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231	Alt News responds to Arnab Goswami's hilarious rant - Alt News Alt News Desk 2nd April 2018 / 4:39 pm It started with a debate organized by Republic TV to discuss the arrest of Mahesh Hegde, founder of the serial fake news peddling website Postcard news. All was going well until one of the panelists mentioned Alt News. What followed was quite comic. Yes, a non-stop rant on Alt News by Arnab Goswami where he did not let any of the panelists speak. It was an outburst that was perhaps simmering for a long time. As we all know, Mahesh Hegde was arrested for sharing the fake news that a Jain sage was attacked by Muslim youth when in fact he had met with a road accident. Alt News had uncovered the truth behind this story when it found the patently fake and malicious news about an attack by Muslim youth viral on social media. It can only take an Arnab Goswami and Republic TV to question the political balance of Alt News for doing so. Sigh! “You said Alt News,” thundered Arnab with his mike on full volume as soon as he heard the name. What followed was a long monologue interrupting anyone who tried to speak in the so-called debate. “I put this question to anyone, who in the world thinks Alt news is politically balanced.” A discussion about the fake story circulated by Postcard News was suddenly all about Alt News and its perceived political balance. Arnab who perhaps considers himself an authority of political balance, went on to lecture the unfortunate panelists caught in the programme about the same. The above video is a combination of clips where Arnab talks about Alt News and fact checking through the show. The complete video can be viewed here. Republic TV has burnt its fingers in the past with Postcard news when it carried a programme on non-payment of electricity bills by Jama Masjid based on a fake story by Postcard News. Red-faced, the channel had to delete the video when the truth was uncovered by an Alt News story. But that was almost a year ago and we can’t blame Arnab for forgetting that embarrassing newsbreak. Alt News is in the business of busting fake news. Unfortunately that has meant quite a few brushes with Republic in the past. So we fully understand the frustrations behind the outburst when Arnab draws a ludicrous equivalence between PostCard News and Alt News, saying “if there is a PostCard which is leaning on one side, then Alt News leans on the other side”. He further states: “People who are totally biased themselves, who lean towards the Left or the Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party and religiously write articles that favor them, have no right to call themselves fact checking websites” , speaking from a pedestal of being totally unbiased himself. Even though our readers had a good laugh when we shared the video and have advised us not to take the rant very seriously, let us make an attempt to respond to Arnab. We pick on the crux of his argument and try to fact check it. Arnab had claimed, “So all your articles, all your fact checking is only on one side…..Fact checking sites should not become apologists for one political side either” He went on to say, “The fact checking sites should also display their objectivity, if not wear it on their sleave, by occasionally, if they don’t mind, by correcting news that comes from the other side as well and perhaps not trying to be apologists for a Congress or an AAP or a Left on a consistent basis. Because then their own credentials will be put under question.” After writing three articles over 24 hours defending BJP IT cell head, Amit Malviya who was being targeted for tweeting information that another channel had already revealed, Arnab’s allegations took us initially by surprise. Then we remembered that it is Arnab Goswami and the Republic and their complicated relationship with facts. So here are ten recent examples to inform Arnab that his outburst was rather uninformed. 1. Misleading video on PM Modi’s educational qualification circulates on social media 2. Congress Twitter handle conducts poll based on fake news 3. National Herald Twitter polls on PNB Scam backfire 4. Fact Check: Did PM Modi say Karnataka has 7 lakh villages? 5. Fact check: Rahul Gandhi’s claim on wealth inequality in India 6. Social media claims Amit Shah arranged Judge Loya’s son’s press conference, what’s the truth? 7. Fact check: Was Amit Malviya the first to tweet about Karnataka poll dates? 8. Times Now spreads misinformation about BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya 9. Pak channel spreads fake news about solar panels vandalised due to BJP MP’s statement 10. Fake news claims Narendra Modi is second most corrupt Prime Minister in the world Dear Arnab, you made a false claim that all fact checking on Alt News is one sided and that we should “occasionally” correct news from the other side as well. We have shown you ten instances where this is not true. Now here is the deal: Can you show us an equal number of instances where you have not been an apologist of the Union Government? Show us 10 hashtags, 10 polls and 10 videos where you have questioned those in power like how you question the opposition leaders, liberals and dissenting voices. Because, you see, what you articulated for Alt News, also applies to you. Here is a message to you from Alt News (and we are only rephrasing your words): The national news channels should also display their objectivity, if not wear it on their sleeve, by occasionally, if they don’t mind, questioning those in power instead of the opposition, liberals and JNU students. You can perhaps try not being an apologist for the BJP on a consistent basis, because then your own credentials will be put under question. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd April 2018 / 4:39 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-responds-to-arnab-goswamis-hilarious-rant/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
232	Alt News unearths a factory of fake quotes - A very dangerous trend - Alt News Sam Jawed 3rd February 2018 / 6:36 pm / Last updated: 28th May 2018 Alt News has stumbled upon a factory – a factory of fake quotes. The matter first came to light when fake quotes ascribed to Prakash Raj , Swara Bhasker and Farhan Akhtar went viral on social media. The three celebrities denied making the statements that were circulated in their name. A further search by Alt News led to a goldmine of similar quotes. Fake quotes are being circulated in the name of actors, authors, activists, politicians and even common people with the objective of polarizing the society on religious grounds. Let us look at a few of them: The claims are often outlandish like the one below. You may be tempted to think that no one would believe them. Think again. These inflammatory messages are reaching far corners of the country through WhatsApp. “In Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kashmir, Assam, Kerala and other parts of India, we Muslims have snatched 70% of land from the Hindus. Yet Hindus think we could not do any harm to them in 1400 years. India has nearly become an Islamic nation.” E. Abubaker, PFI Kerala. naresh_nimbau: क्या जिहादी अबुबकर सच बोल रहा हैं ? . इस मुद्दे पर आपकी क्या राय हैं ? pic.twitter.com/e8jUv51JjG rt — शायरी_C (@mukesh_mumbai) November 29, 2017 “Till all Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christian are not killed, we will continue with our Jihad. Your tolerance and secularism cannot change our views. According to the Koran, the one who is not a Muslim has no right to be alive” – Abdullah Zubair, India खतरनाक ! क्या हिन्दुओं के भाई चारे से मुसलमान बदल जायेंगे ? . इस मुद्दे पर आपकी क्या राय हैं ? pic.twitter.com/xx06DCto7f — raju (@good_for_ever) December 1, 2017 “Make a mosque on government land, bury dead bodies in open land and make it a kabristan, make a Dargah or Mazaar on railway platforms. Land Jihad will ensure Muslims will control land all over the world” – Faiz Saiyyad, Lawyer खतरनाक ! लैंड जिहाद के चपेट में आया भारत ! इस मुद्दे पर आपकी क्या राय हैं ? . हर जगह मस्जिद, मजार, दरगाह, कब्रिस्तान का अतिक्रमण ! Land Jihad pic.twitter.com/xW2BAbuV25 rt — Naresh Choudhary (@naresh_nimbau) December 21, 2017 Another overriding theme of the quotes is to spread misinformation about Islam and Muslims. “My husband Kamaal Amrohi divorced me. For the second marriage I was forced into “halala” with Amanullah Khan. What kind of religion is Islam where the husband gets his wife raped?” – Meena Kumari बॉलीवुड अदाकारा मीना कुमारी हुई थी हलाला का शिकार ! उसके बाद मीणा कुमारी ने बोला था इस्लाम पर ऐसा हमला की सन्न रह गए थे मुसलमान ! . मीना कुमारी के सवाल पर आपकी क्या राय हैं ? pic.twitter.com/b1AUMXOVt1 — हरीश राजपुरोहित (@hbrajpurohit0) December 9, 2017 “Muslims have the virility and hence we produce 10 kids. Unemployment, terrorism, slums, water shortage etc due to this population explosion are problems of the government, not the Muslims” – Owaisi इस मुद्दे पर आपकि क्या राय हैं ? pic.twitter.com/Zq3aiuFpdI — Arvind Mishra (@ArvindM35729905) December 2, 2017 Targeting Muslim as well as liberal public figures is yet another theme of these quotes. The objective is to show them in a bad light and build public opinion against them. “I criticize the traditions of Hinduism like dowry, caste system etc. But I don’t want to upset Muslims by criticize their traditions like four wives, 10 – 12 kids and teaching terrorism to children in Madrasas.” – Aamir Khan आमिर खान द्वारा इस भेदभाव पर आपकी क्या राय हैं ? ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करे ! pic.twitter.com/2R0jy1Aa4j — RAJENDER JOSHI (@rajenderjoshi2) April 2, 2014 We have seen similar attempts to discredit Arundhati Roy by ascribing fake quotes to her. What is surprising is the number of people who routinely fall for such obviously fake quotes. The above is only a small sample of numerous such rabid posts circulating on social media. Such radical messages are being manufactured in bulk and use of Hindi gives them an even wider audience. We found a pattern in the quotes: These messages are not a recent phenomenon and some of them go as far back as 2014. We were not able to trace the origin but the use of identical color and font points to one person or a small group of people behind this coordinated social media offensive. The fake Swara Bhasker and Farhan Akhtar quotes carried the logos of serial fake news peddlers Shankhnaad and Postcard News but we don’t know if they are behind the other fake quotes that don’t carry logos. Clearly the fake quotes have been manufactured to create a feeling of victimization among the majority community. The messages play on fears with an objective to create and maintain a divide between communities. They target the most gullible social media users who are looking for a confirmation of their own biases. There is need for a greater awareness of the malicious intent behind these quotes. The perpetrators of the fake quotes factory must be identified and action initiated against them. Social media users need to unite to call out the fakery of those sharing such material. It is time to reclaim the social media space from such rogue elements. The factories of filth need to be shut down Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd February 2018 / 6:36 pm / Last updated: 28th May 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-unearths-factory-fake-quotes-dangerous-trend/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
233	Alt News video verification: Muslim vegetable vendor assaulted in Badarpur, Delhi - Alt News Archit 13th April 2020 / 8:25 pm Several Facebook and Twitter users shared a 45-second video of a vegetable vendor beaten up by another man who is accompanied by at least three other persons. He asks the vendor for an identity card and his name. The vendor responded that he does not have an ID card at the moment and his name is Mohammad Saleem. Thereafter, Saleem was abused and hit with a stick. The man hitting Saleem said, “You people are doing jihad.” All the men in the video, including Saleem, are wearing masks. From the Facebook page FekuExpress2.0, the video has received 1,200 shares and over 30,00 views. Muslims are attacked for spreading This happening with Muslims across the India. This man asked ID Card and name of this vendor, when he said “Mohammad Saleem” he was abused and beaten up brutally. Anti-Muslim propaganda run by Media has consequences on ground. Muslims are attacked for spreading #Covid_19 . Posted by FekuExpress2.0 on Saturday, 11 April 2020 Several people on social media have claimed, “This man asked ID Card and name of this vendor, when he said “Mohammad Saleem” he was abused and beaten up brutally.” Alt News has also received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application. Alt News did a keyframe analysis of the video and spotted the number plate of a bike at the two-second mark. We looked up DL 9S BX 9250 on the national motor registry and found that the vehicle’s registration is from New Delhi. At the 47-second mark, we spotted an advertisement for a spoken English centre along with the phone number 98715 42848 on the wall on the right-hand side. Using this as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search on Google and found English Mania in Badarpur, South East Delhi. On April 11, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti quote-tweeted the video, tagged Commissioner of Police, Delhi, Shri S. N. Shrivastava and asked, “If your police can bring back stolen purse of niece of PM within 1-2 days, I am sure that this shameless creature can be traced by you. Plz do justice with him and assure Delhi that any and every attempt to divide Delhi on religious lines will be dealt with iron hands.” DCP South East Delhi responded to Bharti via quote-tweet and said, “Cognizance of the incident has already been taken.FIR has been #registered under appropriate sections of law & the perpetrator of crime has been #arrested.Such incidents shall not be tolerated at any cost & law will take its own course against such persons. @DelhiPolice” Cognizance of the incident has already been taken.FIR has been #registered under appropriate sections of law & the perpetrator of crime has been #arrested.Such incidents shall not be tolerated at any cost & law will take its own course against such persons. @DelhiPolice https://t.co/aLNwkpeLeJ — DCP South East Delhi (@DCPSEastDelhi) April 13, 2020 Alt News spoke to RP Meena, DCP South East Delhi. He shared the press note addressing the viral video. According to the Delhi Police press note on April 13, the incident took place on April 11 at Tajpur road, Badarpur. Delhi Police looked into the matter after the Cyber Cell shared the viral video posted on Twitter. The statement added that an enquiry was made after identifying that the bike DL 9S BX9250 belonged to Sudhanshu from Molarband, New Delhi. Sudhanshu informed that this incident happened at Tajpur Road and he identified the man who hit the vegetable seller as Praveen Babbar resident of Badarpur. Babbar has been arrested and an FIR has been filed under India Penal Code Sections 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot—if rioting be committed—if not committed), 355 (Assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person, otherwise than on grave provocation), 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) and 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) at Badarpur police station. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th April 2020 / 8:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-video-verification-muslim-vegetable-vendor-assaulted-in-badarpur-delhi/", "author": "Archit" }
234	Alt News Viewpoint: The eight second verdict by The Hindu - Alt News Sam Jawed 4th October 2017 / 7:24 pm We are often criticized as a nation of bystanders. We have seen so many instances where accident victims have bled to death as people watched or took videos. People hesitate to help for a number of reasons, including a fear of getting themselves into trouble. The recent incident where a good samaritan who was trying to help a Mumbai stampede victim was branded as a molester drives home this point hard. The story in The Hindu about a stampede victim being molested by an unidentified man was shocking. It was republished by many others citing The Hindu and also made its way to international press. The story was based on an eight second video clip which the journalist also shared on her timeline. Doubts about the molestation claim began to emerge when the full video came to light. It did not appear from the video that it was a case of molestation. Many people had climbed on to the other side of the staircase to reach the victims. An unknown man is seen as attempting to help. It was incorrect to arrive at the sensational conclusion of molestation on the basis of this short clip without verifying the full video. This is nothing short of WhatsApp journalism by a leading newspaper. The Hindu has now apologized and retracted the story in a set of tweets. The link to the article also leads to an apology. Based on the news reports, the police investigated the molestation claim and spoke to the person who is seen standing behind the man accused of molestation in the video. The Assistant Commissioner of Police (Dadar Division) Sunil Deshmukh told The Hindu that “The witness has said in his statement that the woman’s upper body was protruding through the FOB’s railing and that the man in the video was supporting her with his thigh while trying to pull her out at the same time, and not molesting her. We also studied a longer version of the video, which corresponds with the witness’s statement”. The incident raises serious questions about how such a story was allowed to be published without any editorial checks. Is there no process in place? Sensational stories that are based on edited clips should be scrutinized even more carefully. The editor of Hindu Mumbai put out 3 tweets via his Twitter account apologising to the readers and assuring that stricter monitor mechanisms will be instituted within Hindu so that such lapses do not happen in the future. In the race to be the first to break the news, we have seen many instances where stories are published seemingly without any editorial checks. Some were harmless and we can have a good laugh when we look back at them like the GPS chip story by Zee News and the story of Ram Nath Kovind’s 3 million followers that was carried by many publications. Others like the Jama Masjid electricity bill story by Republic TV were more serious because they maligned based on fake news. None were however so damning to the reputation of an innocent person like this one by The Hindu that painted an innocent man as a molester. “But we should appreciate that The Hindu apologized while Republic TV and others did not,” say many. Well, The Hindu is not in competition with Republic TV. An apology is not a favor they have done to anyone. Nothing short of an apology would be acceptable from a publication of the stature of The Hindu. This is the least that they could have done and we are unable to pen the sentence that we “appreciate” it. We don’t know if it will be “appreciated” by the innocent man who must have seen his image splashed on newspapers and WhatsApp messages as a molester. We hope this story serves as a lesson to media on the responsibility that rests on their shoulders and the importance of stringent editorial checks on stories that they put out in public space. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th October 2017 / 7:24 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-viewpoint-eight-second-verdict-hindu/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
235	Amar Ujala uses an image of 2014 US air strike to represent IAF’s air strike target - Alt News Jignesh Patel 5th March 2019 / 9:42 pm On March 5, Amar Ujala published a report titled, “बालाकोट: मदरसा छात्र ने बताया- रात को हुआ था जबरदस्त धमाका, पाकिस्तानी सेना ने हमें बचाया (Balakot: A Madrasa student told that – A tremendous explosion had happened at night, Pakistani army evacuated us -translated)”. The article also carried a photo with a target symbol on a building, while the text below the photo said, “वायुसेना का टारगेट (Air Force’s target)”. The image attached to the Amar Ujala’s article pertains to an U.S air strike aimed at ISIS targets in September 2014. A report published by Daily Mail on October 4, 2014 stated, “The targets of the strikes were fighters from the Khorasan Group, which is how the U.S. government refers to a cell of al Qaeda veterans who had relocated to Syria from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region”. In accordance to the article, the caption below the image states, “Strike: In September a US-led coalition launched air strikes in Syria against members of ISIS – the extremist Islamic group occupying territory in Iraq and Syria – but also went after a little-know group called Khorasan”. A video of the air strike against the ISIS, carried out by the U.S military was released by the U.S Department of Defense, can be seen here. In conclusion, an image pertaining to an U.S air strike in Syria was misleadingly shared as of IAF air strike on Balakot. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th March 2019 / 9:42 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amar-ujala-uses-an-image-of-2014-us-air-strike-to-represent-iafs-air-strike-target/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
