2017 has been an extremely fruitful year for us at OpIndia. It has been a year of growth and prospects. It has been a year where we bettered our own performance and continued to get undying support from the ones who matter : our readers. While we continue to work with limited resources, we managed to publish many excellent articles, which were extremely well received and appreciated.

These are the top 10 articles that you helped go viral and made them the most read this year. You can click on the preview images or the link below the images to read the respective articles:

1. I’m a woman and a kebab lover, and this is what I think about Yogi’s decisions

When Yogi Adityanath was made the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, it almost felt like the colour had been drained from liberal faces. We heard incessant cries of how BJP was trying to saffronize the country. We also heard how Prime Minister Modi was trying to “polarise the country” by elevating a “hate monger” such as Yogi Adityanath to the post of CM. And of course, to convert hollow rhetoric into plausible outrage, they latched on the Yogi Adityanath’s decision to shut sown illegal slaughterhouses. This article by @JogaKhichudi decimating the hysteria propagated by leftists, became our most read article of 2017.

2. The truth about BJP losing ‘all 36 seats’ in Gujarat Panchayat elections

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Congress has been trying very hard to win elections in the state of Gujarat that has seen a BJP government for over 2 decades. They failed, as BJP won the Assembly Elections held in December 2017. But way back in January 2017, Congress, AAP and certain ‘independent thinkers’ had tried to claim false victory in panchayat elections which weren’t only held in 2015, but also one where BJP had not fielded any candidates. This article written by @bwoyblunder and Dhaval is the second most read article of 2017.

3. When UPA sent Deputy CM to raid an aeroplane to stop BJP from forming Government

“Murder of Democracy” is Congress’ favourite line when they are losing. The same reasoning was used by Congress when BJP formed government in Goa even though it won lesser number of seats compared to Congress. This article by Chaiwallah, as he calls himself, reminded Congress of a time when UPA send Deputy CM to raid an aeroplane to stop BJP from forming government in Jharkhand. People in glass houses don’t throw stone on others?

4. Why does a particular class of people dislike Modi and Yogi?

It has intrigued many, as to why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are hated so passionately by some people. The people who hate them, are the usual suspects. Coterie of media persons, societal elites, and the self proclaimed intelligentsia. Amrit Hallan in this article analysed why that is.

5. Remember Gurmehar Kaur? She’s now accused of threatening young boys for making memes

Gurmehar Kaur was one of the liberal stars of 2017. She shot to fame when she appeared in a video, where she asserted that it was not Pakistan that killed her father, but war did. The champion of free speech, soon turned intolerant when she realised that a bunch of kids were using her publicly available photographs to make some hilarious memes. She threatened them and ensured that their Facebook page was taken down. Our staff report on this was the 5th most read article of 2017.

6. The god of false things : How Arundhati Roy creates fake news and gets away with it

Another Liberal hero is Arundhati Roy. A woman writer who seldom writes, and when she does, tries extremely hard to disregard facts. Of course, when she isn’t writing she tends to deliver talks. And lies, when written become a matter of record, when spoken, however horrifying, can be resigned to the past without leaving an imprint. ‘Chaiwallah’ wrote an interesting piece titled “God of false things : How Arundhati Roy creates fake news and gets away with it”. This article is the 6th most read article of 2017.

7. Former colleague claims Siddharth Varadarajan suppressed Vadra scam expose for 7 months

‘The Wire’ and its editor, Siddharth Varadarajan have been in the eye of the storm many times this year. One such time was when UnSubtleDesi spoke to journalist Shalini Singh and discovered that when Varadarajan was editor of the Hindu, he had shelved the Vadra Land Scam expose done by Shalini Singh for 7 long months. Nupur also reached out to Siddharth for his response, which were rhetorical to say the least. This was our 7th most read article of 2017.

8. A short and concise ‘Manifesto for a Liberal Hindu’

Sagarika Ghose is an ’eminent journalist’ according to some not-so-well-informed folks. But what she truly is, is a propagandist masquerading as a journalist. Back in April 2017, she had written an article asking ‘liberal hindus’ to write their own manifesto. In response to her ridiculous article, Shefali Vaidya had written a rather interesting manifesto signed by a ‘liberal hindu’. This is our 8th most read article of 2017.

9. Six ‘awesome arguments’ Kapil Sibal has made in the triple talaq case

The Congress party pretends to be a liberal voice fighting the fascist powers represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But when it came to liberating Muslim women from the shackles of patriarchal practices like that of Triple Talaq, Congress, as it has historically, developed cold feet. It went hammer and tongs defending the practice as BJP and the Government in power led by PM Modi fought to get it abolished. Our staff report on the 6 most awesomely ridiculous arguments made by Congress leader Kapil Sibal in the triple talaq case, is the 9th most read article on 2017.

10. Cow vs Kaaba – the missing spine of ‘liberals’ when it comes to Islam

Concluding our top 10 list, is an article by Rahul Roushan that held up a mirror to the liberal class. The article titled “Cow vs Kaaba – The missing spine of ‘liberals’ when it comes to Islam” is our 10th most read article of 2017.

And with that, Team Opindia wishes you all a happy, prosperous, opinionated and media-lies-free (sorry for the joke) 2018! We hope you enjoyed reading our articles as much as enjoyed publishing these gems for you!