organisation.