236	Amartya Sen and Nalanda University: Debunking a web of untruths - Alt News Alt News Desk 1st May 2019 / 9:55 pm / Last updated: 2nd May 2019 In a series of tweets, Bharti Jain, a journalist with Times of India made serious allegations of financial misconduct and nepotism against Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and the management of Bihar’s Nalanda University. Her tweets claimed that after Modi’s arrival in 2014, the purported “fraud was stopped and Amartya Sen was thrown out of Nalanda University”. Jain ascribed this as a motive behind Professor Sen’s criticism of the Prime Minister’s economic policies. After a social media uproar regarding a lack of evidence to support her allegations, Jain clarified that her tweets were based on “sources” and not authored independently. I am not the source of this tweet. Sorry but I should have mentioned ‘sources’ while tweeting — Bharti Jain (@bhartijainTOI) April 28, 2019 On being pressed about the alleged “sources”, Jain responded that these were government sources. Govt sources — Bharti Jain (@bhartijainTOI) April 28, 2019 A short while later, the journalist deleted her tweets. Incidentally, the allegations raised by Jain, ascribed to “government sources”, had been circulating on WhatsApp in recent time. They were given little credence until a journalist of a national newspaper decided to share the information, identical to the WhatsApp messages, on social media. Jain is Editor, Internal Security at Times of India and as per her Twitter bio, she reports on Home Ministry, security affairs, personnel ministry, Election Commission and the Parliament. In this report, Alt News attempts to fact-check the barrage of allegations tweeted by Jain against Professor Sen and the Nalanda University. While doing so, apart from its own research, Alt News also reached out to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. “The Economist Amartya Sen was appointed as chairman of Nalanda Mentor Group in 2007 & made first Chancellor of famous Nalanda University(NU) in Bihar by Congress govt in 2012. He enjoyed a salary of Rs 5 Lakh per month, tax-free benefits, unaccounted foreign travels, meeting in luxury hotels, power to direct appointments, etc.” The issue of Dr Sen’s emoluments was first raised by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2015 when he claimed that Professor Sen drew an annual salary of Rs 50 lakh from Nalanda University. Various media outlets had published details of the University statement in 2015. The statement termed the claim “false” and stated that Dr Sen had received no salary whatsoever from the Nalanda University and all his work for the University was done in an honorary capacity. It also stated that Dr Sen did not receive any “perquisites” from the University. Nalanda University further clarified that the free travel pass was a gift to Dr Sen from the Government of India. Former Prime Minister Vajpayee had presented the pass to celebrate his Nobel Prize. In an email response to Alt News, Dr Sen labelled journalist Bharti Jain’s allegations as “amazingly false”. He elaborated – “First of all, I received from Nalanda no salary whatsoever, and worked for zero remuneration. Second, I had “no tax-free benefits” and there were no “unaccounted foreign travels. Third, I was placed in hotels where the Board meetings were held and where other members of the Board (including representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs – when meeting outside Delhi) typically stayed.” “Nine years during Manmohan Singh’s tenure, Amartya Sen ran Nalanda University while mostly staying abroad. He appointed seven faculties. Made Nalanda University a 5-star hotel.” A Chancellor does not “run” a university. Unlike a Vice-Chancellor, a Chancellor is an honorary non-resident position. For instance, Venkaiah Naidu is the Chancellor of Delhi University. Section 14 of the Nalanda University Act (2010) passed by the Indian Parliament lays out the responsibilities of a Chancellor. Section 15 states that it is the Vice-Chancellor who is the principal academic and executive officer and exercises control over the affairs of the Nalanda University and gives effect to the decisions of all authorities of the University. “Regarding my presence at Nalanda, I attended all meetings of the Board and regularly visited the campus and the offices of Nalanda University in Rajgir and New Delhi, and had frequent meetings with the faculty and the students at Nalanda University. In common with Chancellors of other universities, the Nalanda Chancellor is not required to live in the campus (in fact, there is no allocated residence for the Chancellor in the Nalanda campus),” informed Professor Sen. Regarding the appointments made by him, he stated, “it was part of my duty to help in the choice and recruitment of distinguished faculty members, and I tried to discharge my responsibilities as well as I could.” Professor Sen seemed completely baffled by the accusation of making the Nalanda University a 5-star hotel. He responded, “I cannot guess what Ms Bharti Jain could possibly mean by making “Nalanda University a 5-star hotel.” We had no hotel facilities in Nalanda University – the Board members, when visiting, were placed in nearby hotels.” “Total expenditure was staggering Rs 2729 crores” While making this claim, Jain seemed to have confused the total budget set aside by the Government of India for establishing and running the Nalanda University with the actual expenditure made during Professor Sen’s tenure. A question on the Nalanda University’s budget and expenditure was raised in Lok Sabha in April 2015. Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. VK Singh’s response to it was as follows – “An amount of Rs. 2727.10 crore has been approved by the Government for the establishment of Nalanda University, of which Rs. 47.28 crore has been released till date.” Professor Sen’s response to Alt News was also on similar lines – “The planning, preparation and initiation of the new campus of Nalanda, being built on more than 500 acres of vacant land, started when I was Chancellor. Ms Jain has to distinguish between current expenditure and long-term investment.” “Four female faculties, Dr Gopa Sabharwal, Dr Anjana Sharma, Nayanjot Lahiri and Upinder Singh from Delhi University were made faculties. Upinder Singh is the eldest daughter of Manmohan Singh, while the remaining three were Upinder’s close friends.” Alt News’s fact-check found that Sabharwal was the Vice-Chancellor of the Nalanda University and Sharma was the Dean of Academic Planning, however, no reference could be found in the annual reports of the University regarding Lahiri and Singh. Alt News reached out to Professor Nayanjyot Lahiri who categorically denied any association with the University. In an email response to Alt News, she stated, “Actually, during the time that Professor Sen was the Chancellor, I served at the University of Delhi as Professor of History and for, a few years, as Dean of Colleges. At no point did I happen to be part of the faculty at Nalanda and nor have I earned even a rupee from that University in any capacity whatsoever. After leaving the University of Delhi, I joined Ashoka University in 2016.” Alt News also reached out to Professor Upinder Singh, daughter of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a conversation with Alt News, she confirmed that she was never a faculty with Nalanda University, and neither did she receive any remuneration from the University. In his email to Alt News, Professor Sen reiterated this point saying, “Neither Upinder Singh (Manmohan Singh’s eldest daughter), nor her friend Nayanjyot Lahiri, was a member of the Nalanda faculty at any time (though given their distinction, they could easily have been appointed at Nalanda, as they had been at Delhi University – they did not seek appointment in Nalanda).” “Two more faculties were appointed, honorary, Daman Singh & Amrit Singh. *Middle & youngest daughters of Manmohan Singh. They stayed in USA while drawing salary!” Interestingly, while the rest of the tweet thread is now deleted by Jain, this tweet can still be seen on her timeline. Two more faculties were appointed, honorary, Daman Singh & Amrit Singh. Middle & youngest daughters of Manmohan Singh..They stayed in USA while drawing salary — Bharti Jain (@bhartijainTOI) April 28, 2019 In this tweet, she makes a serious allegation of fraud and the complicity of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by saying that his daughters were drawing a salary from the University as faculty members while staying in the US. Jain was called out by several people, including senior journalist at The Hindu Suhasini Haider who claimed to have checked the allegation and found that both the daughter’s of Singh were never faculty members at the University at any point in time and one of them did not live in the US. Bharti, please do check on your sources on this claim. Since it was coming from you, I made an effort to check, and neither people you named have been faculty at the University, and one of them doesn’t live in the USA at all. I urge you to revise the information. — Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) April 29, 2019 Alt News reached out to Daman Singh, daughter of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a conversation with Alt News, Daman Singh stated, “I can confirm that neither I nor my sister Amrit has any connection to Nalanda University“. Professor Sen responded to this claim stating, “This is also totally untrue. The two mentioned were never appointed faculty members of Nalanda University (they did not seek such appointment either). The question of their drawing a salary while staying in the USA does not arise (“drawing salary” for “honorary” appointments raises further questions of truth and falsehood).” “After 2014, when Modi arrived, all these fraud were stopped and Amartya Sen was thrown out of Nalanda University. Since that day Amartya Sen began his trenchant criticism of Modi’s economic agenda. However, at the world level, he failed to impress any other economist against Modi.” The tenure of a Chancellor at the Nalanda University is governed by the Nalanda University Act (2010). According to Section 5(f) of the Act, a Chancellor is appointed for a 3-year term. In response to a question regarding the factors that contributed to the exit of Dr Amartya Sen from the Nalanda University, Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen VK Singh’s response was as follows – “Prof Amartya Sen was appointed as the First Chancellor of Nalanda University w.e.f. 18th July, 2012 for a period of three years. As his tenure of three years was nearing completion, Prof. Sen had publically declared that he wanted to exclude himself from being considered for continuing as Chancellor of Nalanda University beyond July 2015.” Professor Sen responded to the allegation of being terminated from the University by stating, “In fact, I did not seek to continue as Chancellor of Nalanda University (even though the Governing Body had re-elected me to remain Chancellor). I was deterred not only by the Modi-government’s hostility to me but also by observing how terribly badly the Modi-government was treating this ancient (Buddhist-origin) university.” Responding to Jain’s claim that he began his criticism of PM Modi’s economic agenda after his exit from Nalanda, Professor Sen said, “I must also point out that I have been criticizing the gigantic blunders in Modi’s economic thinking from much earlier than my departure from Nalanda (indeed from much earlier than becoming Chancellor of Nalanda).” Alt News checked for Dr Amartya Sen’s criticism of Narendra Modi before his term as the Prime Minister and found several examples. The above fact-check proves from various sources that the viral WhatsApp forward quoted by Bharti Jain was completely baseless. In his email to Alt News, Professor Sen remarked, “Finally, I must say that I am quite impressed to see Ms Jain’s ability to pack in so many big and gross mistakes in so few words.” While Jain’s tweet thread now stands deleted, the text has been picked up by the fake news ecosystem. Right-wing propaganda website, OpIndia has published an article on the ‘unholy nexus’ between Sen and Manmohan Singh, quoting Jain’s tweet about the latter’s daughters in the US. The website made no effort to fact-check the claim before making a serious allegation of fraud against a former Prime Minister and a Nobel laureate. The tweet thread has also been copy-pasted by several BJP supporters on Facebook to explain “the reason why Sen is a vocal critic of Modi.” The misinformation continues to circulate on WhatsApp as well, and what were earlier nameless allegations, are now credited to Bharti Jain of Times of India as the source. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st May 2019 / 9:55 pm / Last updated: 2nd May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amartya-sen-and-nalanda-university-debunking-a-web-of-untruths/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
237	Ambulance stuck due to Rahul Gandhi’s rally? No, old video of road block for Malaysian delegate - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 4th May 2019 / 4:09 pm A video massively circulated on social media is being shared with the claim that the Delhi police halted an ambulance for Rahul Gandhi’s rally and the sick child who needed to get to the hospital lost her life. “राहुल गांधी की गाड़ियों के रैले के लिए दिल्ली पुलिस ने एम्बुलेंस रोकी….एम्बुलेंस में जिन्दगी और मौत से लड़ रही बच्ची थी .और अंत में बच्ची ने दम तोड़ दिया ! (The Delhi police halted an ambulance for Rahul Gandhi’s rally. For the child inside the ambulance, it was a matter of life and death. In the end, she died),” is the caption used to share the video, which shows a stationary ambulance in front of a police barricade, followed by a long stream of vehicles. राहुल गांधी की गाड़ियों के रैले के लिए दिल्ली पुलिस ने एम्बुलेंस रोकी,…. एम्बुलेंस में जिन्दगी और मौत से लड़ रही बच्ची थी .और अंत में बच्ची ने दम तोड़ दिया !😌 Posted by जीतू प्रियद्रशी on Friday, 3 May 2019 The 1:36-minute clip is viral on Facebook. Individual users on Twitter have also shared the video with the identical narrative. राहुल गांधी की गाड़ियों के रैले के लिए दिल्ली पुलिस ने एम्बुलेंस रोकी,….एम्बुलेंस में जिन्दगी और मौत से लड़ रही बच्ची थी .और अंत में बच्ची ने दम तोड़ दिया ! आज आपने शेयर नही किया तो आपके साथ भी ये हो सकता है तो फिर ये वीडियो पूरी दुनिया मे भेज दो। pic.twitter.com/Cm8GY69fKR — Ashok Odedra (@AshokOdedra5) May 3, 2019 The claim that an ambulance was stopped from passing through due to Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Delhi is false. The video viral across social media platforms is from 2017 and was uploaded as a Facebook live by one user Preet Narula. The original clip almost two minutes long. vips are more important then child in ambulance Posted by Preet Narula on Friday, 31 March 2017 Alt News also found a news report by Hindustan Times dated April 5, 2017, related to the incident. According to the report, the incident took place near the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, and the route was blocked as the convoy of the Head of Malaysia was to pass from the area. The report also quotes a senior police officer who had said, “The ambulance was stuck behind several cars. We got the passage cleared and brought it ahead. In a span of few minutes, it was allowed to go.” Alt News had also fact-checked this video last month when it was viral as ‘Delhi police stopped an ambulance for BJP MP Manoj Tiwari.’ Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th May 2019 / 4:09 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ambulance-stuck-due-to-rahul-gandhis-rally-no-old-video-of-road-block-for-malaysian-delegate/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
238	American artist's video shared as millionaire showering cash after BJP’s victory - Alt News Jignesh Patel 24th May 2019 / 6:18 pm / Last updated: 24th May 2019 “Happened today on 47 street ( Diamond Market) New York $100,000 given away.👇🏼👇🏼in ref to modi victory .. see how this millionaire Indian doing ..”, reads the caption posted along with a video of an individual throwing away cash on the streets. Happened today on 47 street ( Diamond Market) New York $100,000 given away.👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻in ref to modi victory .. see how this millionaire Indian doing .. Posted by Muralidharan Sundaram on Thursday, 23 May 2019 This video has been shared by several individuals on Twitter and Facebook. It is being claimed that the incident took place in New York after Narendra Modi was re-elected as the Prime Minister for the second term. The video was also shared on WhatsApp. A YouTube search with keywords, “money shower new york”, led us to the same video uploaded on May 15, 2019. The video was titled, “Money Shower – The God Joe Kush throwing real $5 Bills on 47th street in the diamonds district in NY”. Alt News found the Instagram account of Joe Kush, who had a video of the same incident, where he showered money at a crowd on 47th street, New York. According to his Instagram account, Joe Kush is a video engineer and music producer. Surprised My Bratha @traxnyc Where To Next 😂😂 #NewYork #TheGod$✅ I ❤️ NYC @fredjproductions #MoneyShowerTour ☔️☔️#NewYorkCity ✈️#ThankGod ‼️#Detroit #Free #TheGod$✅ #Losangeles #Music 🎙#Newyork #Miami #lasvegas 🚨🚨🚔🚔#MoneyShowerTour #TheRainMan #KushGod #MoneyGod #rollsroyce A post shared by TheGod Joe Kush (@thegod_joekush) on There are several videos of “money showers” carried out by Joe Kush. These visuals have also featured in the Kush’s music video. An unrelated video of a person throwing money away on the streets of New York was shared with a false claim that an Indian millionaire celebrating PM Modi’s return to power. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th May 2019 / 6:18 pm / Last updated: 24th May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/american-artists-video-shared-as-millionaire-showering-cash-after-bjps-victory/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
239	American comedian Jeremy McLellan gets abused for calling out cow vigilantes, responds with comic savagery - Alt News Alt News Desk 13th April 2017 / 3:33 am / Last updated: 19th June 2019 Hindutva supporters have come to be known for their persistent social media trolling, abusing and stalking anyone criticising BJP. A large majority of them are often well educated, middle-upper middle-class youth with established careers in IT and finance sectors. In addition to the organised BJP IT cells, that is known to keep a ‘Big Brother’ eye on anyone having a negative opinion on the party or its leaders, unpaid supporters compensate for any stone that is left unturned in the politics of trolling. Often these supporters have baseless unreasonable arguments with little to no merit that are heavy in the rhetoric of nationalism and righteous culture. Erstwhile, these supporters, who were reigning supremacy using their gender, religious and ethnic identities in India; have now upped the ante in the International trolling business as well. The American comedian Jeremy McLellan, who is well known for his inclusive content, was recently abused on social media after calling out cow-vigilantes. In recent events, he criticised the right-wing politics in India, the liberty given to people who value the lives of cows over humans. The liberty to abuse, beat, lynch and kill any human, not only for consumption but who even dares to transport cattle. Especially, if the person happens of be a Muslim. A sample of the abuses that Jeremy received, he forwarded these screenshots to us. McLellan, who is only too familiar with these kind of right-wing supporters and their ways addressing to disagreement, a manner of which is replicated in Trump’s America. Suggesting overlaps in bhakti in India vs. USA, McLellan in a chat with Alt News stated that bhakts project nationalism when confronted on morality, often with fake profiles, fake names and fake identities. “Political comedy is about pointing out the absurdities in the system, especially in an authoritarian system like ours, there are bound to be more absurdities”, said McLellan. “I don’t mind the abuse. It’s funny to me. But the real issue of fascists murdering people for eating beef isn’t funny at all. I’m a comedian, so I have really thick skin, but when people aim this abuse at people who aren’t used to it, it can do real damage. I also have nothing against Hindus or Muslims or any religion. But if you attack me or my friends, I’m going to make fun of you.”, he added. And fun he did make.. Horrific as it is, a political party or a culture that places faith or the value of animal above the value of a living person, is broken and will undoubtedly lead to greater anarchy. Increasingly, the majority of the power is inclined towards groups who want to use Trishul and Talwar for the resolution of disputes. Humorously, McLellan settled the argument out of court. In comic retaliation, he responded to the ‘cowherds’ in Hindi and thanked the bhakts for popularising his social media account in classic Jeremy McLellan manner. This is a terrific way to respond to Bhakt trolling. Praise the comedy Lord! Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th April 2017 / 3:33 am / Last updated: 19th June 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/american-comedian-jeremy-mclellan-gets-abused-calling-cow-vigilantes-responds-comic-savagery/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
240	Amidst human tragedy, fake pictures of Syrian conflict flood social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 8th March 2018 / 5:04 pm / Last updated: 9th March 2018 The Syrian conflict began in 2011 when an uprising led to civil war, with the Bashar Assad led Govt and its allies on one side fighting a number of groups and forces ranged against the Govt. Seven years on, hundreds of thousands have been killed in the conflict, cities have been razed to the ground, families have been torn apart forever and millions have been rendered homeless. Heart rending images have surfaced time and again from Syria depicting the tragedy of the war. The conflict continues to be intractable, but the propaganda machinery continues to strive to shape global public opinion on this geopolitical conflict. Sample this tweet below which was posted by a Twitter user, Sami Sharbek who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. His profile says #FreeSyria. On February 25, he posted two pictures with the caption ‘This is not a movie. This is Syria’, highlighting the military offensive by Govt troops in Eastern Ghouta enclave close to Damascus. This tweet was liked over 60,000 times and retweeted more than 55,000 times. Both the photographs used above are fake. They are not from Syria. The photograph on the right was taken in March 2017. The man in the picture along with the child were fleeing the part of Mosul that was under the control of ISIS. As for the photo of the bombing on the left, it was taken in 2014 when Israeli fighter jets bombed Eastern Gaza. Another photograph which has gone viral on social media shows a child covered with blood, holding a severed hand. I don’t care which country , religion or government i have,humanity is dying. I am astonished to see whole world silence on issue of syria, Don’t you have heart ?cant you see what’s happening? There are innocent children damni it. Raise your voice And join#HumansWantHumanity HT pic.twitter.com/x6t7EIRywG — 🐅 (@1_Umerkhalid) February 27, 2018 This photo is not from Syria, nor is it a picture of violent conflict. It is a Halloween get-up, and was clicked in 2013. In another instance, a photograph that was originally from Yemen was passed off as representing the conflict in Syria. Another round of fake photos from the colonial #SaveGhouta campaign, in attempts to sustain the failing war on Syria…. Posted by Tim Anderson on Saturday, February 24, 2018 Propaganda has been an integral and indispensable component of modern geopolitical warfare. The conflict in Syria is not recent, and neither are such efforts that attempt to paint a sordid picture. In December 2016 when fighting erupted in Aleppo between Govt forces and rebels, fake images were used to describe the horrors of the conflict. Image being shared as showing Aleppo today is actually from 2014 music video. As with Gaza, beware false info pic.twitter.com/2SM4l8RgDF — Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) December 13, 2016 As the tweet above illustrates, a still from a music video shot in 2014 was used with the caption ‘Girl running to survive and all her family have been killed. #Save_Aleppo’. The clip was from Lebanese artist Hiba Tawaji’s song ‘Al Rabih Al Arabi’. Earlier in 2014, this image below was widely circulated on Facebook and Twitter with the caption ‘A young boy sleeping with his parents…#Syria. As it turned out, this photograph was taken as part of an art project by the photographer Abdul Aziz al Otaibi. It was clicked in Saudi Arabia and has absolutely nothing to do with the Syrian conflict. In another instance, a photograph that had been tweeted by the staff of the United Nations was retweeted by a senior anchor of CNN with a caption that made a fake claim. It claimed that 4-year old Marwan was found alone wandering in the desert after he was separated from his family fleeing the civil war in Syria. While the image was meant to draw attention to the plight of refugees from Syria, another picture that was posted by the UN staff showed the child walking behind a bunch of refugees which included his mother. He had been separated momentarily when the UN staff met him. This also happened in 2014 and was written about by The Guardian. Social media has continued to build and propel the narrative around the conflict that erupted in various states in North Africa and West Asia from 2011, and has been deployed by both sides to either claim vindication or blame the other for atrocities. However, it has been observed that mainstream media too might not be immune to the occasional slip-up. In 2012, BBC News used a photograph from Iraq to report on massacre of children in the conflict in Syria. The photo was later taken down by the news organisation. Often, it is difficult to sift untruth from truth in this game of smoke and mirrors. For social media users bombarded with pictures of the conflict, a simple Google image search can reveal when and where the photograph in question was taken. This can be done by right-clicking on the photo and selecting the option ‘Search Google for images’. Posted below is an illustrative video on how to spot fake or misleading images. If you see a picture claiming to be from Aleppo, then quickly do the following before sharing it. #BreakingAleppo #fakenews pic.twitter.com/aL6UE94uUB — Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) December 13, 2016 The conflict in Syria has been raging for seven years now, and has effectively destroyed the country. Estimates of casualties range from 250,000 to 400,000 till 2016 according to the United Nations and 500,000 till 2017 according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The violence and mayhem has shattered Syria possibly beyond repair. The photographs emerging from the war-torn region have helped bring attention to the grave horrors of the conflict but the use of fake and misleading photographs on social media does little to rebuilt trust and confidence among various stakeholders. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th March 2018 / 5:04 pm / Last updated: 9th March 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amidst-human-tragedy-fake-pictures-of-syrian-conflict-flood-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
