Who runs Kreately? - Alt News investigates the factory of hate and misinformation - Alt News
Pratik Sinha & Pooja Chaudhuri
10th April 2021 / 9:12 pm
A popular method used to gift-wrap disinformation and hate in illusions of the truth is the creation of dubious websites that pose as ‘news’ outlets. One such venture that has gained substantial social media clout in the past few months is Kreately. The website is owned by Texas-based Waiable Media Inc, a company run by Indians in the US. Over the past few months, the website has been inundated with hate campaigns against minorities in India.
Before we discuss its operation, let’s get a glimpse into the world of Kreately.
In a recent piece, Kreately asserted that ‘Leftists’ and ‘communists’ are colluding to convert India into an Islamic state. The website has published several articles that demonise Islam and the Muslim community. Islam: Danger To Democracy, A Sneak Peek In Indian Muslim Mindset and How Islam Is Going To Capture India Sooner Than You Think are some of its reports. It also promotes fear-mongering through pieces such as 5 Step Love Jihad-Role Of Muslim Girls & Fate Of Hindu Victims and Alert: Extremely Scary Situation For Hindus!
Below is a post on its Instagram account that shows the extent of anti-Muslim propaganda.
A post shared by Kreately (@kreatelymedia)
In another report, Kreately denied gang-rape of the 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras and blamed ‘Leftists’ and ‘jihadis’ for conspiring against the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had in December 2020 invoked charges of gang-rape and murder against four upper-caste men. Kreately also made the false claim that the victim was cremated with her family’s consent even as ground reports prove the opposite.
The website regularly indulges in sharing false news. It had recently tweeted that a pilot of the Pakistan Air Force urinated in a jet plane after a ‘calling from Allah’. Kreately had referred to a morphed screenshot of a Dawn article that was debunked by Alt News here.
Saving fuel? pic.twitter.com/beNW2FQWBH
— Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) February 17, 2021
In the aftermath of the Galwan clashes, Kreately had published a false story that a Chinese military official accepted that the Indian army killed more than 100 Chinese soldiers.
The website also shared conspiracy theories alluding that certain suicides, including actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, are actually ‘murders’ and Taj Mahal is really a Hindu temple.
Kreately targets those critical of the BJP government. An article on actor Swara Bhaskar, where the featured image is a still from a movie that shows her in a tattered state, is beyond bad writing – “Let’s hope that she will not contemplate retirement and sanyaas from the rasbhari industry which is Bollywood and will continue to give us climax after climax. Dildo not needed.”
It also publishes ‘satirical’ pieces where the idea of humour is ‘fact-checking’ a fictional story claiming that the founder of ‘Atheist Republic’ Armin Navabi raped the dead body of his mother.
This vulgar piece, along with the others mentioned, was tweeted by BJP Delhi leader Kapil Mishra.
Kreately Satire 10/10
Fact-Check : No, Armin Navabi did not Rape the dead body of His Mother
Although, Armin Navabi shown tendencies of seeing ‘mother’ as a ‘sexual object’ in many of his tweets
Seems things were ‘complicated’ in the family
Read: https://t.co/gSeiYZuG28
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) September 6, 2020
The website Kreately.in came into existence in May 2020. Its Alexa Rank in India in less than a year is about 10,000. One of the main people behind its growing popularity is BJP leader Kapil Mishra who regularly promotes the platform.
Mishra is a verified author on the platform and frequently shares Kreately articles.
The video below shows Mishra’s aggressive promotion of the platform.
Some of the articles on the website term the BJP leader the “voice of Hindus” and the “convenient scapegoat” in Delhi riots. The first paragraph of a piece on Delhi riots says that Mishra publicly requested Delhi police to remove the blockade by anti-CAA protestors. That ‘request’ was a three-day ultimatum to clear Jaffrabad and Chand Bagh or else Mishra and his supporters “will take to the streets”. This speech was made right beside DCP (North East) Ved Prakash Surya yet ‘scapegoat’ Kapil Mishra remains unnamed in the Delhi riots charge sheet filed by the police.
Mishra had taken the first interview for Kreately with Sadhvi Ritambhara, Hindutva leader and founder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s women’s wing Durga Vahini. Ritambhara is infamous for her catalysing role leading mobs to demolish the Babri Masjid in 1992. She was arrested days after the mosque was razed. The Liberhan Commission of Inquiry named her among 67 others “culpable for leading the country to the brink of communal discord”. In September 2020, a CBI special court acquitted Ritambhara and all other accused stating that the demolition was “spontaneous, not pre-planned”.
Mishra introduces Rithambara as a ‘brave’ Hindu and ‘Didi Ma’, applauding her efforts in making Ram Mandir a reality.
Kreately presents Kapil Mishra Live with Sadhvi Ritambhara – ONE BRAVE HINDU https://t.co/PZpR2PBg1R
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) August 3, 2020
Kreately Media mentions its parent company’s name – Waiable Media Inc. – at the bottom of the website.
A document in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission recognises Sachin Chitlangia as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Waiable Media. The document, dated March 10, 2021, says, “Waiable Media Inc issued 20% of its shares for USD 245,000. It is an exchange offer for the shares in the company” and acknowledges that Chitlangia executed the stock subscription agreement.
Sachin Chitlangia runs an anonymous Twitter handle @InternetYodha.
