OpIndia

OpIndia is an Indian far-right news website known for frequently publishing misinformation . Founded in December 2014, the website has published fake news and Islamophobic commentary on numerous occasions. OpIndia is dedicated to criticism of what it considers liberal media, and to support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva ideology. According to University of Maryland researchers, OpIndia has shamed journalists it deems to be in opposition to the BJP and has alleged media bias against Hindus and the BJP. In 2019, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) rejected OpIndia's application to be certified as a fact checker . IFCN-certified fact checkers identified 25 fake news stories and 14 misreported stories published by OpIndia from January 2018 to June 2020. A study of 54,850 OpIndia articles published between 2014 and 2023 found that OpIndia consistently characterised Hindus in positive terms and Muslims in negative terms to further the website's Hindu nationalist ideals. OpIndia published a series of reports in 2020 falsely claiming that a Hindu boy was sacrificed in a Bihar mosque. The website is owned by Aadhyaasi Media and Content Services, a former subsidiary of the parent company of the right-wing magazine Swarajya . The current CEO of OpIndia is Rahul Roushan, and the current editors are Nupur J Sharma (English) and Chandan Kumar (Hindi). Mass Communication in India . Sources describing OpIndia as far-right: "અમારા વિષે(About Us)" . ઑપઇન્ડિયા [ OpIndia ] (in Gujarati). [Respecting the demand of our same readership, after OpIndia Hindi in 2019, now in 2022 we are bringing OpIndia Gujarati.] "हमारे बारे में" [About Us]. ऑपइंडिया [ OpIndia ] (in Hindi). "Digital platforms, Hindutva, and disinformation: Communicative strategies and the Leicester violence" . Note here the following post from the Twitter handle of Nupur J. Sharma, the editor of the far-right Hindutva platform OpIndia that disseminates hate speech... The Role of Far-Right Media Houses and Organisations in Disseminating Hindu Nationalist 'Love Jihad' Narratives on X" . Global Network on Extremism and Technology . OpIndia as a far-right media house has in recent times not only promoted a highly Islamophobic narrative in India... Bellingcat identified two such far-right outlets–OpIndia and Hindu Existence. "Role of Public WhatsApp Groups Within the Hindutva Ecosystem of Hate and Narratives of "CoronaJihad" " . International Journal of Communication . 15 . "Farmers at Kundli upset over media misrepresentation, accusations; confront "godi media" " . To conclude, OpIndia's portrayal of Hindus and Muslims perpetuates a perniciously polarising discourse that demonises Muslims and is potent to deepen the wedges, disaffection, and hostilities and even trigger violence among the communities. Sources describing OpIndia's publication of Islamophobic content: Majid, Daneesh (4 September 2020). BJP's minimum outreach to Muslims is causing heartburn among party's supporters" .