241	Amidst tribal anger, photoshopped image of Sardar Patel statue shared on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 29th October 2018 / 7:50 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019 The Statue of Unity is all set to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Controversy has erupted over the project with tribal organisations protesting against the event and calling for its boycott, claiming that land for the project had been acquired unjustly. On social media, an image of Patel’s statue in the background, with a poor family shown in the foreground, has been shared by journalist Dilip Mandal who tweeted, “Had Sardar Patel been alive today, would he have agreed to displacing tribals from their homes and farm lands for building his statue?” (translated). His tweet has been retweeted close to 200 times. It was also shared by Shilpa Bodkhe, who describes herself as secretary of Maharashtra Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee. The image has also been shared by an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporter on Twitter. The same image has also been used in an article published by a website, BoltaUP. The image has been shared by several social media users with the hashtag #StatueofDisplacement. The photograph shared on social media is photoshopped. Alt News cropped the picture in the foreground and using the reverse image search tool, found that the photograph of a mother and her children has been lifted from another source and superimposed on the photograph of the statue of Sardar Patel. The original photograph was clicked in 2010. It is available on the website of Reuters. The photograph was taken in Ahmedabad, Gujarat by Amit Dave. Alt News could not trace the source of the photograph of the statue of Sardar Patel. With the date of the inauguration drawing near, propaganda on social media has once again reared its head. While the protests by tribal organisations over the project cannot be ignored, using unrelated images to create a visual perception is unwarranted and trivializes the grave concerns of the displaced. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th October 2018 / 7:50 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amidst-tribal-anger-photoshopped-image-of-sardar-patel-statue-shared-on-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
242	Amit Malviya: How the ringmaster of BJP's propaganda machinery weaponises misinformation - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 10th February 2020 / 3:00 pm / Last updated: 11th February 2021 On January 15, 2020, Amit Malviya, national in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) IT cell, shared a video of a random group of persons insinuating that the women of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for money. His allegation was found baseless by a collaborative Alt News-Newslaundry investigation. But this hardly discouraged Malviya. Shaheen Bagh protest is sponsored… सारा कांग्रेस का खेल है… pic.twitter.com/JOKIO2qK7P — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 15, 2020 Two days hence, he shared a photograph of an elderly man eating biryani at Shaheen Bagh. In a bizarre tweet, Malviya wrote, “Proof of Biryani being distributed at Shaheen Bagh!” Was the BJP leader alluding that the act of eating food at a protest site is an offence or morally incorrect? Should the protesters be participating on empty stomachs? Only he can answer. Proof of Biryani being distributed at Shaheen Bagh! pic.twitter.com/ylwnjJr2oy — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 5, 2020 Malviya’s misleading tweets are not limited to Shaheen Bagh. Alt News has been monitoring his social media presence for a while now and has found that he repeatedly uses misinformation to discredit individuals, communities, opposition parties, leaders and movements. With him being the official ring leader of BJP’s online propaganda machinery, the misinformation promoted by Malviya has a dangerous ripple effect. His false claims are echoed by party members and supporters of the BJP thus giving rise to large-scale misinformation campaigns. On December 28, 2019, Malviya tweeted a video of anti-CAA protest at Lucknow’s Clock Tower and claimed that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised in the rally. Since this is a season of pulling out old videos, here is one from Lucknow where anti-CAA protestors can be seen raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans… Damn! Someone needs to have a samvaad with them and ask them to carry tricolour and Bapu’s picture for the cameras next time… pic.twitter.com/Lvg7sj2G9Z — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 28, 2019 Alt News found that the claim was false. The protesters did not raise pro-Pakistan slogans but said ‘Kashif saab zindabad’. Kashif saab aka Kashif Ahmad is the Lucknow AIMIM chief. In a conversation with Alt News, AIMIM UP president Haji Shaukat Ali informed that Kashif Ahmad was leading the December 13 protest. In a conversation with Alt News, AIMIM UP president Haji Shaukat Ali informed that Kashif Ahmad was leading the December 13 protest. The complete fact-check can be read here. A video of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act was circulated on social media with a claim that they raised slogans against Hindus. A,ong those who shared it was Malviya. AMU students are chanting ‘हिंदुओ की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की धरती पर…’ Chaps at Jamia want ‘हिंदुओं से आज़ादी…’ If this is the mindset that pervades in these ‘minority’ institutions, imagine the plight of Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan… pic.twitter.com/VRNeOyhaHY — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 15, 2019 The students were actually raising slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar, BJP, Brahminism and casteism. They said, “हिंदुत्व की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, सावरकर की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये बीजेपी की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ब्राह्मणवाद की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये जातीवाद की कब्र. (Grave of Hindutva will be dug on the chest of AMU, grave of Savarkar will be dug on the chest of AMU, this BJP’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Brahminism’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Casteism’s grave will be dug -translated)”. Are you listening; All the way from AMU. Long Live AMU#AMUrejectscab#CABBill2019#CitizenshipAmendmentBill pic.twitter.com/WN77Kwvcz9 — پیر زادہ محبوب الحق (@psmh019) December 12, 2019 “The Islamists want CAA protests to be ‘inclusive’ only till the time you, the non Muslims, start accepting their religious identity, beliefs and supremacist slogans as gospel,” tweeted BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya while sharing a video of journalist Arfa Khanum. The Islamists want CAA protests to be ‘inclusive’ only till the time you, the non Muslims, start accepting their religious identity, beliefs and supremacist slogans as gospel… Long live the dream of ‘Ghazwae-Hind’! pic.twitter.com/va564eghL8 — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 26, 2020 The speech delivered by Arfa Khanum at Aligarh Muslim University was clipped and misrepresented. They claimed that the journalist was promoting the establishment of Islamic society and urging protesters to maintain a pretence of support to non-Muslims until such a society is created. However, Khanum was stating the complete opposite. She urged protesters to not use religious slogans to maintain the secular character of the movement. In 2017, the BJP leader had shared a collage of images of first Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with women. Most of the photographs were of the former PM with his sister or niece. Malviya later took down his tweet but this hardly stopped others from sharing the collage. Amit Malviya tweeted a video of Dr Manmohan Singh on November 27, 2018, where the former PM can be heard saying, “The Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were very good.” This clip seemed to suggest that Singh was appreciating the BJP state governments. Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh contradicts Rahul Gandhi, says governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh were ‘very good’… Waters down everything Congress President has been saying over the last few days! pic.twitter.com/cLqCL0al7q — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 27, 2018 As it turned out, Malviya shared a mischievously clipped video of the former PM’s speech made the previous day. The former PM’s exact words were, “My relationships with the government of Madhya Pradesh, the government of Chhattisgarh were very good. We never discriminated against BJP-ruled states.” Congress is one of the favourite targets of Malviya. In another tweet from 2017, he had claimed that then party president Rahul Gandhi had signed the register at Somnath temple as a ‘non-Hindu’. Ambassador Meera Shankar, UPA’s representative in US, had referred to Sonia Gandhi as a Christian leader. The reference was soon deleted. Now Rahul Gandhi declares he is a non-Hindu but their election affidavits claim that they are Hindus. Gandhis lying about their faith? pic.twitter.com/iFE4AhVnRM — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 29, 2017 However, handwriting analysis showed that the handwriting in the register did not match with Gandhi’s publically available handwritten notes. In 2017, a video of Rahul Gandhi saying, “ऐसी मशीन लगाऊंगा इस साइड से आलू घुसेगा उस साइड से सोना निकलेगा …(Will install such a machine that if a potato is inserted from one end, gold will come out from the other end.)” was shared by the BJP IT cell head. People are sending this to me and asking in disbelief if he actually said this.. Of course he did! pic.twitter.com/rgdTf26ARv — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 15, 2017 This was a clipped video of a much longer speech where Rahul Gandhi was actually taking a dig at PM Modi during an address in Gujarat’s Patan on November 12, 2017. The complete video was uploaded on the Congress president’s YouTube channel where at 17:50 minutes he can be heard saying, “कुछ महीने पहले यहाँ बाढ़ आयी ५०० करोड़ रुपये दूंगा, (पीएम मोदी ने) एक भी रूपया नहीं दिया. आलू के किसानो को कहा ऐसी मशीन लगाऊंगा इस साइड से आलू घुसेगा उस साइड से सोना निकलेगा…मेरे शब्द नहीं है नरेंद्र मोदीजी के शब्द है. (A few months ago there was a flood here and he (PM Modi) said he will give Rs 500 crore but not even a rupee was given. He told potato farmers, will install such a machine that if a potato is inserted from one end, gold will come out from the other end…these are not my words but Narendra Modiji’s words.)” In an August 2017 tweet, Amit Malviya claimed, “Rahul Gandhi visited Dera Sacha Sauda as recently as Jan 2017 to seek support.. Congress rules Punjab. What quid pro quo did they promise?“ He later deleted the tweet. The screenshot of the article that Malviya posted is originally an Indian Express article dated January 29, 2017. The article states, “With just a week to go for the Punjab Assembly elections, AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi Saturday visited Dera Sach Khand Ballan in Jalandhar, the biggest and the most influential among the Dalit Ravidassia community.” Gandhi did not visit Dera Sacha Sauda but Dera Sach Khand Ballan, whose head is Sant Niranjan Dass and not Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Alt News’s complete fact-check can be read here. A video of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was shared by Amit Malviya ahead of 2019 Delhi elections. He claimed that a man was lynched at a Kejriwal roadshow. AAP workers indulge in brutality, lynch a man in Arvind Kejriwal’s road show, who remains a mute spectator, doesn’t intervene, goes around his program as if nothing is happening… Is this man even fit to be in public life let alone occupy a public office?pic.twitter.com/baYVtrY7Qi — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 31, 2020 Malviya did not tweet the complete picture. Other clips from the video show that Kejriwal was slapped by a person who was then thrashed by the CM’s supporters. Contrary to social media claims, the man was not lynched. However, he was brutally beaten. Arvind Kejriwal slapped by a man in west Delhi. Act caught on camera. The man, Suresh, was then assaulted by AAP volunteers. * strong language. pic.twitter.com/2vTzDyS6w1 — Raj Shekhar Jha (@rajshekharTOI) May 4, 2019 Ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019 elections, Malviya tweeted an alleged ‘first-person’ account of a student of Vidyasagar College about the violence that erupted in the campus during BJP chief Amit Shah’s rally. The ‘student’ blamed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for vandalising the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar inside the varsity campus. First person account of a student from Vidyasagar College. Original post in Bangla and translation alongside. He recounts how TMC hooligans orchestrated vandalisation of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’ bust inside the college for their petty politics. #SaveBengalSaveDemocracy pic.twitter.com/OWA79RTjbw — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 15, 2019 Incidentally, the same message was shared by numerous other individuals in the first person. The circulation of the identical message was also noticed by Twitter users. One of them sarcastically wrote, “Today, entire Facebook is ‘I am a Vidyasagar student’.” Alt News published an investigative report after analysing visuals of the violence and speaking with faculty members and students of the college. We found that the allegations raised in the post shared by Malviya were misleading. In the aftermath of the Telangana assembly elections in 2018, in which the BJP suffered a setback, Malviya tweeted that the party, despite having a 7 percent vote share in Telangana managed to win just one seat, whereas the Owaisi led AIMIM with a vote share of merely 2.7 percent bagged 7 seats in the election. In Telangana, AIMIM with just 2.7% vote share won 7 seats but BJP with 7% got just won. Let that sink in. — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 23, 2018 While the numbers cited by Malviya were correct, the claim was misleading. This is because while the AIMIM had a vote share of 2.7%, the party had contested on merely 8 seats, of which it won 7. On the other hand, BJP had contested 118 out of 119 seats in the state assembly. AIMIM thus has a far superior strike rate of 87.5 percent (7 out of 8) in comparison to the BJP’s dismal strike rate of 0.85 percent (1 out of 118). The complete details are available on the website of the Election Commission. Prime minister Narendra Modi took a holy dip in the Ganges in the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh on January 24, 2019. Soon after, Malviya tweeted that PM Modi is the “first head of state to visit Kumbh in all these years.” Malviya’s claim was incorrect on two accounts. First, the prime minister is not the head of the state. S/he is the leader of the cabinet of ministers and the head of the executive branch of the government. The president of India is the head of the state. Based on this, the first head of the state to visit Kumbh was the first Indian president Rajendra Prasad. Second, PM Modi is not the first prime minister to visit Kumbh. The first prime minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, visited Kumbh in 1954. Alt News’s complete fact-check can be read here. The BJP IT cell head claimed that Richard Thaler, the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics, praised demonetisation. ‪”Really? Damn.“, tweeted Thaler when he was told about the introduction of Rs 2000 note in place of the discontinued Rs 500 and 1000 notes. Malviya’s tweet did not include this bit. Thaler’s statement on demonetisation was in fact as follows: “The concept was good as a move to a cashless society to impede corruption but the rollout was deeply flawed and the introduction of the Rs 2000 note makes the motivation for the entire exercise puzzling.” In a TV debate, Amit Malviya had accused Yogendra Yadav of playing caste politics. In response, Yadav challenged Malviya saying he would withdraw from public life if Malviya was able to produce any evidence to back his claim. Malviya posted a video of Yogendra Yadav where he Yadav is seen and heard speaking to a crowd in Muslim dominated Mewat about his Muslim identity. “I usually don’t carry TV debates to social media but making an exception to expose Yogendra Yadav’s Janus face,” tweeted Malviya attaching a short video clip. The clip ended with the question, “When are you withdrawing from public life?” ‘ I usually don’t carry TV debates to social media but making an exception to expose @_YogendraYadav’s janus face. Here is a video where he can be seen bragging his Muslim identity to a largely Muslim audience in Muslim dominated Mewat. If this isn’t cynical politics, then what is? pic.twitter.com/sPeHqaILpB — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 19, 2019 In trying to ‘expose’ Yogendra Yadav for using his Muslim identity for votes, Malviya used an edited clip which was not even a part of an election rally. 4 things BJP’s lie factory conceals: 1. Allegation by @amitmalviya to which I responded:in 2014 election I used Muslim name for votes 2. Date of video:3 yrs+ after election 3 Context: protest meet on lynching by Hindu mob 4. My main message: don’t think of revenge or violence https://t.co/uPi1F0xVUo — Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) April 19, 2019 Below is a tweet posted by Malviya after the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh. In video, Kumar makes the following statement, “Jab tak yeh vyakti mafi nahin mangega aur mein apne party ke logo se kehta hoon ki yeh nationalist hindutva, nationalist nahin hai“. पत्रकार की कौन सी पार्टी होती है? pic.twitter.com/oUdqqkniLO — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 10, 2017 However, if one hears the complete speech, the statement that Kumar made was, “cheen aur burma se jab woh laute to pehla kaam yehi kare ki woh dadhichi ko unfollow kare aur woh bataye ki unse kahe ki hamse galti hui hai. Jab tak yeh vyakti mafi nahin mangega aur mein party ke logo se kehta hoon ki yeh nationalist hindutva, nationalist nahin hai, yeh hum sab ko ek nagrik ki taur par pradhan mantri se maang karni chahiye.” Here, “woh” refers to PM Modi and Ravish Kumar is urging the prime minister to speak to his own party workers and tell them that people like Dadhichi are not true nationalists. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya while managing the party’s social media activities has shared a deluge of misinformation mainly targetting the opposition. In most of the above examples, he has not taken down his tweets despite fact-check stories debunking false claims. This not only shows a blatant disregard for the truth but also an intent to mislead. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th February 2020 / 3:00 pm / Last updated: 11th February 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-malviya-how-ringmaster-of-bjps-propaganda-machinery-weaponises-misinformation/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
243	Amit Malviya misleads twice on a Sunday- false claims on Telangana polls and GST - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 24th December 2018 / 4:30 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019 In the aftermath of the recently concluded assembly election in which the BJP suffered a setback, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted on December 23 that BJP, despite having a 7 percent vote share in Telangana managed to win just one seat, whereas the Owaisi led AIMIM with a vote share of merely 2.7 percent bagged 7 seats in the election. In Telangana, AIMIM with just 2.7% vote share won 7 seats but BJP with 7% got just won. Let that sink in. — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 23, 2018 While the numbers cited by Malviya are correct, the claim is misleading. This is because while the AIMIM had a vote share of 2.7%, the party had contested on merely 8 seats, of which it won 7. On the other hand, BJP had contested 118 out of 119 seats in the state assembly. AIMIM thus has a far superior strike rate of 87.5 percent (7 out of 8) in comparison to the BJP’s dismal strike rate of 0.85 percent (1 out of 118). The complete details are available on the website of the Election Commission. “Today is Sunday. A film and meal with the family has never been this affordable! – Tax on restaurant bill reduced to 5% instead of steep 30% earlier – Movie ticket taxed at 12% (up to Rs 100 or 18% for over 100), down from 28% earlier Middle class has never had it this good..” tweeted BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya on December 23. Today is Sunday. A film and meal with the family has never been this affordable! – Tax on restaurant bill reduced to 5% instead of steep 30% earlier – Movie ticket taxed at 12% (up to Rs 100 or 18% for over 100), down from 28% earlier Middle class has never had it this good… — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 23, 2018 Referring to the decision by the GST council to reduce tax rates on over 20 goods and services, Malviya in his exuberance conveniently omitted the fact that the rates will be effective from January 1, 2019 and not from Sunday i.e. December 23. Malviya was contradicted by none other than his party, the BJP, which tweeted an infographic that said that the new rates will be applicable from January 1. Moreover, this was confirmed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who spoke to reporters after the meeting of the GST council, according to a report by Business Today. In charge of the BJP’s social media strategy, Malviya has indulged in misinformation on earlier occasions as well. Recently, he had shared a mischievously edited video clip of former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th December 2018 / 4:30 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-malviya-misleads-twice-on-a-sunday-false-claims-on-telangana-polls-and-gst/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
