"Terrorists Conspired To Divide Us, But We Stand United": PM Modi On Pahalgam
"Sikkim has today become the pride of India...": PM Modi addresses the crowd on 50th anniversary celebrations of Sikkim's statehood, through video conferencing"Time has come for Sikkim to be a global tourist destination": PM Modi"What happened in Pahalgam was not just an attack on Indians, but on the soul of humanity, on spirit of unity and brotherhood. They conspired to divide us. But we stand united. We gave a befitting reply to these terrorists with ": PM Modi n18oc_indiaNews18 Mobile App - https://onelink.to/desc-youtube
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NDTV
44 minutes ago
- NDTV
"One Nation, One Husband?" Bhagwant Mann's Bizarre Remark On Op Sindoor
Chandigarh: In a controversial remark, Punjab Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann has said that the BJP had turned "sindoor" into a joke and asked if this was a "one nation, one husband" scheme. "BJP is seeking votes in the name of Operation Sindoor. These people have turned 'sindoor' into a joke. They are sending sindoor to every home. Will you now apply 'sindoor' in (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's name? Is this a 'one nation, one husband' scheme?" Mr Mann said. The Punjab Chief Minister was speaking to the media when he was asked a question on BJP workers seeking votes in the name of Operation Sindoor ahead of the bypoll in Ludhiana. The BJP recently announced a nationwide campaign to showcase the Narendra Modi government's success in Operation Sindoor, India's counterstrike to the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 innocents dead. Following the announcement, some reports claimed that the BJP would send 'sindoor' - vermilion - to every home as part of the campaign. The Press Information Bureau trashed these reports. Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had slammed Prime Minister Modi for the choice of 'Operation Sindoor' as the name of India's strikeback. "The name 'Operation Sindoor' was their brainchild. It was politically motivated. I did not want to say this, especially when the multi-party delegations are visiting several countries and explaining India's stand. But today, the Prime Minister came to West Bengal with the motive of political propaganda," Ms Banerjee said after the Prime Minister visited Bengal. "First, he (PM Modi) described himself as a tea-seller. Then, he described himself as a guard. Now he has come here to sell Sindoor," she added. In the aftermath of India's airstrikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, several reports said it was Prime Minister Modi who chose the name Operation Sindoor. Sindoor in Hindi means vermilion, which Hindu women put on their head as a symbol of marriage. The name of the operation captured the loss of these women, whose partners were brutally killed in front of their eyes. An image put out by the Indian Army after the airstrikes had Operation Sindoor written in block letters. One 'O' in Sindoor is a bowl of vermilion. Some of it has spilled over, symbolising the ruthlessness that snatched away the life partners of 25 women. The caption read: "Justice is served. Jai Hind."
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Bhagwant Mann's 'one nation, one husband' remark: BJP says it is 'vulgarity dressed as leadership'
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party ( ) on Tuesday hit out at 's remark related to , calling his statement "disgraceful." "Bhagwant Mann just mocked Operation Sindoor, asking: 'Will you wear sindoor in Modi's name? Is this One Nation, One Husband? This isn't satire. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is vulgarity dressed as leadership," BJP's Chandigarh unit said in a post on X. "Let's be clear: Operation Sindoor was launched after Hindu women were targeted by terrorists, identified by their sindoor. It was about justice for the innocent, not a joke," the BJP said. The post further targeted Punjab CM, saying, "He cannot grasp the meaning of sindoor — A symbol of love, sacrifice, and strength for every Indian woman. Bhagwant Mann didn't insult BJP. He insulted every widow of a soldier, every mother of a martyr, every woman of Bharat." Earlier, Punjab CM Mann questioned the BJP's initiative of distributing Sindoor door to door, saying, "Did you not see the kind of joke they made out of Sindoor? Without any reason, they are going to every house and saying, take sindoor in Modi's name. When they come to yours, will you apply it? What is this? One nation, one husband scheme?" Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7 as a military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, which claimed 26 lives. Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the deaths of over 100 terrorists affiliated with groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. Following India's strike, Pakistan retaliated with shelling across the Line of Control and Jammu and Kashmir, along with attempted drone attacks along the Pakistan's incursion, India escalated its response, targeting and destroying key Pakistani military and air infrastructure, including the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi and the Rahim Yar Khan airbase. Both countries reached an understanding to end hostilities on May 10.
