‘White structure near accident mishap’ found to be ISKCON Temple, not mosque
Viral tweet giving communal angle to Odisha train accident proven false
New Delhi: As the chain of accidents on the railway line in Balasore district of Odisha on Friday resulted in nearly 300 deaths and left 800 train passengers injured, social media users were found giving a communal angle to the fatal mishap.
A tweet by The Random Indian (@randomsena) included a photo with an overhead view of the derailed coaches and an arrow pointing to a white building nearby, supplemented by the words, “Just Saying… Yesterday Was Friday”. The thread of tweets by the user seemed an attempt to prove that Muslims had a hand in the train accident, reports Alt News.
The post has been retweeted by more than 5,200 users and has received about 11,500 likes so far. The tweet also went viral on Facebook, all of which fuelled the idea that the accident was an outcome of a plan by Muslims, as many users supported the notion and added their own ‘suggestions’ on dealing with whom they assumed to be ‘guilty’.
Following a round of fact-check conducted by the Alt News staff, including a confirmation by journalists on site of the accident, however, it was found that the structure shown in the viral photo on social media was not a mosque but the Bahanaga ISKCON Temple, which is coloured white.
A photo of the entry to the road leading to the Temple shows a board indicating that it belongs to ISKCON. Alt News has also uploaded a video that shows the entrance to the structure and a five-month-old video of ISKCON Odisha unit, all of which confirm that the structure claimed by the Twitter user to be a mosque is an ISKCON Temple. Alt News adds that the authorities of the ISKCON Temple in Bahanaga themselves confirmed that the accident occurred near the Temple and that the structure seen in photos of the accident site was the ISKCON Temple in Bahanaga.
The idea given rise to, that the structure seen partly in the picture shared with the tweet is a mosque and that the accident was a plan by Muslims, is baseless, says Alt News, also calling it absurd to say that the structure being in the vicinity of the railway line had anything to do with the mishap.
While some users who retweeted the viral tweet have asked PM Narendra Modi to pull down all mosques situated near railway lines, Modi, who visited the accident spot and the Baleswar District Hospital on Saturday, has given instructions to restore the railway line. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also said that the work to lay one of the two tracks affected due to the accident has been completed and the other track is being laid.
3400 RTs and 10000 likes, 10 Lakh views for a tweet by @randomsena with conspiracy theory blaming Friday/Mosque/Muslims for the #CoromondalExpress train mishap.
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) June 3, 2023
It is an Iskon Temple. https://t.co/qwVehNW4Sq https://t.co/r2hi9xcAwx pic.twitter.com/eyOprndC3B
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