244	Amit Malviya says earth rotates clockwise, makes false claim about Rahul Gandhi's Narmada Ghat aarti - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 28th November 2022 / 7:03 pm Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar as part of the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Following this, Amit Malviya, the in-charge of BJP’s national information & technology department and member of national executive, tweeted a short video clip of Gandhi performing the aarti. He added that if Rahul Gandhi had known that aarti is performed clockwise, he would not have made a spectacle of himself in public. Along with this, he also claimed that the earth rotates in a clockwise direction. (Archived link) If only “chunavi Hindu” Rahul Gandhi knew that aarti is done clockwise and there is a scientific reason for it (earth moves in clockwise direction and hence environmental frequencies are in sync with movement), he would not be making a spectacle of himself in public like this… pic.twitter.com/5ZebOFAFm6 — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 26, 2022 Neha Sharma of BJP Uttarakhand, too, tweeted Rahul Gandhi’s video and wrote, “This is what happens when the son of a Catholic mother and Parsi father pretends to be a Hindu for electoral gains, he does aarti anticlockwise.” (Archived link) This is what happens when son of a Catholic mother and Parsi father pretends to be Hindu for electoral gains, he does aarti anti clockwise… pic.twitter.com/YeTFBcVv2i — Neha Sharma, pahadi soul ✨ (@nehadun) November 26, 2022 Alt News first reached out to a priest to confirm the direction in which the aarti is supposed to be performed. He confirmed that the lamp is supposed to be moved clockwise during the aarti ceremony. It is worth noting that Rahul Gandhi is indeed performing the aarti clockwise in the video tweeted by Amit Malviya. Since the camera lens is turned towards Gandhi’s face, the movements made on his right side are reflected and shown on the left in the camera’s sensor/screen. The Congress party handle had also tweeted the video of Rahul Gandhi performing the aarti. In this video, both Gandhi and the priest are seen performing aarti in the clockwise direction. This means that just like the priest, Rahul Gandhi is performing the aarti in the right direction. नमामि देवी नर्मदे🙏🏼#BharatJodoYatra pic.twitter.com/3Bt312LLFw — Congress (@INCIndia) November 25, 2022 Alt News examined several videos of the Narmada Aarti, Ganga Aarti, and Durga Aarti available on the internet. In each of these, the lamp is being moved clockwise. This confirms that Rahul Gandhi is, in fact, performing the aarti correctly. Articles covering the rules of aarti by outlets like Navbharat Times and Newstrack also mention that it is supposed to be performed clockwise. To illustrate this, we have compared the footage of Rahul Gandhi performing the Narmada Aarti and a video of Shivraj Singh Chouhan performing an aarti. It is evident that both are performing aarti clockwise. [vimeo 775320383 w=640 h=256] The Earth is tilted at a 23.45 degree angle on its axis and rotates from west to east. In other words, the earth rotates in the anticlockwise direction. To sum it up, Amit Malviya falsely claimed that Rahul Gandhi did not know the appropriate direction in which to perform the aarti. The Congress leader was indeed performing the aarti in the right direction, i.e. clockwise. Along with this, Malviya also made the bizarre claim that the earth rotates clockwise. This is summarily wrong. The earth rotates in an anticlockwise motion from west to east – something that is taught to children in primary schools. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop… Soon after the news of the alleged murder of 26-year-old Shraddha Walker in Delhi’s Mehrauli…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th November 2022 / 7:03 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-malviya-shared-video-of-rahul-gandhi-with-misleading-claim/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
246	Amit Malviya targets Yogendra Yadav via edited video clip after TV debate face-off - Alt News Alt News Desk 20th April 2019 / 7:27 pm BJP IT cell head, Amit Malviya was recently involved in a face off on a debate on India Today with Yogendra Yadav, the National President of Swaraj India party, where he accused Yadav of playing caste politics. In response, Yadav challenged Malviya saying he would withdraw from public life if Malviya was able to produce any evidence to back his claim. In a debate on Pragya Singh’s candidature, BJP’s @amitmalviya had no answers. So he used the standard distraction trick and brought up the issue of my name. This was my response. https://t.co/vfFNHDjuEF — Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) April 18, 2019 Yadav had responded to Malviya saying that his grandfather was murdered in the presence of his father by a Muslim mob. Yet, instead of holding bitterness and grudge, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, he chose to give Muslim names to his children, adding that he doubted if a person like Malviya had the sensitivity to understand this. A day later, Amit Malviya hit back at Yogendra Yadav, posting a video in which Yadav is seen and heard speaking to a crowd in Muslim dominated Mewat about his Muslim identity. “I usually don’t carry TV debates to social media but making an exception to expose Yogendra Yadav’s Janus face” he tweeted attaching a short video clip. The clip ended with the question, “When are you withdrawing from public life?” I usually don’t carry TV debates to social media but making an exception to expose @_YogendraYadav’s janus face. Here is a video where he can be seen bragging his Muslim identity to a largely Muslim audience in Muslim dominated Mewat. If this isn’t cynical politics, then what is? pic.twitter.com/sPeHqaILpB — Chowkidar Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 19, 2019 In the clip, Yadav is heard saying “maaf kijiyega sirf ek minute lunga. Aap mein se kai logo ko pata hai, mere dadaji hindu-muslim fasad mein mare gaye they 1936 ki baat hai, Hisar mein unka katal kar diya tha ek muslim bheed thi jisne maar diya tha. Ab sochiye mere pitaji, woh 7 saal ka baccha jisne apne baap ko apni aakhon se samne katal hote hue dekha. Woh chahta to zindagi bhar musalmano se nafrat kar sakta tha, lekin usne tay kiya ki main apne bachho ko muslim naam dunga. Usse mera naam salim pada tha, jo kissa bataya jata hai.” Translation: Pardon me, I shall take a minute. Many among you know that my grandfather was killed in Hindu-Muslim conflict in 1936. He was killed in Hisar by a Muslim mob. Now think, my father, that seven year old child who saw his father murdered before his eyes. If he wanted he could have hated Muslims all his life, but he decided that he will give Muslim names to his children. That is how I was named Salim. The same video clip was tweeted by one Chowkidar Ankur Singh, who juxtaposed it with Yadav’s video of the India Today debate in order to mock him. When is Salim @_yogendrayadav withdrawing from Public Life? pic.twitter.com/tgo00Eq2gg — Chowkidar Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) April 19, 2019 Based on this clip, Malviya made the allegation that Yadav was playing identity politics by referring to his Muslim name in front of a Muslim audience. “When are you withdrawing from public life?” was a jibe aimed at Yadav’s assertion in the TV debate that he would withdraw from public life altogether if Malviya could substantiate the claim that Yogendra Yadav was playing caste politics. Is there any truth to Malviya’s claim? The short video shared by Malviya is edited. Here is what Yadav had said. “Woh chahta toh zindagi bhar Musalmano se nafrat kar sakta tha. Chahta toh RSS ban sakta tha. Bahut sadahran baat hoti. Lekin uss shaks ne taiy kia ki na Hindu Banega na Musalman Banega, Insaan ki aulad hai, Insaan banega. Aur uss ne taiy kia ki apne bacchon ko mai Muslim naam doonga. Us se mera naam Salim para tha, jo kissa bataya jata hai aaj kal” Translation: “If he wanted, he could have hated Muslims all his life. If he wanted he could be RSS. It would have been a very ordinary thing. But that person decided that neither Hindu nor Muslim, they will become human. And so he decided that he will give Muslim names to his children. That is how I was named Salim.” The video was posted live on Facebook on the page of Swaraj India party, on July 29, 2018. The relevant portion begins from 8:33 minutes. The video is captioned ‘मेवात में रकबर खान कि हत्या के बाद वहाँ के पंचायत को संबोधित करते योगेंद्र यादव’ (Yogendra Yadav addressing the panchayat in Mewat after murder of Rakbar Khan- translation). मेवात में रकबर खान कि हत्या के बाद वहाँ के पंचायत को संबोधित करते योगेंद्र यादव! Posted by Swaraj India on Sunday, July 29, 2018 He then went on to explain the context saying he is telling this story because “nafrat ja jawab nafrat se dena bahut aasaan kaam hai, chota kaam hai, nafrat ka jawab Mohabbat se dena bahut bara kaam hai aur main yeh chahta hun ki yeh ilaaka jisne bahut barey kaam kiye hain, nafrat ka jawab mohabbat se de” (It is easy to respond to hate with hate, it is a small thing, it is a big thing to answer hate with love and I wish that this place, which has accomplished a lot, respond to hate with love- translation). The part where Yadav had said “Na Hindu banega na Musalman banega, insaan ki aulaad hai insaan banega” was conveniently left out of the video clip which was posted by Malviya, thus suggesting that Yadav was pandering to Muslims by appealing to their identity. On the contrary, he was sharing his own experience about his family which had witnessed the brutality of Hindu-Muslim conflict, yet chose to make peace with themselves and the world around them. Yadav took to Twitter to refute Malviya’s allegations and shared the unedited clip. Clinching evidence that @amitmalviya had doctored the few seconds video he has circulated. Just listen to this small fragment from my speech. BJP lie factory cut out my words: “na Hindu Banega na Musalman Banega”! Also: “nafrat ja jawab Mohabbat se Dena hai” Are we surprised? pic.twitter.com/j5wjXf1797 — Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) April 19, 2019 It is clear that the edited clip tweeted by Malviya has removed the context of the statement as well as bits from the speech itself to make it appear that Yadav was informing the crowd about his Muslim name for votes. It is important to note that this gathering at Mewat was not an election rally but a protest meet after the lynching of a Muslim man by a Hindu mob. It is in this context that Yadav told the crowd about his story and talked about responding to hate with love. The appeal to the crowd not to respond to hate with hate has been edited out in the version shared by Malviya. 4 things BJP’s lie factory conceals: 1. Allegation by @amitmalviya to which I responded:in 2014 election I used Muslim name for votes 2. Date of video:3 yrs+ after election 3 Context: protest meet on lynching by Hindu mob 4. My main message: don’t think of revenge or violence https://t.co/uPi1F0xVUo — Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) April 19, 2019 Amit Malviya started his tweet by saying that he doesn’t like to carry TV debates on to social media but in reality he not only carried the TV debate to social media, but he carried an edited version of it. Ironically he was trying to ‘expose’ Yogendra Yadav for using his Muslim identity for votes with the help of a clip that was not only edited but was also not of an election rally. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th April 2019 / 7:27 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-malviya-targets-yogendra-yadav-via-edited-video-clip-after-tv-debate-face-off/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
247	Amit Malviya tweets clipped video to water down police action on protesting farmers - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 30th November 2020 / 6:43 pm / Last updated: 1st December 2020 A photograph of a policeman swinging his baton at an elderly farmer was shot by PTI photojournalist Ravi Choudhary. The picture soon began to circulate widely on social media. Capturing this moment was very difficult for me. https://t.co/mzmOEpMmnN — Ravi Choudhary (@choudharyview) November 28, 2020 It was also shared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a tweet critical of the Modi government. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya quote-tweeted Gandhi and shared a video of the lathi-charge in an attempt to prove that police action against the farmer did not take place because the baton “didn’t even touch” him. Rahul Gandhi must be the most discredited opposition leader India has seen in a long long time. https://t.co/9wQeNE5xAP pic.twitter.com/b4HjXTHPSx — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 28, 2020 The video he shared was made by pro-BJP propaganda page Political Kida. It was also tweeted by Arun Pudur who claims to be a businessman but an investigative report by Forbes had found that his tech fortune may be fiction. Police didn’t even touch the farmer, just waved the stick in air but one pic is smartly being used to make police the villian. For their propaganda this is how Congress ecosystem can make anyone villian. pic.twitter.com/XfATCVppsb — Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) November 28, 2020 Twitter user @BefftingFacts, which often shares misinformation, also claimed that the farmer wasn’t injured. Pictures don’t tell real story. Here is the real story. Police didnt even touch this old man. But pictures are good for propaganda na? @ShashiTharoor https://t.co/RTuA0VFfmm pic.twitter.com/IQRTqUQDmb — Facts (@BefittingFacts) November 28, 2020 Amit Malviya’s tweet is a classic example of the straw man fallacy. He distorted Rahul Gandhi’s original statement as though the Congress leader indeed made the claim. Malviya essentially gave the impression of refuting Gandhi without actually addressing the argument. “Today, PM Modi’s ego forced a soldier to stand up against a farmer,” is what Gandhi wrote. Nowhere has the Congress leader implied that the policeman’s baton hit the elderly farmer. Malviya’s argument introduces a stance that changes the point of Gandhi’s statement. The answers to the following questions address Malviya’s claim: Amit Malviya shared a clipped video Three new farm bills introduced by the Modi government were passed in the Parliament in September. Since then, farmer groups have been protesting fearing that the legislation makes them captive to big corporations and abolishes minimum support price. PM Modi claimed that the government is committed to helping farmers and the protests are taking place because they are being misled. While the Prime Minister made this statement two months ago, the government’s version has been kept alive by mainstream media during the ongoing ‘Delhi Chalo’ protests. Several journalists are blaming “opposition and middlemen” for provoking farmers. There have also been attempts to discredit the protests by trending ‘Khalistani’ on Twitter. However, visuals of police action against the protesters drew support for the farmers from India and abroad. Amit Malviya’s tweet is an attempt to suggest that there have been exaggerated claims of police action. But he used a clipped video to prove his (logically flawed) point. A longer version of the video shows two cops swinging their batons at the farmer one after the other. Malviya’s video shows only the second cop whose baton missed the farmer. In the above video, a faint hitting sound can be heard when the first cop flings his baton. But we are not able to visually verify whether the baton touched the farmer because the policeman blocks the camera. PTI photojournalist Ravi Choudhary shared another photo of cops flinging their batons at the farmer on his Instagram profile. “I clicked the picture from the other side and it cannot be said with certainty whether the baton touched the farmer or not because there was a lot of commotion at the time. The police were lathi-charging at the protestors and the farmer was running in the other direction to save himself. He may have been hit by another cop earlier if not this one,” Choudhary told Alt News further adding, “There are several videos of police lathi-charging at farmers who also retaliated with stone-pelting.” There isn’t a way to visually prove whether the baton touched the farmer or not unless a video shot from the other sides gives a clear view of the exact moment. However, we did find a video uploaded on a Punjabi Facebook page where the elderly farmer shows injuries on his hand. ਗਗਨੋ ਅੰਟੀ ਕਿਸਾਨ ਵੀਰਾ ਦੀਆ ਸੱਟਾ ਦੀਖਾ ਕੇ ਮਾਨਸੇ ਤੋ ਟਿੱਕਟ ਪੱਕੀ ਕੱਰਨ ਦੀ ਤਿਆਰੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਏਦੇ ਆਪ ਦੇ ਸੱਟ ਨੀ ਲੱਗੀ ਕਿੱਤੇ Posted by ललन भाई on Sunday, 29 November 2020 Protestors were met with heavy police lathi-charge A board visible in the picture shared by Choudhary on this Instagram profile reads ‘Singhu border’ in Hindi. Singhu border is on the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway. Farmers had set camps at the checkpoint after heavy police security and barricading prevented them from entering the national capital. Thousands of farmers from Punjab marched as part of ‘Delhi Chalo’ protests, many of whom carried tractors with food supplies and water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb_0vWt1_Qk Facebook page The Kantap reported from the area where farmers and policemen can be seen stone-pelting across the barricades. Cops can also be heard shooting tear gas shells as the reporter informs that the protestors broke barricades. Sindhu border पे किसानों पे लाठीचार्ज Posted by The Kantap on Friday, 27 November 2020 An NDTV broadcast shows moments before the protestors broke the barricades. Policemen are standing in a queue and shooting tear gas shells in the air to stop farmers from crossing over to their side. An India TV broadcast shows police and paramilitary forces continuously firing tear gas as farmers break cemented barricades with tractors. Cops can be seen lathi-charging at farmers who have managed to cross over the barricading. किसानों को दिल्ली में प्रवेश की मिली इजाजत, लेकिन सिंघु बॉर्डर पर किसानों का उपद्रव जारी, पुलिस ने किया लाठीचार्ज#FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/2rCnJV27TF — India TV (@indiatvnews) November 27, 2020 Visuals from Singhu border, therefore, show the extent of police action in retaliation to farmers breaking the blockade. Amit Malviya shared a few seconds of a clipped video to suggest that the elderly farmer wasn’t hit. This was an attempt to water down the force used by police against the protestors. It must be pointed out that whether the baton touched the farmer or not is irrelevant. The video was shot at a time when large numbers of protestors had broken police barricades and the cops were retaliating with lathi-charge and tear gas. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th November 2020 / 6:43 pm / Last updated: 1st December 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-malviya-tweets-clipped-video-to-water-down-police-action-on-protesting-farmers/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
