{"id":18528,"date":"2018-08-24T16:18:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T10:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=18528"},"modified":"2018-08-24T16:19:05","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T10:49:05","slug":"ani-news18-misreport-rss-affiliated-muslim-org-as-people-in-lucknow-celebrating-bakrid-by-cutting-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/ani-news18-misreport-rss-affiliated-muslim-org-as-people-in-lucknow-celebrating-bakrid-by-cutting-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"ANI, News18 misreport RSS-affiliated Muslim org as “people in Lucknow” celebrating Bakrid by cutting cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 21, ANI\u00a0<\/em>tweeted that\u00a0“people in Lucknow”<\/em> were cutting a cake this Bakrid instead of sacrificing goats. The media outlet also quoted a\u00a0man from the Muslim community who said,\u00a0“the custom of sacrificing an animal on Bakrid is not right.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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People in #Lucknow<\/a> are preparing to celebrate an eco-friendly #Bakrid<\/a> by cutting cakes with a goat image. A buyer at a bakery says, \u201cThe custom of sacrificing an animal on Bakrid is not right. I appeal to everyone to celebrate the festival by cutting a cake instead of an animal.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/C5EJ73dKM1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A similar report was carried out by\u00a0News18<\/em><\/a>. The media outlet posted a video where one “Molana Tauqir Ahmed Naqvi” says that he buys a cake every year because he does not believe in sacrificing animals.\u00a0News18\u00a0<\/em>introduced Tauqir as a “customer”. He is the same man who was photographed by\u00a0ANI.\u00a0<\/em>The cake in this report was also identical to the image of the cake uploaded by\u00a0ANI<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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As reports of both the media outlets mentioned “people in Lucknow”<\/em>, it could be inferred that many members of the Muslim community across the city decided to celebrate Bakrid by cutting a cake instead of sacrificing goats.\u00a0However, this was misleading as we will find during the course of this article.<\/p>\n

What is the truth?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On August 23,\u00a0The Times of India<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(TOI)<\/em> published an article titled,\u00a0“Cut cakes, end slaughter, says RSS arm, sparks row”<\/em><\/strong>. The report said that\u00a0“the\u00a0RSS-affiliate Muslim Rashtriya Manch on Wednesday (August 22) asked its members to cut cakes with goat caricatures to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>According to the report, the Manch has 13 lakh members.<\/p>\n

TOI<\/em>\u00a0also included an image of a few members of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch cutting a cake that looked similar to the ones shared by\u00a0ANI<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0News18.\u00a0<\/em>The man in the picture looked similar as well, however, this could not be conclusively said as the photograph used by TOI\u00a0<\/em>was not very clear.<\/p>\n

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The Times of India\u00a0<\/em>quoted the Vice President of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Raees Raja, who said that the practice of not sacrificing goats has been followed by the organisation since its inception in 2002.<\/p>\n

Alt News contacted Raja who confirmed to us that the Manch is affiliated to RSS, of which he is also a part. He added that it is run under the guidance of RSS leader Indresh Kumar.<\/p>\n

When asked if the images used by\u00a0ANI<\/em>\u00a0and The Times of India<\/em> pertained to the same Bakrid celebrations, Raja affirmed. He added that the man clicked in all the photographs is also the same person and his name is Tauqir, which was also the name of the “customer” provided by\u00a0News18.<\/em> A video of members of the Manch, including Tauqir celebrating the festival at their\u00a0karyalay<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>is attached below.<\/p>\n