In a recent interview, Nupur J. Sharma, editor of OpIndia was heard making derogatory remarks about revered Muslim saint, Moinuddin Chishti. In a video that surfaced on X, formerly known as Twitter on Thursday, she can be heard saying, “Muslim Sufis including saints like Moinuddin Chisti, killed and raped Hindus.” She further added, “If Sufism is a sect that looks inwards, why did even the Sufis have a problem co-existing with Hindus and persecuted the Hindus calling them kafirs and idol-worshippers”.
“Is there a variant of Islam, that will allow them to peacefully coexist with Hindus?,” she questions the interviewee as an Islamophobic remark. The Interview was conducted by OpIndia, a news website widely known for its bias towards the current ruling government in India.
Sharma has been called out multiple times even before this, for inciting hate through the dissemination of false information. To list some of the instances — in 2020, the Bihar police registered a case against two rightwing websites OpIndia and KhabarTak, accusing them of creating communal tension in the region.
OpIndia is also reported to have falsely claimed that the murder of a Hindu boy in Bihar had a “communal intent”, but all allegations were later refuted by the Police, exposing OpIndia of its Anti-Muslim bias.
Moreover, in 2022, OpIndia was again caught peddling fake news; this time against veteran journalist Suchetha Dalal, managing editor of the news website Moneylife. On being pointed out, Nupur J. Sharma publicly apologized but the article wasn’t deleted.
OpIndia has faced consistent allegations of disseminating misinformation and promoting hate speech. In 2019, the International Fact-Checking Network declined to certify OpIndia as a fact-checker, citing concerns about bias, insufficient data, and disparaging comments.
In 2023, CEO Rahul Roushan and Editor Nupur J. Sharma were booked by the Tamil Nadu Police for allegedly spreading false information about attacks on migrant workers in the state.
OpIndia is allegedly a pro-Hindutva platform, that has published multiple articles dehumanizing Muslims and vilifying Islam. Ashok Kumar Gupta, former director of OpIndia, has had ties to the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, according to the reports by News Laundry.
In 2019, Rahul Raj, who is no longer affiliated with the website, posted a tweet stating that he had “distanced” himself from the platform due to its transformation into a “blind mouthpiece of BJP”.
Edited By: Shahzeen Khan