248	Amit Malviya's claim that the SC did not allege "non-cooperation" by the govt during Pegasus probe is misleading - Alt News Indradeep Bhattacharyya 29th August 2022 / 5:33 pm / Last updated: 29th August 2022 On August 25, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the in-charge of BJP’s National Information & Technology Department Amit Malviya tweeted, “Is having an IQ lower than Rahul Gandhi’s a prerequisite for being in Congress? The SC hasn’t alleged non cooperation by central Govt in the Pegasus case. It has merely said the stand of the Govt has been the same before the committee as well as the Supreme Court. Read the order.” This tweet by Malviya garnered more than 900 likes and close to 300 retweets. Is having an IQ lower than Rahul Gandhi’s a prerequisite for being in Congress? The SC hasn’t alleged non cooperation by central Govt in the Pegasus case. It has merely said the stand of the Govt has been the same before the committee as well as the Supreme Court. Read the order. — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 25, 2022 Malviya’s tweet was in reference to the tweet by the Indian National Congress about the hearing of the Pegasus case in the Supreme Court on Thursday, August 25, by a bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli. सुप्रीम कोर्ट की जांच कमेटी को : – फोन में मालवेयर मिला – कमेटी के अनुसार भारत सरकार ने पेगासस जासूसी जांच में सहयोग नहीं किया अब सवाल यह उठता है कि मोदी सरकार जांच से क्यों डर रही है?#Pegasus मामले में देश को गुमराह करने वाले समझ लें कि उनका काला सच जल्द सामने आने वाला है। pic.twitter.com/NVRhjTtBes — Congress (@INCIndia) August 25, 2022 Amit Malviya claimed in his tweet that the court had merely said that the government’s stand continues to remain the same and it did not allege “non-cooperation” by the central government. The tweet by Malviya also takes a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It is important to note that Amit Malyvia’s tweet does not explain what “stand” of the government was being referred to by the apex court. On October 27, 2021, the Supreme Court formed a three-member expert committee to look into the alleged misuse of Israeli spyware Pegasus by the Union Government for targeted surveillance on selected opposition leaders, activists, journalists and others as reported first by The Wire as part of the Pegasus Project. The report claimed a digital forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International’s Security Lab had allegedly found that the phones of dozens of people were either targeted or had been infected by Pegasus spyware, sold by Israel’s NSO Group. The committee, monitored by former apex court judge R V Raveendran submitted its final report to the top court on August 2, 2022, in three parts — two parts by the technical committee and one by the retired judge overseeing the probe. On August 25, the three-judge bench heard the matter. Alt News went through the Twitter thread by Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) and Bar&Bench (@barandbench), two digital news agencies that reported the hearing live on Twitter. These threads noted that while going through the report, the CJI read out parts of it and made the oral observation in the packed courtroom that the government had not cooperated with the investigation. He then told solicitor general Tushar Mehta that the Union government had taken the same stand in front of the investigation committee as it did in the apex court earlier, i.e., of non-cooperation with the probe. To this, the SG replied that he was not aware of it. Solicitor General : I am not aware of that.#CJINVRamana #Pegasus #SupremeCourt — Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 25, 2022 This oral observation made by the court was also widely reported by media outlets such as The Telegraph, Scroll, The Wire and The Indian Express. What is Central Government’s ‘stand’? Through the portal Indian Kanoon, Alt News got access to the order passed by the Supreme Court in October 2021 where the CJI-led bench had commented on the said ‘stand’ of the Union government. “However, despite the repeated assurances and opportunities given, ultimately the RespondentUnion of India has placed on record what they call a “limited affidavit”, which does not shed any light on their stand or provide any clarity as to the facts of the matter at hand. If the RespondentUnion of India had made their stand clear it would have been a different situation, and the burden on us would have been different. Such a course of action taken by the Respondent Union of India, especially in proceedings of the present nature which touches upon the fundamental rights of the citizens of the country, cannot be accepted,” it had said, adding, “They must justify the stand that they take before a Court. The mere invocation of national security by the State does not render the Court a mute spectator.” To further understand the observation made by the court in its August 25 hearing, we reached out to two independent sources. Senior advocate Vrinda Grover, who was present in the courtroom during the hearing confirmed that the CJI had orally remarked that the government had not cooperated with the investigation. “CJI Ramana, in open court, read out only a part of the technical committee report. During the hearing the CJI orally remarked that it was noted in the report that the Government of India has not cooperated with the probe,” she told Alt News. Manu Sebastian, the managing editor of Live Law who attended the proceedings virtually (Journalists only had virtual access to the hearing) and reported them live, too, confirmed that quoting the committee’s report, the CJI said the Union government had not cooperated with the committee. “After reading out parts of the report filed by the SC-appointed committee, the CJI made some oral observations. For example, he said the committee had examined 29 phones, and malwares were found in five. Then he observed that the committee has said in its report that the Government of India has not cooperated with the probe,” Sebastian said. It is important to note that the last line of Malviya’s tweet — ‘Read the Order’ — seems to suggest that the order throws some light on the government’s stand before the SC and the committee. The record of proceedings, uploaded on the SC website, however, does not mention anything along those lines. The order only says; “1. Pursuant to order dated 27.10.2021, the Technical Committee and the Overseeing Judge have submitted their Reports in sealed covers. The same are taken on record. The sealed covers were opened in the Court and we read out some portions of the said Reports. Thereafter, the Reports were re-sealed and kept in the safe custody of the Secretary General of this Court, who shall make it available as and when required by the Court. 2. Heard learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the parties and Mr. Manohar Lal Sharma, the petitioner-in-person, as also learned Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Union of India. 3. List these matters after four weeks for further hearing.” In summary, Amit Malviya’s tweet regarding the oral observations made by the court during the Pegasus hearing is misleading and full of ambiguities. The CJI while reading a part of the technical committee’s report made an oral remark that it was noted in the report that the Government of India has not cooperated with the probe. Indradeep, a journalist with over 10 years' experience in print and digital media, is a Senior Editor at Alt News. Earlier, he has worked with The Times of India and The Wire. Politics and literature are among his areas of interest. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th August 2022 / 5:33 pm / Last updated: 29th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-malviyas-claim-that-the-sc-did-not-allege-non-cooperation-by-the-govt-during-pegasus-probe-is-misleading/", "author": "Indradeep Bhattacharyya" }
249	Amit Shah asks people to boycott Aaj Tak before Delhi elections? Old video viral - Alt News Mohammed Zubair 26th January 2020 / 12:31 pm / Last updated: 26th January 2020 A video of Amit Shah addressing the media is viral with the claim that the Home Minister asked the people of Delhi to not watch Aaj Tak because it supports the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In the video, Shah can be heard saying, “Aaj Tak has undertaken the agenda that AAP should win. Delhi’s people are with BJP. Aaj Tak channel wants AAP to win at any costs which is why Delhi’s voters should not trust any reports by Aaj Tak, don’t believe them…This is a straightforward allegation and I say inside the press conference that Aaj Tak’s agenda is to launch AAP and there is no greater example of yellow journalism.” [Translated from: “आज तक ने एजेंडा हाथ में लिया है AAP पार्टी को जितने का। दिल्ली की जनता BJP के साथ है। आज तक चैनल का एजेंडा है कि AAP पार्टी को कुछ भी करके जितनाना है। इसलिए आज तक के किसी भी समाचार पर दिल्ली की मतदाता भरोसा न करे, उसको माने ना। … जी सीधा आरोप है और मैं प्रेस वार्ता के अंदर कहता हूँ कि आज तक चैनल का एजेंडा है AAP पार्टी को लांच करने का। और इससे बड़ा येल्लो जर्नलिज़्म का कोई एक्साम्पल नहीं हो सकता।”] Twitter handle @RealHistoryPic tweeted the clip on January 25. सरकार की चाटूकारिता करते करते आज़तक के एंकरों की जीभ में छाले तक पड़ गए लेकिन बिकाऊ लोगों के साथ समस्या ये होती है कि मालिक को उनकी औकात बताने में दो मिनट भी नहीं लगते। (2020) @anjanaomkashyap @sardanarohit pic.twitter.com/CSCeJVJV7e — History of India (@RealHistoryPic) January 25, 2020 The handle had reshared the video posted by @Dilsedesh. Home minister @AmitShah asks people of Delhi not to watch @aajtak this is being seen as great set back to @anjanaomkashyap and @chitraaum sad but true !! pic.twitter.com/cFYOABnM3J — Dilsedesh (@Dilsedesh) January 23, 2020 Another handle @br_sharma_ also tweeted the same video. अमित शाह जी ने #आजतक चैनल को “आप” पार्टी का स्पष्ट समर्थक बताया ।#ShameOnAajTak pic.twitter.com/TJuntgXgeA — Bαℓяαм Sнαямα🇮🇳 FB💯% (@br_sharma_) January 19, 2020 The clip has also been shared by a few Facebook users. Alt News performed an advanced search on Twitter with a combination of keywords and found several tweets sharing the video link. Here is an old tweet by Akhilesh Mishra, CEO of BlueKraft Digital Foundation. #AajTak is the worst case of yellow journalism in India: https://t.co/WdeeYSLH5z \|\| Amit Shah in his blistering, frontal attack mode. 1/2 — Akhilesh Mishra (@amishra77) January 24, 2015 A further search led us to the complete video uploaded by BJP’s YouTube channel on January 23, 2015, with the title, “We will free Bihar from ‘Jungle Raj’: Shri Amit Shah: 24.01.2015.” The viral portion can be heard from 21:10 minutes. Bihar legislative elections were held during October-November in 2015. Shah’s conference in Patna was to “appraise the media of the work done by the government since it came to power.” A five-year-old video of Amit Shah accusing Aaj Tak of ‘Yellow journalism’ and asking voters to not believe the channel’s polls has been revived before the upcoming Delhi elections scheduled to be held on February 8, 2020. Co-founder, Alt News Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via Twitter at https://twitter.com/zoo_bear Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th January 2020 / 12:31 pm / Last updated: 26th January 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-shah-asks-people-to-boycott-aaj-tak-before-delhi-elections-old-video-viral/", "author": "Mohammed Zubair" }
250	Morphed images show PM Modi and Amit Shah in Sonagachi - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 14th April 2021 / 2:31 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2021 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were in West Bengal to campaign for the BJP in the ongoing assembly elections. Photographs of the two leaders have been shared with the claim that they campaigned in Sonagachi, the largest red-light area in Asia. बहारों फूल बरसाओ हम सोनागाछी में पधारे हैं..!😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ofRdur9Mdq — 𝐀𝐧𝐣𝐚𝐥𝐢 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡 𝐑𝐚𝐣𝐩𝐮𝐭 (@AnjaliSingh_INC) April 11, 2021 Most people have shared Amit Shah’s photograph which shows him in a lane where a poster that reads ‘Savita Rani Sonagchi’ is pasted on the wall. सोनागाछी के गलियों में जुगाड़ खोजता पुरुष…. pic.twitter.com/AWoXw15HbB — Nita Thakur (@nithakur0) April 10, 2021 The images have also been shared on Facebook. बहारो फूल बरसाओ 😳😳 हम सोनागाछी मे,घप-घप के लिए पधारे हैं 🙊🙊 Posted by Shyam Babu on Wednesday, 14 April 2021 They are in fact widespread on the social media platform. Both images have been morphed. Amit Shah had himself tweeted the original photograph. It does not carry the wall poster that says ‘Sonagachi’. The image was taken during door-to-door campaigning in Bhabanipur. Few more from Bhabanipur’s door to door campaign. #BJP200PlusInBengal pic.twitter.com/wuuKmeaZyz — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 9, 2021 The other image has also been morphed to show PM Modi leaving a brothel. Below is the original photograph. Morphed images were therefore shared to show PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in Sonagachi. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th April 2021 / 2:31 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-shah-bhawanipur-image-sonagachi-fake-news/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
251	Amit Shah falsely claims ‘Vande mataram’ & ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans not raised at TMC’s Mega Rally - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 22nd January 2019 / 5:49 pm At his rally in West Bengal’s Malda, BJP president Amit Shah claimed that no slogans of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ were raised during the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan rally. “जिस गठबंधन की रैली में भारत माता की जय का जयकारा ना लगता हो, वन्दे मातरम् के नारे नहीं लगते हो, वो देश का क्या भला करेंगे? श्री अमित शाह (An alliance where Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram slogans were not raised, how can it do good for the country? Shri Amit Shah),” tweeted the Bharatiya Janata Party from its official handle. In the live video of Shah’s address uploaded by BJP, at 13:50, he can be heard claiming that no slogans of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ were raised at the rally. LIVE : Shri @AmitShah addresses public meeting in Malda, West Bengal. #AmitShahInMalda https://t.co/iCHYnLUinX — BJP (@BJP4India) January 22, 2019 The BJP president’s assertion was also reported by mainstream media, including Hindustan Times and Republic TV. The United India Rally, where opposition parties came together to rally for a change in central government, took place on January 19 at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. The over 5-hour video of the event does not validate Amit Shah’s statements. At around 3:04:35 in the full video, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee can be heard chanting ‘Vande Mataram’, which is preceded with the chants of ‘Jai Hind’. https://youtu.be/qDdYCCMNHFY?t=11076 Here’s what Banerjee says – “Badal do badal do, dilli ki sarkar badal do! Jai Hind! Vande Mataram.” The chants she made at the end of her speech were also reported on mainstream media. Gujarat youth leader Hardik Patel also made a speech at TMC’s Mega Rally. In the video posted below, he can be heard saying ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ at 4:50. In fact, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda also said something similar – ‘Jai Bharat’. It is, thus, clear that Amit Shah made a false claim accusing Opposition parties of not raising the slogans of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Alt News, however, found that the fallacy wasn’t limited to Shah, but was widespread on social media with the help of a fake quote attributed to Aaj Tak’s Sweta Singh. The journalist tweeted on January 22 that a statement not made by her was printed in some newspaper – “इतनी बड़ी रैली हुई देश के सभी बड़े बड़े नेता थे किन्तु कान तरस गए भारत माता की जय और वंदे मातरम् सुनने के लिये। फिर ये बेशर्म लोग किस मुँह से देशहित मे एक होने का दावा कर रहे है। Such a big rally was organised where the country’s biggest politicians came, but ears were longing to hear the chants of Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram. How can these shameless people claim to work in the country’s favour?” She posted a newspaper clipping, asking people to identify the outlet. अगर किसी को मालूम है ये कौन सा अख़बार है, तो कृपया बताएँ। ना तो मैंने ऐसा कुछ कहा है। ना लिखा है। ना ये तथ्यात्मक तौर पर सही है। क्योंकि उस रैली के अंत में जय हिंद का नारा लगा था। ग़ज़ब है, अब पैरोडी अकाउंट भी छापे जाएँगे! pic.twitter.com/h0PYfwKd9T — Sweta Singh (@SwetaSinghAT) January 22, 2019 Singh wrote that the newspaper printed the quote from a parody account run under her name. We found that a handle @SwetaSinghHere had tweeted a similar statement, which has now been deleted. The quote had also picked up the pace on social media. From a Sweta Singh parody account on Facebook, it drew 11,000 shares at the time of writing this article. The claims circulating on social media and the ones made by BJP chief Amit Shah accusing opposition parties of not raising the slogans of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ are completely false. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd January 2019 / 5:49 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-shah-falsely-claims-vande-mataram-bharat-mata-ki-jai-slogans-not-raised-at-tmcs-mega-rally/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
252	Amit Shah makes false claim that no BJP leader said protestors in Shaheen Bagh will rape women - Alt News Ketan 14th February 2020 / 8:51 pm On February 13, Home Minister Amit Shah was interviewed by journalist Navika Kumar in the Times Now Summit. Kumar pointed out the provocative slogans raised by BJP leaders during pro-CAA rallies such as ‘traitors of the country, should be shot down’, labelling the Delhi elections as ‘India vs Pakistan’ and the allegations that Shaheen Bagh protestors would enter homes and rape women and daughters. Shah acknowledged that the first two statements were made but denied that his party members made the ‘rape’ comment about Shaheen Bagh protestors. Times Now tweeted (archive link) a 4:30 minute video and said, “#TimesNowSummit \| BJP condemns the hate comments made by its netas & doesn’t endorse them: Union Home Minister @AmitShah tells Navika Kumar at TIMES NOW SUMMIT 2020 ” The relevant portion can be viewed onward the 2:58 mark. #TimesNowSummit \| BJP condemns the hate comments made by its netas & doesn’t endorse them: Union Home Minister @AmitShah tells Navika Kumar at TIMES NOW SUMMIT 2020. pic.twitter.com/PZHoyK64oo — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 13, 2020 While wrapping up her question Kumar said, “Protestors in Shaheen Bagh will rape daughters-in-law and daughters by sneaking into people’s houses … Such sentences…” [Translated from शाहीन बाग़ में जो प्रोटेस्टर्स बैठे हैं वो लोगों के घर में घुस के बहू बेटियों का बलात्कार करे देंगे… इस तरह के वाक्यों…] Before Kumar could finish her question, Shah interjected and said, “No one has given such a statement… that daughter will be raped … But everything else that you said, they should not have given any statement …” [Translated from ऐसा बयान नहीं दिया किसी ने… बहू-बेटियों का बलात्कार करेंगे… मगर बाकी सब जो आपने कहा, वो भी बयान नहीं देने चाहिए थे…] Alt News did a keyword search on Twitter and found a tweet by ANI from January 28. The tweet (archive link) posted a 90-second byte of BJP MP Parvesh Verma along with the text, “#WATCH: BJP MP Parvesh Verma says, “…Lakhs of people gather there (Shaheen Bagh). People of Delhi will have to think & take a decision. They’ll enter your houses, rape your sisters&daughters, kill them. There’s time today, Modi ji & Amit Shah won’t come to save you tomorrow…” #WATCH: BJP MP Parvesh Verma says, “…Lakhs of people gather there (Shaheen Bagh). People of Delhi will have to think & take a decision. They’ll enter your houses, rape your sisters&daughters, kill them. There’s time today, Modi ji & Amit Shah won’t come to save you tomorrow…” pic.twitter.com/1G801z5ZbM — ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2020 Therefore, Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that no BJP leader said that Shaheen Bagh protestors will rape women and daughters is false. Ketan is Senior Editor at Alt News Hindi. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th February 2020 / 8:51 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-shah-makes-false-claim-that-no-bjp-leader-said-protestors-in-shaheen-bagh-will-rape-women/", "author": "Ketan" }
253	Amit Shah makes misleading claims regarding Telangana Congress Manifesto - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 2nd December 2018 / 10:43 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019 On December 2, 2018, BJP President Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in Narayanpet, Telangana. Telangana assembly elections are set to be held on December 7. Amit Shah made several claims vis-a-vis the Congress manifesto while rallying in the state. Alt News found that many of his claims were unfounded or misleading. The BJP stalwart said in poll-bound Telangana – “मित्रों ये कहते है कांग्रेस पार्टी कहती है मस्जिद और चर्च का लाइट बिल तेलंगाना गवर्नमेंट भरेगी\| उसमे हमे कोई आपत्ति नहीं है मगर मंदिरों का क्यों नहीं भरोगे भाई? मंदिरों का भी भरना चाहिए या नहीं बहाना चाहिए? (Friends, this Congress party says that Telangana government will pay the electricity bill of mosques and churches. We do not oppose this but why will they not pay for temples? Should electricity bills of temples be paid or not?)” This claim was earlier made by Times Now . As debunked earlier by Alt News, the Congress manifesto actually talks about free power supply at all places of worship, including temples. “मित्रों मैं कहना चाहता हूँ वो कहते है उर्दू जानते है ऐसे टीचरों को अलग से भर्ती करेंगे\| तो तेलुगु बोलने वाले टीचर कहा जायेंगे? तेलुगु लिखने पड़ने वाले टीचर कहा जायेंगे? (Friends, I want to say that they [Congress] wish to separately recruit Urdu-speaking teachers. Then where will the Telugu-speaking teachers go? What will happen to teachers who read and write in Telugu?)” questioned Shah. With these statements, the BJP chief attempted to portray Congress as giving Telugu a second-rate status. While it is true that the Congress manifesto vows to conduct a special DSC (District Selection Committee) for recruitment of Urdu teachers, the party also promises the formation of multiple other DSCs for recruiting 20,000 teachers, which presumably will include teachers who teach in Telugu. Moreover, it commits to provide funds to both Telugu and Urdu cultural academies for promotion of both languages. Another claim made by Amit Shah was – “मित्रों वो २० लाख रूपया माइनॉरिटी के स्टूडेंट्स को देंगे\| मैं पूछना चाहता हु पिछड़ा समाज का ओबीसी समाज का गरब बच्चा जिसके पास पड़ने के लिए पैसे नहीं है, उसको पैसे मिलने चाहिए या नहीं मिलने चाहिए? (Friends, they [Congress] will give Rs 20 lakh to minority students. I want to ask if OBCs of the backward sections of the society should be given money or not?) In its manifesto, the Congress promises scholarships not only to minorities but also to SC, ST and OBC students to the tune of 25 lakhs. “माइनॉरिटी के लिए अलग अस्पताल बनाने की बात करते है\| मैं पूछना चाहता हु राहुल गाँधी को जो गरीब तेलंगाना माइनॉरिटी कम्युनिटी में नहीं है उनका दोष क्या? (They [Congress] talk about building separate hospitals for minorities. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi what about the poor who do not come under Telangana minority community?),” questioned Shah, implying that the Congress promises to provide free healthcare only to minorities and not the economically backward sections of the society on the whole. The Congress manifesto promises hospitals in minority-concentrated areas and not only to minorities. Moreover, it also commits to providing healthcare for the disadvantaged sections of the society such as those recruited in the unorganised sector. In the run-up to any elections, political parties try to shape the public opinion of citizenry. In this endeavour, however, they often end up making false or incomplete claims to influence voters against the competing political parties. Many of BJP President Amit Shah’s claims vis-a-vis the Congress Manifesto were either incomplete or false. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd December 2018 / 10:43 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-shah-makes-misleading-claims-regarding-telengana-congress-manifesto/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