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First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
Inside Pakistan's disinformation campaign on Pahalgam attack: An army of AI bots and influencers
Even as India was ascertaining the magnitude of the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan had started a disinformation campaign involving state propagandists, Western influencers with millions of followers, and an army of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven bots, according to an investigation by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI). read more Paramedic carry a wounded tourist on a stretcher at a hospital in Anantnag after assailants indiscriminately fired at tourists visiting Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Photo: AP) Even before Indians knew the scale of the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan had begun its disinformation campaign that sought to convince its Western audience that it was an Indian false flag operation, according to an investigation by Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University. The promptness with which Pakistan began its disinformation campaign adds to the suspicion that Pakistani establishment had prior knowledge of the Pahalgam plot. As Firstpost has previously reported , Pakistan's actions immediately after the Pahalgam attack, ranging from emptying terrorist launchpads in border areas to ramping up military activities, suggested that it had wargamed the response to the attack well in advance. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Prasiddha Sudhakar, a researcher at NCRI, tells Firstpost that the Pakistani disinformation campaign began even before India had gathered the basic information about the attack, such as the number and identities of those killed. 'When India did not have even such basic information, Pakistan had already started a very coordinated disinformation campaign. The campaign largely used state actors and state-aligned media influencers that put out posts on X that this was a false flag operation. The posts soon went viral across Pakistani social media circles,' says Sudhakar. In its report titled 'From State Actors to Western Influencers: The Transnational Surge of 'False Flag' Disinformation After Terror Attack in India', the NCRI listed three steps that went into Pakistan's campaign. Firstly, state-linked Pakistani actors coordinated to spread the narrative that the Pahalgam attack was a false flag operation by India. Secondly, bot networks using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated memes and state media gave traction to such claims. Thirdly, Pakistan roped in major Western influencers like Jackson Hinkle that amplified the message to millions. Credit: Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) Instead of reinforcing the views of a domestic audience, the campaign sought to influence the Western audience. The objective was clear: every government is hostage to public opinion and by shaping public opinion in the West against India, Pakistan sought to put pressure on Western governments to turn on India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD From bots to influencers, how Pakistan peddled anti-India disinformation In its disinformation campaign, Pakistan brought together influencers for hire and AI. More than 20,000 posts on X pushed the false flag narrative and around 40 per cent of those posts were from bots, according to the NCRI report. These bots used generative AI to produce terrorist-themed memes saying 'Indian false flag exposed' along with hashtags like #BJPBehindPahalgam and #StopModiFascism on social media as part of their campaign. Pakistan co-opted influencers like Hinkle, Mohammed Hijab, and Zeeshan Ali — all of whom have a history of peddling jihadist and anti-India, anti-Hindu content for years. While Hinkle is a vocal supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iran-backed terrorists, Hijab and Ali have been indicted in a previous NCRI investigation for playing an instrumental role in disseminating anti-Hindu conspiracies and incitement during the Leicester riots in the United Kingdom in 2022. Hinkle used his podcast, 'Legitimate Targets', to not just give a platform for rabid, anti-India Pakistani voices, but also himself spewed propaganda. Together, they reached out to millions of people in the West. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Credit: Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) The NCRI further found that the disinformation campaign witnessed a 'dramatic surge' on May 6 when India conducted the first round of airstrikes under Operation Sindoor. 'Engagement gradually declined after April 26, with minor fluctuations until early May. On May 6, there was a dramatic surge and hashtag volume reached the highest level in the observed period. The increase in social chatter coincided with India's retaliatory strike on Pakistan and the viral amplification of false flag claims by high-profile influencers like Jackson Hinkle,' the NCRI report noted. Credit: Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) The campaign was not a first, however, and it 'mirrors past operations –from Pulwama to the Israel-Hamas conflict– where proxies carry out violence and disinformation ecosystems are activated to shift blame and fracture consensus'. The report further concluded that there could be real-world consequences of such campaigns beyond narrative warfare. Referring to how Hijab and Ali's disinformation previously helped incite violence, the report said, 'As seen in Leicester (2022), diaspora-targeted false flag narratives can catalyse real-world unrest, stoke retaliatory violence, and fracture intercommunal trust in Western democracies.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The use of generative AI, diaspora targeting, and collaboration with Western influencers marks a dangerous evolution in narrative warfare. Left unchallenged, these operations risk fueling real-world violence and eroding trust in legitimate attribution on the global stage.' Credit: Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) 'India should engage more with international public figures' The NCRI report noted that the Indian and Pakistani approaches to shaping narrative were quite different: while Pakistan co-opted influencers and used AI, India sought to contain disinformation by banning accounts on X. Instead of such an approach, India should engage more with international public figures, such as podcasters, influencers, and sociopolitical commentators to get its message across to the world, says Sudhakar. While Indian diplomats did give interviews to major Western news channels, alternative media, such as sociopolitical commentators and podcasters, are now much more potent tools to reach out to the public. She further says that such engagements need to take place outside one's comfort zones. 'More engagement with podcasters or political commentators in India or abroad who ask tough questions is the best way to get your point across to a new audience. You don't want to just give interviews to people who are already aligned with your beliefs. In fact, it's much more important to engage with people who don't necessarily align with you so that you address their questions and reach out to a new audience,' says Sudhakar. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As for the disinformation campaign, Sudhakar says that it is not limited to the India-Pakistan conflict. She pointed out that the recent murders of Israeli embassy staffers were also portrayed by many as a false flag attack. 'We have seen such such disinformation in nearly all conflicts, whether it is the India-Pakistan conflict or the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia wars. Authoritarian regimes everywhere resort to disinformation,' says Sudhakar. Two reasons why people are prone to falling for disinformation spread on social media by bots or influencers are falling trust in mainstream news media and the failure to identify bots, says Sudhakar. 'People are no longer looking at just CNN or Fox News. They are also looking at political commentators and content creators to better understand the issues they consider important. The trust in the mainstream media has greatly eroded and the alternative media, such as podcasters and commentators, have filled that vacuum. The polarisation is such that people don't usually stick to a news outlet if it no longer reinforces their own perspective or feeds into their confirmation bias,' says Sudhakar. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a recent remark, India's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan said the armed forces had to devote 15 per cent of its time during Operation Sindoor in countering disinformation by Pakistan or pro-Pakistan entities.