We have sent all the expense details to VHP office even though there is no reason to send. If you need it, I can send it to you. Send me email me at [email protected] and will revert back 3/3
— #BringBackTrueIndology (@InternetYodha) August 29, 2018
Last year, Chitlangia tweeted that he lives in the US and “works with Kapil Mishra and team”.
I live in US and working with Kapil Mishra ji and team, several of us are in US who is supporting this mission to help the Hindus. Here is the story of Vinod ji
If you would like to call Nitin, I can DM you the # Thank you for asking all good questionshttps://t.co/6522aIIGFJ
— #BringBackTrueIndology (@InternetYodha) March 16, 2020
He is a vocal BJP supporter and had urged people to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Chitlangia lives in Houston, Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCdQLm4lyoU
Further details about Waiable Media can also be accessed on the online company search portal Bizapedia. Waiable Media is a registered for-profit company registered in Texas, US on August 6, 2020. Sachin Chitlangia is identified as the registered agent for the company while its principal secretary is Vijaya Vishwanathan from Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Vijaya Vishwanathan is the president of Infinity Foundation. Retired IAS officer and BJP supporter Sanjay Dixit had interviewed Vishwanathan in August last year. Dixit identified her as one of the people who funded Kreately Media. “I would also like to tell you that she funds this new, great, exiting portal that has come up in the United States, Kreately.in. It is making waves of course and she is there at the back of it,” Dixit says at 1:30 minutes onward in the video below.
We found an archived link of Kreately Media’s company profile on Bizapedia. Its details are the same as Waiable Media including the company file number and date of registration. But two other principals on record have been named here – Pariksith Singh from Florida and Vikram Tikoo from North Carolina. Alt News contacted the company founders for comment on the parent company’s name changed from Kreately Media Inc. to Waiable Media Inc, but did not receive a response.
Vikram Tikoo had shared some personal details on his social media accounts that led us to the anonymous Twitter account (@TapasNiyama) he runs. Below is a screenshot that shows Tikoo has access to the backend of Kreately’s website. Alt News is not disclosing the personal information Tikoo had shared as it reveals his address, among other details.
Sachin Chitlangia had set up another company ‘Kreately Consulting’ in February 2021. Vikram Tikoo was named as the co-founder of the company. Both their names have now been removed from the company website but can be seen in an archived link to its homepage.
Tikoo and Chitlangia are also associated with Sewa USA, a part of the Sangh Parivar.
The fourth principal on record mentioned on Bizapedia is Pariksith Singh who is also an author at Kreately. He has been tagged by the platform on Twitter several times. Kreately identified Singh as “Eminent Author & CEO, Access Health Care Physicians, Florida” in a tweet.
🚨Join Professor Dr. Makarand Paranjape, renowned Indian novelist, poet, and literary critic, in conversation with Dr. Pariksith Singh as they discuss Dr. Makarand’s Poetry.@MakrandParanspe @PariksithSingh#FacebookLive https://t.co/YHdNGuHsoY pic.twitter.com/SEQSwF1EbS
— Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) February 12, 2021
US-based BJP and RSS supporters are therefore running a website along with BJP leader Kapil Mishra to push pro-BJP propaganda and misinformation in India. Kreately’s presence however is not limited to social media. The website is collaborating with Uttar Pradesh-based IIP Foundation for a Mobile Journalism (MOJO) course where students will be offered a one-month internship at Kreately. Kapil Mishra and Sanjay Dixit are tagged in Kreately’s tweet informing about the course. They are among the ‘mentors’ who would be taking classes as part of the course.
Kreately is collaborating with @iip_india for #OnlineMobileJournalismCourse
We will offer scholarships to a selected few. We will also offer a 1-month internship after the course completion
More details – https://t.co/QsA70p6D0k
cc @rajeshsepia @KapilMishra_IND @Sanjay_Dixit pic.twitter.com/TU3neQgUwz
— Kreately (@KreatelyMedia) December 31, 2020
A right-wing favourite who is an author at Kreately is Rati Hedge, a contributor to RSS publication Organiser. Kreately had put out its first tweet on June 22, 2020. That same day it had tweeted an article by Hegde.
Ratan Sharda, another author at Organiser, also writes for Kreately.
Anuneet Arya (@Aryalogics) who identifies as an RSS worker and BJP karyakarta had shared a distasteful piece on actor Swara Bhasker’s web series ‘Rasbhari’. The article no longer exists on Kreately. Arya had asked his followers to follow the platform and tagged Kapil Mishra.
The first person to tweet an article by Kreately was Ranjit Karthikeyan, state convenor of RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagaran Manch.
Kreately is a user-generated platform where anyone can make an account and request the moderators to get published. The non-prominent contributors are similarly aligned with a disdain for the Muslim community and Left-leaning individuals and devotion to Prime Minister Modi.
An author with Kreately, Arpita Sen, has penned two articles — one on PM Modi’s ‘profound’ leadership and the other essentially declaring West Bengal a land ‘carved out for Hindus’.
Sen’s political inclination is apparent. On July 10, 2020 she termed ex-AMU student Sharjeel Usmani a “cockroach” while tweeting, “Please hit him so hard that he and his mujahids stop speaking.” Usmani was actively involved in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and was arrested from his home by Uttar Pradesh police last year.
Kreately has been started by US-based BJP supporters. In the few months that it has existed, the platform has become popular in the Indian right-wing ecosystem due to the constant promotion by Kapil Mishra. The website has targeted minorities and put out misinformation multiple times. Despite several attempts to reach out to Kreately and other individuals behind the website, Alt News received no response. This report will be updated if and when they give a statement.
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