254	"Amit Shah never flies in chartered planes". Oh really, Financial Express? - Alt News Alt News Desk 24th July 2017 / 6:32 pm / Last updated: 24th July 2017 “Amit Shah never flies in chartered planes, doesn’t stay at hotels rather prefers party workers home,” claimed the headline of Financial Express story about the simple lifestyle of BJP President. “Never” is a strong word. Let us fact check this story. Like the headline, the rest of the article also fawns over Shah, “Amit Shah chooses not to travel by planes, except during poll campaigns. The Bharatiya Janata Party generally takes commercial flights. The surprising fact is that even when Amit Shah travels to distant regions such as Leh or the Northeast, he takes the Pawan Hans choppers, that operate in the region, along with other passengers. The simplicity of the BJP chief doesn’t end here. Even when he is on official trips, Shah doesn’t check in to hotels instead prefers to stay in the homes of the party workers. These facts might surprise a few people thinking why such an important person lives such a simple life.” Yes, these “facts” surprised us, but what surprised us more was that it was a leading national business paper like Financial Express that chose to bring them to us. Google search is a wonderful tool. Simple to use, yet so many don’t do it before making outlandish claims. If Financial Express had done this basic due diligence, they would have been saved the embarrassment. The article claims he “never” travels by chartered planes and chooses not to travel by planes except during poll campaigns. 1. Earlier this year, in February, Rahul Kanwal posted pictures of his exclusive interview with Amit Shah. The pictures show Shah and Kanwal sitting across each other in a private jet. Newsroom live tonight from the lovely Gomti riverfront in Lucknow. Do watch @IndiaToday just now for exclusive interview with @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/hlSyYruBZw — Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) February 15, 2017 2. In March 2017, a special chartered flight with Amit Shah and Venkaiah Naidu on way to Imphal for Biren Singh’s swearing-in ceremony developed a snag and had to return to New Delhi. Plane carrying Amit Shah, Venkaiah Naidu to Manipur returns after technical snaghttps://t.co/uD0cMsxqk4 pic.twitter.com/roz5QnM18q — Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) March 15, 2017 3. Also in March 2017, Modi and Shah were in Somnath. As per news reports, “BJP chief arrived in the state on a 10-seater chartered plane from Varanasi” 4. Moving on to helicopters, watch a video of Shah going to Haridwar in a helicopter. 5. In 2016, at a time when India is reeling under severe drought conditions, media reported thousands of litres of water was used to damp a helipad for Shah’s helicopter landing in Haryana. 6. Last month a helicopter carrying Shah landed at a temporary helipad on the premises of the Tiruvannamalai Government Arts College. Shah was in the city as part of his country-wide tour. None of these sound like “Pawan Hans helicopters with other passengers” as Financial Express would like us to believe. 7. Speaking of hotels, here are pictures from Amit Shah’s stay at Taj Bengaluru. If we are to believe Financial Express, this may be because there are no volunteers in the city. BJP national president Amit Shah stay in Taj Hotel.Bengaluru.: https://t.co/GSH8QgiZIh via @YouTube — BtvNews (@btvnewslive) June 26, 2017 8. PR Ramesh who is considered close to BJP described Amit Shah’s hotel in an article of his, “The hotel in Muzaffarnagar where Amit Anilchandra Shah is staying tonight has several oversized chairs in the reception, an indication of the kind of visitors he is expecting.” The above is only a small selection of recent instances. For more, please do your own Google search Amit Shah is an important man. As BJP President he maintains a hectic travel schedule. While he may maintain a simple lifestyle, there will always be instances where the situation demands him to travel by private jets or helicopters or stay in a hotel. No one will grudge him when he does so. Wonder why Financial Express feels the need to build a false narrative around Amit Shah’s travel? Needless to say, the article has been widely shared among the target audience of cheerleaders and WhatsApp groups who are most inclined to believe such claims. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th July 2017 / 6:32 pm / Last updated: 24th July 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amit-shah-never-flies-chartered-planes-oh-really-financial-express/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
255	Amitabh Bachchan's video of large crowd at Ganesh pandal is 5 years old - Alt News Ketan 13th September 2021 / 4:19 pm Actor Amitabh Bachchan tweeted a video on September 8, 2021, as the first unveiling of this year’s Ganesh idol at Lalbaug. The Hindu deity Ganesh is worshipped with a lot of fervour in Maharashtra, with Ganesh Chaturthi being the most popular festival in the state. The Ganpati Puja pandal in Lalbaug is the largest and most popular, housing the idol known as ‘Lalbaugcha Raja’. This year Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated on September 10. (Archive link) T 4023 – ॐ गण गणपतये नमः .. Ganpati Bappa Morya .. पहला दर्शन , लालबागचा राजा 🙏🏼🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/JWUDw5Vs4I — Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) September 8, 2021 The actor also shared the same visuals on Facebook. FB 3053 – ॐ गण गणपतये नमः .. Ganpati Bappa Morya .. पहला दर्शन , लालबागचा राजा 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Posted by Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 The video tweeted by Bachchan has received over 2 lakh views and his post on Facebook garnered more than 4,500 shares. Many others shared the video as this year’s celebration after Bachchan’s tweet (First post, Second post) even as large gatherings have been banned in view of COVID-19. The crowd seen in the video does not seem to be following COVID-19 guidelines. In fact, there was a row between the Maharashtra government and the opposition over the latter’s demand to allow places of worship to be opened. Thus, footage of a crowd of this size at a Ganpati pandal without masks raises red flags. Alt News performed a reverse image search of the video frames and found another similar clip posted in September 2016. Upon further research, we discovered that Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated on September 5 that year. All the other videos we found were from a few days old (since the pandals started being prepared a few days ago). लालबाग च्या राजाच दर्शन प्रथम आपल्या करीता… Posted by DJ Sounds and Best Dj, Videos and More on Thursday, September 1, 2016 A keyword search on Twitter took us to the original video shared on September 2, 2016. First look at Lalbaug Cha Raja 🙏🙏🙏 Welcoming Ganpati 2016 pic.twitter.com/EyYy2C4I6V — Manesha 🚩🚩🚩 (@Manesha76) September 2, 2016 We also found a video of the same gathering shot by news agency ANI from a different angle. #WATCH: Here’s the first look of Lalbaugcharaja 2016, from Mumbai. #GaneshChaturthi pic.twitter.com/p2Ls54Dxog — ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2016 It is noteworthy that the Maharashtra government has not allowed any devotees to physically visit the pandal in view of COVID-19 restrictions. According to The Indian Express, the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal organised an online darshan of the idol starting at 11 am on Friday, September 10. The report also contains a picture of this year’s idol. Instead of the standard 14 feet, a 4-foot idol was installed in the pandal and looks quite different from the one seen in the video tweeted by Amitabh Bachchan. To sum it up, the video shared by Amitabh Bachchan in his tweet numbered ‘T 4023’ and Facebook post numbered ‘FB 3053’ was shared with the false claim that it showed the first look of this year’s Ganesha idol at the Lalbaug pandal. However, this footage is actually from a five-year-old celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi. Ketan is Senior Editor at Alt News Hindi. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th September 2021 / 4:19 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amitabh-bachchan-tweets-5-year-old-video-of-lalbaugcha-raja/", "author": "Ketan" }
256	Amnesty has not 'backtracked' on the Pegasus list; media, BJP make false claims - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 23rd July 2021 / 3:56 pm India Today has claimed that Amnesty International, one of the coordinators of the Pegasus Project, has backtracked on its initial reportage into the Israeli spyware used to target journalists, activists and politicians. “Amnesty backtracks on snooping list,” wrote India Today while tweeting a broadcast where news tickers flashing on the screen read, “Snoopgate list was never real?”, “Big Amnesty U-turn” and “Amnesty pulls back of ‘list’ claims”. #Amnesty backtracks on snooping list. @DeependerSHooda and @Partap_Sbajwa attack govt. (@kamaljitsandhu )#News pic.twitter.com/aaciv2j9nO — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) July 22, 2021 The channel was referring to the list of 50,000 potential surveillance targets that Paris-based Forbidden Stories first accessed. India Today suggested that Amnesty had reported that all numbers on the leaked list were snooped on but the non-for-profit has ‘now’ clarified that the list was of the persons of interest selected by clients of the NSO Group that owns Pegasus. “Is Pegasus spygate call database fake?” asked Times Now during a show anchored by Rahul Shivshankar. He claimed that a new ‘twist’ has been reported in the Pegasus Project and that Amnesty never linked the data to NSO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbRigo576GU The BJP, which is at the heart of the controversy in India as the NSO Group has said that it sells the advanced software to only “vetted governments”, attempted to completely discredit the Pegasus Project. “Amnesty International has denied this list,” the party claimed. NSO has denied that this is not a list of their customers and has no corroborative evidence of any connection between the list in circulation. Amnesty International has denied this list and yet, the Opposition has continued to disrupt the House based on fake news. pic.twitter.com/9E8TFIV1sz — BJP (@BJP4India) July 22, 2021 No. Amnesty International’s Security Lab in partnership with Forbidden Stories accessed a leaked list of 50,000 numbers that were potential surveillance targets of NSO clients. In its first report on July 18, Amnesty clearly stated, “NSO Group’s spyware has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale, according to a major investigation into the leak of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets.” Forbidden Stories also never said that 50,000 phones were infected with Pegasus. The outlet wrote these were the numbers NSO clients “selected for surveillance”. In every story on the Pegasus Project Amnesty was careful to use the term “potential targets”. French President Emmanuel Macron, Pakistan’s Imran Khan and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa were also selected as “people of interest” by clients of the NSO Group. What does ‘potential target’ imply? Forbidden Stories founder Laurent Richard had explained this in an interview with India Today. “A list of phone numbers entered by NSO customers into the NSO system and some of those numbers have been infected. We were able to check and find some evidence inside phones,” he said. Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai questioned, “Can we say that simply the existence of a particular number on this NSO list indicates a hack? Can we say with confidence that these are the very numbers or will we have to go through forensic analysis of all these numbers?” to which Richard replied, “We never say that. We only say that those numbers were entered into the system by NSO customers. This is what we say. The second thing that we say is that when we were able to approach people, we told them we have reasons to believe that you have maybe been under surveillance. Is it possible to do some forensic on your phone? And then when we did that we were able to find some traces of infection.” Snoopgate scandal: Forbidden Stories founder Laurent Richard (@laurentrichard0) says the phone numbers were entered into the system by NSO customers. Listen in. #NewsToday with @sardesirajdeep pic.twitter.com/sJwcSuhOpj — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) July 20, 2021 The Wire had similarly reported, “A potential target is someone whose number appears on the list, but whose device has not been forensically analysed by Amnesty. A person is classified as a target if their phones show evidence of an attempted or successful hack.” It further said, “The news organisations working on Pegasus Project were independently able to identify the owners of over 1,500 numbers across at least 10 countries. A small cross-section of these phones was forensically examined to find traces of Pegasus.” Amnesty’s technical lab conducted a forensic examination of 67 phones, “37 of which were found to have evidence of a successful or attempted Pegasus hack”. “For the remaining 30, the tests were inconclusive, in several cases because the phones had been replaced. Fifteen of the phones were Android devices, none of which showed evidence of successful infection. However, unlike iPhones, Androids do not log the kinds of information required for Amnesty’s detective work. Three Android phones showed signs of targeting, such as Pegasus-linked SMS messages,” reported The Washington Post. Amnesty has explained the methodology used to trace Pegasus in the 37 phones. “Forensic analysis of the 37 phones shows that many display a tight correlation between time stamps associated with a number on the list and the initiation of surveillance attempts, in some cases as brief as a few seconds,” said The Washington Post. The list was not a random set of numbers. Amnesty’s research was independently peer-reviewed by Citizen Lab. NSO called the investigation’s findings exaggerated and baseless. It also said it does not operate the spyware licensed to its clients and has “no visibility or access” to customer data. The company’s statement contradicts its denial of the use of Pegasus on specific targets. For instance, NSO said that its government clients did not use its malware to target Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi or his family. However, if NSO denies having any insight into specific intelligence activities, how does it know whether they were targetted or not? WhatsApp had filed a lawsuit against NSO in 2019. Screenshots of the software and a contract included in the lawsuit show that “NSO provides hacking as a streamlined service, which means a lot of the actual tech is in the company’s own control, and NSO can offer hands-on assistance to the government employees who use it”. After misleading claims about the list were widespread on social media, Amnesty put out the following statement – “Amnesty International categorically stands by the findings of the Pegasus Project, and that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The false rumours being pushed on social media are intended to distract from the widespread unlawful targeting of journalists, activists and others that the Pegasus Project has revealed.” American cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter shared an article by Israeli website Calcalist. She claimed that the article said, “Amnesty International has never presented this list as a ‘NSO Pegasus Spyware List’, although some of the world’s media may have done so..list indicative of the interests of the company’s clients.” Amnesty says it never claimed list was NSO: “Amnesty International has never presented this list as a ‘NSO Pegasus Spyware List’, although some of the world’s media may have done so..list indicative of the interests of the company’s clients” https://t.co/51U72HI9yF h/t @ersincmt — Kim Zetter (@KimZetter) July 21, 2021 Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser at the ministry of information and broadcasting, quote-tweeted Zetter and claimed that Amnesty “conjured” a list of possible targets. Zetter replied to him stating that he has completely misinterpreted her tweet. You’ve misinterpreted this entirely. No one conjured the list. The list is real, and it definitely contains people on it who were spied on with the Pegasus software — Kim Zetter (@KimZetter) July 22, 2021 Calcalist journalist Omer Kabir who wrote the Hebrew article told Newslaundry, “Why is this confusion arising? I have reported very clearly that Amnesty has always maintained and in their press release once again maintained that the list was of numbers either affected by the spyware or the numbers of persons of interest to NSO clients.” However, widespread use of the mistranslation of his Hebrew report was already in place. Forbidden Stories journalist Phineas James explained in a thread how the ‘twisted’ version was pushed by a section of Israeli media and “by the morning, news that the list was “indicative” of NSO clients rather than “targets of potential surveillance by NSO clients” was everywhere.” By morning, news that the list was “indicative” of NSO clients rather than “targets of potential surveillance by NSO clients,” was everywhere: An advisor for #Indian Min. of Information & Broadcasting tweeted the story was “laughable.” The counter-narrative was spun. 7/10 pic.twitter.com/1q7azyj0Vk — Phineas James (@PhineasJFR) July 22, 2021 The Wire spoke to Gil Naveh, spokesperson of Amnesty International Israel, who said that the organisation’s Hebrew statement was wrongly reported by a section of the media in Israel and is being wrongly quoted in English. “One of the false stories doing the rounds is that Amnesty says the list of numbers is “indicative” of NSO customers,” reported The Wire. Naveh told the organisation this is a mistranslation, and that what he had said in his statement is that this is a list of numbers that the NSOs customers have expressed interest in, which includes journalists and human rights activists, political rivals, lawyers and so on. Alt News has also reached out to Amnesty and this report will be updated when they reponds. Republic was among the Indian media outlets that claimed the list was “indicative” of the interests of the NSO’s clients. Gujarati news outlet Sandesh said that the spying was based on “speculation”. “Amnesty, and the journalists involved in the investigation, made it clear from the outset in very clear language that this was a list of numbers marked or targeted as numbers of interest for NSO’s customers, who are various regimes in the world,” said Naveh. Pro-BJP websites Swarajya and OpIndia published reports claiming this was a ‘new admission’ by Amnesty. OpIndia wrote, “As per reports, Amnesty International has now admitted that they have never said that the database containing names of activists, journalists, politicians from across the world belonged to NSO’s targets, rather it was the media that manipulated its readers.” A Swarajya writer questioned The Wire’s reporting on the Pegasus Project. The Wire is one of the 17 media organisations from 10 countries that collaborated on the investigation. “The Wire used the phrase “potential targets of surveillance” in the opening sentence of their lead piece on the Pegasus affair…if the presence of phone numbers on that list, by The Wire’s own admission, don’t amount to snooping, then what allegation is there to make?” – the writer asked. Outlook published a report headlined, “Amnesty Now Says Pegasus Spyware List Not NSO’s Target, Only Showed Its Clients’ Interest” and later changed it to, “Pegasus U-Turn? Never Claimed Leaked Phone Numbers Were On NSO Spyware List, Says Amnesty”. Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary referred to the investigation as a “case study”. Times Now anchor Rahul Shivshankar questioned the “legitimacy of the spygate reports”. Thus, a misleading narrative has been built that Amnesty backtracked on its earlier investigation. But the fact is that the organisation has always maintained that the 50,000 numbers on the list are potential surveillance targets by the NSO Group’s clients. Forbidden Stories founder said that these numbers were fed into NSO’s system, and the news organisations working on the Pegasus Project were able to identify owners of over 1,500 numbers. Out of them, the phones of 67 people went through forensic analysis and traces of Pegasus were found in 37. The BJP has suggested that the list is fake but the party is yet to deny that it used Pegasus to spy on citizens. The exaggerated emphasis on the list distracts from the primary issue – there is evidence of Pegasus being infected into the phones of journalists and human rights activists. Illegal surveillance subverts democracy and targeting organisations who are exposing the illegal surveillance, instead of questioning the governments that may have spied on their citizens, is a distraction from the truth. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd July 2021 / 3:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amnesty-has-not-backtracked-on-the-pegasus-list-media-bjp-make-false-claims/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
257	AMU refutes allegations of debarring student from entrance exam on religious grounds - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 23rd June 2018 / 7:00 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 Social media was abuzz with the claim that the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has discriminated against a Hindu student on religious grounds. The allegation is that the university has discriminated against a Hindu student in the process of admission for the Master of Law (LLM) course. The student, who was not allowed to sit for the LLM entrance examination, accused the university of religious prejudice. Prashant Patel Umrao, who has been caught spreading fake news in the past, tweeted that the student was not allowed to sit for the exam because he was wearing a ‘kalawa’ or the sacred thread. Umrao’s tweet has been retweeted over 3200 times already. A Hindu LL.M. student from AMU is denied from examination because he was wearing Kalawa on his hand. Till last year Hindu students in AMU were denied from food in day time during #Ramazan when I raised it. — Prashant Patel Umrao (@ippatel) June 22, 2018 Founder of uttarpradesh.org, Anil Tiwari (@Interceptors) tweeted that the student had approached the police after he was allegedly discriminated against. Aligarh : A student of LLM who has कलावा on his hand denied permission to give LLM exams in AMU. Student has gone to SSP @aligarhpolice . cc @Uppolice — Anil Tiwari (@Interceptors) June 22, 2018 Alt News contacted the law department of AMU which strongly refuted the allegation and said that the student was disallowed from appearing for the examination as he failed to fulfill the eligibility criteria. According to university rules, only those candidates who have secured 55% and above in the LLB will be eligible for admission to the LLM course. Speaking to Alt News, Professor Zaheeruddin, Dean of the Law Department at AMU said, “The allegation is completely baseless. We disallowed the student from appearing because he did not fulfill the eligibility criteria for the course. A minimum of 55% in LLB is required for the LLM course, while this candidate had scored 51.64%. The accusation that we discriminated him because he is Hindu is completely false. We did not even ask him his name. AMU does not discriminate among students on the basis of religion.” Alt News was able to access the application form of the candidate which revealed that the candidate’s score at the undergraduate level did not meet the eligibility criteria. To protect the privacy of the said candidate, we have not reproduced a copy of his application form here. The university had put up a list of candidates on its website who were deemed ineligible for the entrance exam. The list contained 16 names, out of which some candidates are Hindu and the other are Muslim. Alt News contacted the candidate in question who stuck to his version of events. “I checked online and saw that my admit card is not there. I called the toll free number and was told to collect it from the law department. When I went there, the staff there was dismissive. I was asked my name and then they asked me to leave. They were rude to me, and they kept staring at the ‘kalawa’ (sacred thread) on my hand. If I was ineligible for the exam as they say, why was my application accepted and my fees submitted? They could have put up a list in college if my form had been rejected. I have no personal agenda here, nor am I associated with a political party or movement”, he said in his defense. Apart from the controversy surrounding the portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Aligarh Muslim University has repeatedly been in the eye of the storm in recent times. Originally founded in 1875 by Syed Ahmed Khan as the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, AMU due to its perceived Muslim character continues to be at the centre of controversies. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. A screenshot of a tweet by the official Twitter handle of Maharastra Information centre which… “Prof HC Verma. He gets 1 crore as royalty/year for his book ‘Concepts of Physics’… Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is a renowned university that houses more than 40,000 students making…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd June 2018 / 7:00 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amu-refutes-allegations-of-debarring-student-from-entrance-exam-on-religious-grounds/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
