'Trump was right, you're fake news': Indians slam CNN for calling Varanasi ‘city of the dead’
Indians were enraged after CNN called Varanasi 'the city of the dead'.
On a day that Varanasi was the centre of attention as PM Modi, Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi campaigned there for the Uttar Pradesh state elections, it was also getting attention online. On Saturday, Indians slammed CNN on Twitter for posting a preview of a video for Reza Aslan’s show called Believer in which they termed Varanasi ‘the city of the dead’.
Indians slammed CNN On Twitter for their ‘ignorance’ and claimed that US President Trump’s ‘fake news’ jibes weren’t off the mark. Here are some of the tweets:
Perhaps CNN called Varanasi the ‘city of the dead’ because a lot of Hindus consider the city holy and many believe that dying in Varanasi or Kashi will help one attain enlightenment or moksha. Some hotels in Varanasi, even have signs saying that if one doesn’t die soon, one ought to check out.
In the Matsya Purana, one of the 18 major Puranas, Lord Shiva says that Kashi or Varanasi is ‘the place for liberation. Lord Shiva was quoted saying: “Varanasi is always my most secret place, the cause of liberation for all creatures. All sins which one may have accumulated in thousands of previous lives disappears as soon as one enters Avimukta.”
Given that the likes of CNN bend over backwards when commenting or talking about certain religions, it wouldn’t’ be asking for too much to do a little more research before shoving stereotyped and borderline racist post-colonial epithets upon our shelves.