258	Amul ad featuring 1995 film 'Rangeela' shared as recent amidst Ranaut-Matondkar controversy - Alt News Jignesh Patel 18th September 2020 / 8:12 pm / Last updated: 18th September 2020 Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut became the epicentre of yet another controversy after terming Urmila Matondkar a “soft porn star” who is “not known for her acting”. Ranaut’s derisive comment was sparked by Matondkar asking Ranaut to first take stock of the “menace of drugs” in her own state Himachal Pradesh. Ranaut has been alleging that a “drug nexus” runs in the film industry. On September 17, an Amul advertisement featuring Matondkar began circulating on social media. Journalist Swati Chaturvedi tweeted the same and criticised the milk giant for coming up with a “disgusting” ad. “When did you join the IT cell”, questioned Chaturvedi who later deleted her tweet. The ad depicted a caricature of actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar from her 1995 film ‘Rangeela’. Historian and writer Rana Safvi also criticised Amul in a quote-tweet. Author Deepanjana tweeted the image, which NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain quote-tweeted. All of them have taken down their tweets. We also received requests on our official app to fact-check the Amul ad. As the milk cooperative is known for its topical ads featuring Amul girl since 1966, we went on its official website and found this cartoon posted in the list of Amul hits from 1995. This is the same year when the movie ‘Rangeela’ was released. The cartoon is a tribute to the film’s lead actor Urmila Matondkar. The ad is not recent but has drawn flak for the tagline “not MASOOM anymore” which is a reference to Matondkar’s film ‘Masoom’ where she played the daughter of the lead pair Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi as a child actor in 1982. ‘Rangeela’ director Ram Gopal Varma had a shared a photograph of the actor with the cast and director of ‘Masoom’. Hey ⁦@shekharkapur⁩ This is a priceless team photo of ur evergreen great film MASOOM ..Just can’t believe that little girl in ur hands grew up to become a RANGEELA🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/UnoE5suhUm — Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 27, 2020 Swati Chaturvedi, Deepanjana and Rana Safvi later acknowledged their faux pas. In conclusion, social media users including journalists fell for a 1995 Amul cartoon tribute to ‘Rangeela’, assuming it to be Amul’s response to the controversy vis-a-vis Urmila Matondkar and Kangana Ranaut. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th September 2020 / 8:12 pm / Last updated: 18th September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/amul-ad-featuring-1995-film-rangeela-shared-as-recent-amidst-ranaut-matondkar-controversy/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
259	An anticlimactic end to right-wing outrage about the Bengali play, “Hindu Chor” - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st June 2018 / 12:44 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 Offended by the poster of a Bengali play titled ‘Hindu Chor’, a Facebook user Sumantra Maiti reached out to Kolkata police via its Facebook page, writing that the name “hurts his religious sentiments”. Soon after, ‘Hindu Chor’ became a viral topic on social media, with many users echoing similar sentiments of anger and hurt. One of the users who shared the post on Twitter is followed by Prime Minister Modi. He blamed the Mamata Banerjee-led government for giving leeway to such hate against Hindus in the name of free speech. A Play is taking place in Bengal on 25th June Titled – 'Hindu Chor' what is Police and CM @MamataOfficial gonna say on this. How can anyone organise a play like this? Is this Freedom of Speech Mamata Banerjee talking about? 😡 @TajinderBagga Shame on CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/iJooU525tJ — 🇮🇳 ॐ Anmol Katiyar (@Anmol_77) June 19, 2018 Unsurprisingly, it was also picked up by hate-monger and serial purveyor of fake news Shankhnaad who called Hindus “stupid” for tolerating and allowing such things to happen. The undue attention received by the one-man play caused Kolkata police to take action against “attempts to disrupt the communal harmony of the state”. Taking note of Maiti’s complaint, Kolkata police took to Facebook to let people know that they have successfully taken down posters of ‘Hindu Chor’ from across the city and have also identified those associated with the play to take necessary legal actions against them. ধর্মীয় বিদ্বেষমূলক একটি পোস্টার শহরের একটি জায়গায় নজরে এসেছে আমাদের। ওই পোস্টার সরিয়ে দিয়েছি আমরা। যাঁরা ওই পোস্টার… Posted by Kolkata Police on Monday, 18 June 2018 Akshay Singh, BJP IT cell in-charge, Kolkata tweeted against the play and wrote that Hindu Jagaran Manch registered a complaint in Hastings police station. The complaint termed the name of the play “highly objectional” and that it “hurts the sentiments of Hindu communities as a whole and thereby promoting disharmony and feeling of hatred among different religious groups.” Hindu Jagran Manch went to Hasting Police Station to register the protest and lodge a formal complaint against the play "Hindu Chor" (হিন্দু চোর) which is supposed to be Staged on 25th June at Sisir Manch. It's very strange how can anyone conduct show with the name "Hindu Chor" pic.twitter.com/iXErMYoGoz — Akshay Singh (@Akshaysinghel) June 20, 2018 As it turns out, the play wasn’t against Hindus, but the complete opposite. West Bengal BJP member Aparajita Chakraborty revealed that it is based on the “hardships and persecution faced by Bangladeshi Hindus every day.” She says in her Facebook comment – “Our friend has tried to paint this picture in this play, let us all watch it on 25th June and then decide whether it warrants any protest. Only Hindus from Bangladesh are aware of the pathetic situation that they are in currently. No one is there to support them.” Debashish Iyer, who according to his profile is a journalist and a former social media strategist for BJP, also commented that the play was, in fact, pro-Hindus. Owing to the backlash received on social media, director Probir Mondal decided to change the name of his play from ‘Hindu Chor’ to ‘Giren Chor’. In a Facebook post he wrote – “I apologise to everyone, please do not create any further controversy. I am changing the name of my play ‘Hindu Chor’ to ‘Giren Chor’. This is the brave tale of a Hindu ‘Chor’. I do not want to offend any religious sensibilities, but I apologise if I have done so unintentionally.” Sakoler kachhe Ami khoma chaichhi,eta niye Apnara R Bitarko Toiri korbenna please,AMAR Hindu choreNatoker Nam… Posted by Probir Mondal on Monday, 18 June 2018 A scroll through Mondol’s Facebook profile gives an idea of his political inclination. Despite being a BJP supporter, he was pulled into the controversy and abused on social media by right-wing crusaders. A right-winger, one Rajib Roy, posted Mondol’s phone number on Facebook asking all “proud Hindus” to call him in protest. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s named was dragged into the controversy, blaming her for providing a safe haven to those circulating objectional statements against Hindus. CM Banerjee has often herself in the crosshairs of fake news purveyors and rumour-mongers who often portray her as Muslim and Bangladeshi sympathiser. An entire episode of hate-mongering along communal lines started and ended with people of identical political beliefs, a reminder of the famous quote by German theologian Martin Niemöller – “…then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” A Facebook user Utsav Guhathakurta tipped Alt News about the controversy and helped us with the translations. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st June 2018 / 12:44 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-anticlimactic-end-to-right-wing-outrage-about-the-bengali-play-hindu-chor/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
260	Truth behind viral post claiming PM Modi called Tripura IAS officer for NH repair work - Alt News Kinjal 9th September 2021 / 6:15 pm On September 6, Twitter user Prema Lakshminarayan posted a thread, sharing an alleged story of an IAS officer posted in Tripura who received a call from Prime Minister Modi at 10 pm. (Archive link) The thread reads, “An IAS officer who is posted in North Tripura got a call at 10 pm on 21st July. He was surprised to get a call so late in the night. A young voice from the other side apologized for calling so late and asked if he is free for a few minutes because Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to talk to him. His brain froze for a few seconds and he could feel his legs shivering. He meekly whispered yes and after a few beeps, the call was transferred and none other than Mr. Modi was on call. Modi apologized to him again for calling so late and said that he is just done with a meeting with Mr. Nitin Gadkari and they needed his help to repair National Highway 208A connecting Tripura to the rest of the country. He says he doesn’t even remember how he responded to it. All he remembers is Modi telling him that the GOI has spoken to both the Assam and Tripura Government and all help would be provided to him to oversee the project.” The story further says that when the officers reached the office on the second day, they were told by the Tripura government, Assam government, and GOI that they were sanctioned funds to repair 15 km of the highway. When the staff reached the site, the officer found six JCBs standing there provided by the Assam government. More than 300 trucks full of construction materials continued to arrive over the next four days. Once the repair work had been completed, the officer got a call from Nitin Gadkari thanking him. Gadkari reportedly also invited him to visit the Prime Minister’s Office upon his arrival in Delhi. This forward is circulating on WhatsApp too. On August 27, 2016, Facebook page ‘Unofficial: Subramanian Swamy’ run by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair had revealed the origins of the viral message which will be discussed in this article. #BhaktTalesBusted There is a story of Selfless Modi calling up an IAS officer in the middle of night (10 PM) asking his… Posted by Unofficial: Subramanian Swamy on Saturday, August 27, 2016 Let’s first discuss The Indian Express article dated August 28, 2016, on the viral message. The outlet stated that it was unable to verify any of the claims in the post. It also stated that the entire story was originally shared on Quora by Pushpak Chakraborty, a member of the BJP IT Cell. Zubair also mentioned the same in a Facebook post. The report adds further that several social media users had called this viral message fake. A journalist from The Economic Times had asked the Tripura DM about the episode and he denied it. Responding to this, Chakraborty had said, “I don’t know how the journalist could conclude who the officer is as I have not mentioned any name in my answer.” He explained that he had intentionally left out the name of the officer in the post since it was against protocol to publicly share official communication. On August 27, 2016, journalist Aman Sharma had tweeted that North Tripura Collector Sandeep Mahatme had denied the Prime Minister ever making such a call. In a reply to the tweet, Arindam Majumdar of Business Standard stated that a few local media outlets had claimed that Prime Minister Modi had indeed called. Sharma reiterated that the Tripura official had completely denied this claim. strange, he had told me he strongly denies it! -) — Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_) August 27, 2016 Now, coming to the claims in the viral message: 1. What was the state of Tripura’s National Highway in 2016? An Indian Express article dated July 31, 2016, stated that two highways in Tripura had been closed due to rain. This had led to a shortage of petrol and diesel in the state and protests by the public and opposition. It was against this backdrop that the state government got National Highway 44 repaired. This opened up the route between Assam and Tripura. The article quoted North Tripura DM Mahatme as saying that the NHIDCL had provided Rs. 50 lakh to the state and the repair work was completed within six days. However, National Highway 8, the main transport route of the state, was still in a dilapidated condition. The state government had appealed to the Center several times to get it repaired. On July 1, the NHIDCL had also issued a tender for the repair of the highway. The tender mentioned that repair work was needed on an 18 km stretch of the highway at the earliest. The Indian Express reported that the PWD had commenced repair work on NH-8. However, nowhere does it mention Prime Minister Modi or Nitin Gadkari calling the DM. 2. Repair work on NH-8 and NH-208A On August 1, 2016, Business Standard reported that the Tripura PWD was helping the NHIDCL (National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited) to repair NH-8 and NH-208A. This was stated by Tripura PWD Chief Engineer Deepak Das who was also the National Highway in charge. He had explained that the repair work would begin as soon as the monsoon season ended in September. An ABP News report from July 30, 2016 said that the PWD Minister of Tripura showed letters written by the state government to the central government and the Assam government during a press conference. He alleged that the Centre had not been fulfilling its duties towards the people of Tripura. To sum it up, a member of BJP IT Cell shared a story about PM Modi calling an IAS officer posted in Tripura in 2016. However, none of the Tripura officials confirmed that the Prime Minister himself had called for the repair of NH-8 and NH-208A. This unverified message has been circulating on social media since 2016 without any concrete evidence. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th September 2021 / 6:15 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-ias-officer-got-a-call-from-prime-minister-narendra-modi-at-10-pm-old-whatsapp-forward-viral/", "author": "Kinjal" }
261	COVID-19: Photo from Malaysia shared as Indonesian doctor who died treating patients - Alt News Kinjal 26th March 2020 / 8:02 pm The COVID-19 infection has spread across the globe. Many countries have taken steps for a total lockdown in order to tackle the pandemic. Even in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared nationwide lockdown till April 14, exempting essential services from the restriction. A sharp increase in social media activity shows there is growing chaos due to the fear of the disease. Talking about one such example, recently Alt News reported how a picture of a mother hugging a child battling cancer from 1985 was circulated on social media as coronavirus victim. Latching on to similar sentiments, a picture of a man in a mask watching two toddlers from the entrance of a house has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter. According to social media claims, the man is Hadiyo Ali, an Indonesia-based doctor and this is his last photo. According to the claim, the viral image shows Dr Ali saying farewell to his pregnant wife and his children for the last time. It is noteworthy that a doctor named Hadiyo Ali indeed passed away on March 22 after contracting infection while taking care of patients. This was reported by Jatkara Globe. Facebook page of Aamir Rashadi Madani, the Founder and President of the National Ulama Council, shared the viral image and made the same claim (archived post). Syrian politician Omar Madaniah also tweeted the viral photo. ( Archived tweet ) Alt News received several requests to fact-check the images on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application. After a reverse image search on Google, Alt News found that viral image was posted by Malaysia-based Facebook user Ahmed Effendi Zailanudin on March 21. A Google translation of the caption of the picture revealed that Zailanudin is the brother of the masked man from the viral image. The caption also said that the man is a doctor and he takes care of the patients suffering from coronavirus. Thus, he keeps a safe distance from his family. Cekfakta, fact-check wing of the Indonesian news website Tempo, also examined this picture. Their report includes Zailanuddin’s statement, according to which, the man in the viral image is not Dr Ali but Zailanudin’s brother. He added that his brother is alive. Other Malaysian websites that have published a report on this picture are – Kerjaayabaru.com and Pama Magazine. Thus the claim associated with the viral image is false and misleading. Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India has exceeded 700. This has caused the government to impose a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services. Globally, more than 4 lakh confirmed cases and close to 22,000 deaths have been reported. There is a growing sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a global pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th March 2020 / 8:02 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-image-from-malaysia-has-been-shared-as-indonesian-doctor-who-died-while-treating-coronavirus-patients/", "author": "Kinjal" }
262	Fact-check: Did top 5 intelligence agencies of the world convene in Delhi? - Alt News Kinjal 20th September 2021 / 6:18 pm A photo has been claimed to portray Indian, Russian, Israeli, American and British intelligence agencies convening for the first time in Delhi. A Facebook user shared the image with this claim. A few other users amplified the image and accompanying claim on Facebook. It is widespread on Twitter and has made its way to WhatsApp as well. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found the original photo in a Hindustan Times article dated September 8, 2021. The article says that a delegation-level meeting of national security advisers was held between India and Russia, as seen in the picture. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev held a meeting in New Delhi over the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s occupation. In a statement, the Russian embassy said the duo discussed the military, political, and socio-economic situation in the war-ravaged country. Amar Ujala also published an article on the meeting between India and Russia. In view of the developments in Afghanistan, the discussions centered around deepening bilateral cooperation in security matters and concerns over the threat of terrorism against India and Central Asia arising from the region. Republic TV also covered the event. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGrW97Cx1yM] Apart from this, we could not find any media reports corroborating the claim about the intelligence agencies of five countries meeting in Delhi. To sum it up, the National Security Advisors of India and Russia held talks in Delhi on September 8. A photo from this event was falsely circulated on social media as a meeting between intelligence agencies from five major countries in Delhi, and presented as proof of the ‘power of New India’. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th September 2021 / 6:18 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-image-of-national-security-advisors-between-india-and-russia-meeting-shared-with-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
263	Old photos of mock drill in Kerala school falsely shared as communal violence in UP - Alt News Priyanka Jha 25th February 2022 / 9:39 pm / Last updated: 25th February 2022 Recently, an audio clip accompanied by an image is making the rounds on social media. The photo shows a group of girls in hijabs with burn marks and injuries on their faces and hands. In the audio clip, a young girl can be heard calling for help. She says, “I am talking to you from Baruasagar in the Jhansi district. There has been a wave of conflict between Hindus and Muslims for the past three days in Baruasagar, and I am a Muslim. They are attacking all Muslims. My brother was beaten badly and they are harassing Muslim daughters. Please share this call for help with all our Muslim brothers. The police and authorities are not doing anything. They side with the Hindus who enter our homes every night, attack our brothers, and harass us. Please help us. Send this message to all Muslim brothers so that they can help us. Please, please…” pic.twitter.com/2I0WG33y2r — Unigraphics PTI (@Mohamma54956337) February 22, 2022 Alt News also received requests to verify this on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). The image and audio clip are associated with separate incidents. The audio clip has been circulating with false claims since 2019. In September 2019, it was added to a Likee video of a Bangladeshi user and posted with a misleading claim. We performed a reverse image of the image and discovered that the injured girls shown here are actually wearing makeup. According to a November 2018 report, Kerala’s Malappuram unit and Kottoor North KMHSS School had jointly conducted a mock drill, and the image was taken the same day. It is also mentioned that photos from the drill were mistakenly shared online as real. Alt News found that The Quint also published a fact-check report debunking the image in 2018. The outlet had reached out to the Malappuram Fire Department’s Home Guard Balachandran, who revealed that only the school, panchayat, and fire brigade knew about the drill being conducted. When the flames were spotted by concerned villagers nearby, they rushed to the scene. Balachandran also explained that the injury and burn marks seen on the students’ faces and hands were actually makeup applied by a teacher. An old audio clip and images from a mock drill were falsely shared as communal violence against Muslims in Baruasagar, UP. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th February 2022 / 9:39 pm / Last updated: 25th February 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-old-audio-clip-and-a-photo-of-mockdrill-shared-with-false-narrative/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
264	News channels air old video of Muslim youth raising provocative slogans in Jaipur as recent incident - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 23rd July 2022 / 2:17 pm / Last updated: 23rd July 2022 A video of a group of Muslim youth putting up posters threatening Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati is making rounds on social media. The men in the video can be seen calling for the beheading of the priest through inflammatory slogans like ‘Sir tan se juda’. Several social media users and media channels claimed that this clip is from a recent incident in Jaipur. Union Minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tweeted the video, alleging that posters calling for a beheading were put up in Jaipur, while the police were nowhere to be found. (Archived link) गहलोतजी आप किस मिट्टी के बने हैं? राजधानी जयपुर में “सर तन से जुदा” करने की धमकी पोस्टर लगाकर खुलेआम दी जा रही है और पुलिस का कहीं अता-पता नहीं है। 1/2 #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/ieHckKEjAF — Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) July 19, 2022 Times Now Navbharat also tweeted the visuals and claimed that a new video of individuals raising the ‘Sir Tan Se Juda‘ (beheading) slogan surfaced in Jaipur. The channel added that BJP MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was the one who shared the footage. (Archived link) #BREAKING \| जयपुर में ‘सर तन से जुदा’ नारे का नया वीडियो आया सामने, #BJP सांसद @gssjodhpur ने वीडियो किया शेयर @SwetaSri27 @iamdeepikayadav #UdaipurTerror #Rajasthan #Jaipur pic.twitter.com/oKaobblF7d — Times Now Navbharat (@TNNavbharat) July 19, 2022 India TV aired the clip, calling it the aftermath of the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur. Along with this, the outlet tweeted, “Threats of Kanhaiya Lal part two in Rajasthan. A new ‘message’ by beheaders?” (Archived link). The news channel also reported on the arrest of the men who had raised the objectionable slogan. Moreover, it claimed that the accused had been circulating such provocative videos for the last three to four days. राजस्थान में कन्हैयालाल पार्ट टू की धमकी सर तन से जुदा वालों का नया ‘मैसेज’आ गया ?#KanhaiyaLalMurder #Udaipur pic.twitter.com/y71MABBun3 — India TV (@indiatvnews) July 18, 2022 Pakistani-Canadian columnist Tarek Fatah also tweeted this video. However, Fatah’s post did not mention where the footage was from or when the incident occurred. (Archived link) Watch a group of Indian Muslims threatening to behead anyone they believe has insulted Prophet Muhammad. pic.twitter.com/n5L2sUVD5e — Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) July 22, 2022 This footage is also widespread on Twitter and Facebook. We noticed that the official handle of the Jaipur Police replied to Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s tweet, clarifying that the viral clip is from April 2021. In other words, the footage was taken from an incident that had occurred over a year ago. The police also stated that appropriate action had been taken against the accused. कुछ असामाजिक तत्वों द्वारा जयपुर घाट गेट बाज़ार में एप्रिल २०२१ विडीओ बनाकर वाइरल करने कि कोशिश की गयी है। उन पर नियमानुसार कार्यवाही की गयी। यह विडीओ समाज में धार्मिक द्वेष,नफ़रत फैलाता है।अतः इस विडीओ को फ़ॉर्वर्ड करेगा वह भी आपराधिक कृत्य के लिए ज़िम्मेदार होगा। जयपुर पुलिस — Jaipur Police (@jaipur_police) July 19, 2022 Issuing a statement on this matter, DCP (North) Paris Deshmukh, confirmed that the video was indeed a year old. He added that the appropriate action had already been taken against the individuals featured in the clip. At the end of his statement, DCP Deshmukh made an appeal to social media users to not circulate the misleading video. He also ensured that strict action will be taken against those who were found sharing it. [vimeo 732494817 w=640 h=1131] Using this as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search on Twitter. This led us to a tweet by a user named Mota Bhai, in which he shared the same video in April 2021. This confirms that the clip had already been posted online last year. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat later issued a tweet conceding that the viral clip was old. Lokesh Sharma, OSD to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, quote-tweeted the post, requesting social media users not to spread misinformation by sharing old videos. अच्छा लगा, वीडियो पुराना मानकर सच्चाई तो स्वीकार की.. और रही बात राज्य सरकार के तत्काल कदम की तो ऊपर पहले ही बताया जा चुका है कार्रवाई की गई थी। लेकिन इसे आप द्वारा आज शेयर करने के पीछे की मंशा की जानकारी अभी भी नहीं मिली है। विनम्र आग्रह है पुराने वीडियो शेयर करके भ्रम न फैलाएं। https://t.co/7X4nfW9SSw — Lokesh Sharma (@_lokeshsharma) July 19, 2022 The Rajasthan Police arrested the three accused after the recent cycle of the clip doing rounds on social media. Moreover, police personnel instructed social media users not to circulate such material, which could potentially disturb the law and order situation in the state. The police also reiterated that strict legal action will be taken against those found sharing such content. To sum it up, media channels and several social media users, including Union Minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, falsely circulated a video from 2021 as a recent incident. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd July 2022 / 2:17 pm / Last updated: 23rd July 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-old-inflammatory-video-goes-viral-media-channels-also-reported-as-recent/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
265	No, RSS goons did not attack Hindu woman for preparing sehri for Kashmiri Muslim girl - Alt News Kinjal 30th April 2020 / 6:05 pm / Last updated: 30th April 2020 Two photographs have been widely shared across social media platforms with the claim, “RSS goons has attacked on a Hindu woman who attempt sehri for a muslim Kashmiri girl.” The first image shows a woman standing beside a girl eating food and the second photo shows the woman with a wounded nose. The claim has been shared by several users on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News has also received several fact-check requests on its official mobile application. A close look at the collage reveals that the woman in both images is not the same. A reverse image search led us to a Twitter post from April 25 where the image on the left was shared. “A Hindu lady wake up early morning to feed Sehri to a Muslim girl. This is the Beauty of my Country Flag of India. Long Live Humanity . #HumanityFirst #RamadanMubarak,” reads the caption by Twitter user @Fajahatfarooqbt. On the bottom right, the photograph carries a date – April 25, 2020. The second image was found in a tweet by @manishwar29. It was shared on February 24 with the caption, “Gujrat they are testing the patience of majority and initiating the one sided violence people like u are responsible for such incident we knew u r waiting for moment when reactions take place to capitalise ur agenda.” #Khambhat Gujrat they are testing the patience of majority and initiating the one sided violence people like u are responsible for such incident we knew u r waiting for moment when reactions take place to capitalise ur agenda . pic.twitter.com/j2kkagH6z5 — Manish हिन्दु 🦁 Pandey (@manishwar29) February 24, 2020 Furthermore, several users posted the same image between February 23 and 25. A close look reveals a notice in the background where “શાંતિ જાળવો” is written in Gujarati. This translates to “Maintain Silence”. A keyword search ‘Khambhat CAA protest’ led us to a TV9 Gujarati broadcast from February 25 which reported on violence between two communities in the area. At 1:41 minutes, the woman from the viral image is spotted in the broadcast. The collage above makes it evident that the woman is the same – identical hairline, nose structure and wrinkles on the neck. The place of the wound is also the same. Therefore, photographs depicting two different incidents were clubbed together to promote the false claim that a Hindu woman was beaten up for preparing sehri for a Muslim Kashmiri girl. The misinformation has been shared in the wake of Ramzan which began on April 23. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th April 2020 / 6:05 pm / Last updated: 30th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-old-picture-of-injured-woman-attached-with-recent-picture-to-falsely-calim-that-she-was-attacked-by-rss-members-after-she-attempt-sehri-for-a-muslim-girl/", "author": "Kinjal" }
266	Old video shared as recent confrontation between Indian and Chinese troops - Alt News Kinjal 21st May 2020 / 4:20 pm / Last updated: 19th June 2020 Indian soldiers and Chinese PLA personnel were involved in a fierce face-off in Nakula area of North Sikkim on May 9 in which seven Chinese and four Indian soldiers reportedly got injured. According to a recent report by Hindustan Times, India and China have deployed additional troops as tensions continue to simmer in Ladakh and Sikkim sectors of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). After the incident, a video started circulating on social media. Journalist Baba Umar tweeted it with the claim that it shows Chinese and Indian soldiers talking after possibly stone-pelting each other. The tweet has amassed over 2,500 retweets so far. Chinese and Indian troops talk, probably after stone pelting each other via — https://t.co/N6k4VYdu52 pic.twitter.com/fs8zVuVAX6 — Baba Umar (@BabaUmarr) May 13, 2020 Jamal Khan Raisani, the son of Pakistani politician Mir Siraj Khan Raisani, posted the video with the same narrative. At the time of writing this report, the tweet has garnered close to 2,400 retweets. Chinese and Indian troops talk after stone pelting in sikkim 3 days ago. pic.twitter.com/jF7uitro9v — Nawabzada Jamal Khan Raisani (@SonOfShaeed) May 13, 2020 Sweden-based academician Ashok Swain quote-tweeted the video with a question about the authenticity of the video while saying, “If it is true, it goes against Indian media report of Indian troops confronting Chinese troops in Sikkim and forcing them to go back, It is opposite rather.” We found that this video is viral on Facebook and Twitter. The video has also been uploaded on YouTube with the same claim. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala shared the clip (archive) after at least 20 Indian army soldiers were martyred in Galwan valley. He wrote, “Let us not muddle facts @DrSJaishankar Pl see the video on social media & tell why no firearms are being carried(see 34th sec for Galwan).” Surjewala’s video also includes a clip where Indian and Chinese soldiers are seen involved in a scuffle. Let us not muddle facts @DrSJaishankar Pl see the video on social media & tell why no firearms are being carried(see 34th sec for Galwan) And Stop quoting Agreement on Border Management to justify sending Soldiers Unarmed in tactical military situation with lives at stake pic.twitter.com/MT1rjZYJ23 — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 18, 2020 We broke the video into multiple key-frames by using digital verification tool InVid. Alt News then performed a reverse image search on Google and found that the video was uploaded on YouTube on January 13, 2020, captioned, “Chinese army arguing with Indo Tibetan Border Police (I.T.B.P.) in Border of Arunachal Pradesh.” With a keyword search, we found an article by a Chinese website – dwnews.com – published on January 17, 2020. According to the article, the video is getting shared since mid-January and talks about a military hotline that was to be established between the India-China border. “Although both the Chinese and Indian armies are seeking to establish a military liaison hotline to reduce misjudgements, the confrontation on the border can be said to occur [with] almost every other incident with a strong sense of hostility…These border differences are mostly manifested as confrontation between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army. Recently, many videos have been circulated on the Chinese network, showing the confrontation between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army in different parts of the disputed border,” says the report. “This hotline had faced several roadblocks in the past because of the differing views of both sides…Both sides see hotlines as a necessity for better interaction between their armies and to defuse tensions caused by differing perceptions of the LAC.” stated a report published by The Economic Times on January 11, 2020. While Alt News is unable to independently verify the location and time of the video, it can be said with certainty that the video existed on the Internet since January 2020. Hence, it is not related to the recent clash on the India-China border. The second video shared by Surjewala was traced back to at least 2017. Times Now shared it on on July 31, 2017, when Chinese soldiers had transgressed into Uttarakhand’s Barahoti. [Update: Randeep Surjewala shared the same video after at least 20 Indian army soldiers died in Galwan Valley. His tweet was added to the report on June 19, 2020.] Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st May 2020 / 4:20 pm / Last updated: 19th June 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-old-video-of-chinese-army-arguing-with-indian-army-at-border-shared-as-recent/", "author": "Kinjal" }
267	Old video of fighter jets viral as video of US Navy flying in Taiwan ahead of Nancy Pelosi's visit - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 8th August 2022 / 11:39 am US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2, 2022, amid tensions with China. Nancy Pelosi issued a statement after arriving in Taiwan. In the official address, she said that the visit of the American congressional delegation to Taiwan honours the country’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy. Against this backdrop, a video of multiple fighter planes flying simultaneously is viral on social media. This video has been recorded from a ship in the middle of the sea. While sharing the clip, many have claimed that US Navy fighter jets were seen flying near Taiwan ahead of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Journalist Aji Rasheed Ali associated with Zee Media tweeted the video and wrote that the world was on the verge of World War III as US Navy warplanes were flying near Taiwan. He added, “Before Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, there were still many strong statements from China. Tension in the region has reached its highest level.” (Archived link) World War III is on the verge.❗️ US Navy warplanes fly near Taiwan. Before Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, there are still very strong statements from China. Tension in the region has reached its highest level.‌‌ pic.twitter.com/sKtTXzwQ31 — Aji Rasheed Ali اجی رشید علی (@ajirasheed) August 3, 2022 A user named Vinod Mishra tweeted this video and wrote that a fleet of 20 fighter planes reached Taiwan with Nancy Pelosi. They have all been given permission to fire back in case of an attack. This is called the ‘security circle’. (Archived link) नैंसी पेलोसी के साथ 20 फाइटर्स प्लेन का बेड़ा ताइवान गया था। इन सभी को हमला के वक़्त जवाबी हमले का पहले से ही आदेश था। इसे कहते है सुरक्षा चक्र।#Taiwan #NancyPelosi #ChinaTaiwanCrisis pic.twitter.com/rFc25LXNpS — Vinod Mishra ‘बिनोद’ (@vinod9live) August 3, 2022 Hindi daily ‘Rajmangal Times’ tweeted this video with a similar claim. (Archived link) Turkish media EHA News also made a similar claim while tweeting this video. (Archived link) The footage is also widespread on Facebook and Twitter as a fleet of 20 fighter planes arriving in Taiwan with Nancy Pelosi. Alt News performed a reverse image search of several frames of the viral video using Google and Yandex. We found the original video on Youtube, which had been uploaded on April 15, 2021. Another YouTube video from June 27, 2021, contains better visuals of the viral video. The title of these videos mentions the “US Navy”, “SA West Philippine Sea”, etc. However, we could not find any related news reports to corroborate this claim. Hence, Alt News cannot independently verify this bit of information as of yet. We will update this article when we receive more information. But, it is clear that this video was shared at least a year before Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit. To sum it up, several social media users falsely shared an old video as footage of US Navy fighter jets flying near Taiwan ahead of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the country. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th August 2022 / 11:39 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/an-old-video-of-military-exercise-falsely-linked-to-nancy-pelosis-taiwan-visit/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
268	Analysis of Saam TV clip of PFI protest reaffirms no pro-Pak slogans raised - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder & Indradeep Bhattacharyya 28th September 2022 / 10:11 pm / Last updated: 28th September 2022 On September 23, a day after Popular Front of India (PFI) offices across the country were raided by multiple law-enforcement agencies, a protest by PFI activists in Pune created a huge row as many political leaders and media houses claimed that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised at the protest. Alt News debunked the claim on September 25 and proved that the slogans raised by PFI supporters/activists heard in the viral videos did not include ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. In this context, over the past few days Marathi news channel Saam TV has repeatedly aired a 20-second clip (0:28 of video) from the PFI protest in Pune in their coverage insisting that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ can be heard. They also criticized Alt News’ fact check from September 25, claiming that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ could be clearly heard in the clip. The footage aired by Saam TV consists of a close-up shot of a man wearing a pink shirt inside a police van. He can be heard sloganeering from the van itself. The camera then pans away from the pink-shirted man and points to the crowd of protesters. At the end of the 20-second clip, the police van can be seen moving away. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYCGUw3hqEk?start=28] Executive editor of Saam TV News Prasanna Joshi seems unconvinced by the previous Alt News fact-check in a 22-minute video uploaded by Saam TV. He goes on to make his viewers listen to the same footage and insists that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ can be heard. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d75_T8h44o?start=744] A clip from Saam TV’s coverage subsequently went viral. Twitter users, including Aaj Tak news anchor Shubhankar Mishra, shared it claiming that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ could be heard in the video. मराठी चैनल ‘साम Tv’ की इस क्लिप को सुनिए और खुद तय कीजिए कि ‘पाकिस्तान ज़िंदाबाद’ के नारे लग रहें हैं या ‘Popular Front Zindabad’ के। Fault News का Fake Check खुद-ब-खुद स्पष्ट हो जाएगा। pic.twitter.com/ojjFNKF32g — Shubhankar Mishra (@shubhankrmishra) September 26, 2022 Advocate Ashutosh J Dubey, who identifies himself on Twitter as ‘legal co-convener Of Palghar BJP assembly’, also tweeted the clip with the caption, “In a clear video with clear audio, we can hear that they are shouting “Pakistan Zindabaad” via Saam TV news”. In a clear video with clear audio, we can hear that they are shouting “Pakistan Zindabaad” via Saam TV news.pic.twitter.com/YdAzdi4qDP — ADV. ASHUTOSH J. DUBEY 🇮🇳 (@AdvAshutoshBJP) September 26, 2022 While denouncing the Alt News fact check of the claims on the sloganeering, Saam TV presented as ‘evidence’ another footage that was filmed during the PFI protest in Pune. The only difference that we noticed between Saam TV’s footage and the footage that we had procured (and used in the previous fact-check) is that Saam TV’s footage has been shot from a much closer angle and was of higher resolution. Saam TV shared an infographic wherein they questioned the agenda behind refuting the ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ claim. They also implied that Alt News had done the fact-check without ‘checking the full video’. पाकिस्तान जिंदाबादच्या घोषणा देण्यात आल्या नव्हत्या, असा दावा ‘अल्ट न्यूज’ या न्यूज पोर्टलने केला होता. मात्र हा दावा खोटा निघाला आहे. यावरच साम टीव्हीने काही सवाल केले आहेत. @AltNews @mieknathshinde #punepolice #Pune #fakefactcheck #saamimpact #marathinews pic.twitter.com/9cJTddSerZ — SaamTV News (@saamTVnews) September 26, 2022 The reader must keep in mind that Alt News had described, in detail, how the previous fact-check had been carried out. We also watched every single footage of the incident that we could procure and went through a strenuous process of locating the exact time frame portraying the viral chain of events (alleged sloganeering) in the videos that had been shot from different angles. The first thing one does while fact-checking such videos is to reduce the playback speed of the audio/video and carefully listen to the slowed-down version. In the screen-recording below, we play the video at normal speed until 1:04 of the YouTube video. Thereafter, we used YouTube’s in-built tools to slow down Saam TV’s video from the 1:06 mark. Owing to the closer angle at which this footage was shot, one can clearly hear the words ‘Popular Front Zindabad’ being said. This is the most basic verification that the Saam TV team should have done before claiming to have heard Pro-Pakistan slogans. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/754676339] It is pertinent to note that during a protest, accurate pronunciation of certain words may not be heard due to several factors, such as fatigue after shouting the same phrase repeatedly, overlapping of voices and other external sounds. When one listens to the Policenama live video (7:30) of the PFI protest in Pune, one might notice that ‘Popular’ has been mispronounced as ‘Poplar’ in many instances, including the one in context. In their broadcast, Saam TV has annotated their video with the text of the slogans with ‘Zindabad Zindabad’ and ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ written in Hindi. The moment the man in the police van starts the alleged sloganeering, the annotation moves to his mouth, which makes it difficult for us to analyse the video. Consequently, Alt News reached out to Saam TV for the raw footage, which they were kind enough to share with us. The footage contains one of the key reference points that we have used in the previous fact-check to compare and crosscheck the audio of the viral video with the other videos, that is, the moment of the police van moving away. All of the videos of the protest that we analyzed in the previous fact-check contained this moment, from which we backtracked to the moments of the alleged sloganeering. The police van moves away within approximately 15 seconds from the alleged sloganeering. (The Saam TV footage shows the van moving away at the 20th second, so we have kept a 20-second clip for the readers to see) [vimeo https://vimeo.com/754677827] We located the point where the police van moves away in Saam TV’s footage. We subsequently found the point where the alleged sloganeering takes place. Below we have juxtaposed the viral video (left) with the clip from Saam TV footage (right). As the reader might notice, the clip that Saam TV used in their coverage and the one that we have used in our analysis are the same, implying that this was the time frame when the alleged slogans were raised. Additionally, it must be noted that the viral video and the clip used by Saam TV (and us) are from the same time frame. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/754679197] We have cropped the relevant section of the raw footage provided by Saam TV and slowed it down. The moment in the video where Saam TV has used the annotations ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, the primary voice that can be heard is of the man in the pink shirt. The video below shows the 2x slowed-down version of the sloganeering by the person. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/754705121] Further, upon slowing down the raw footage 4x times, the man in the pink shirt is seen closing his lips thrice in quick succession. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/754709001] Elementary knowledge of phonetics (the study of human sounds) will suggest that the man in the pink shirt inside the prison van could not have said ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. For the lay reader, Alt News here breaks down his lip movements in terms of phonetics. The word PAKISTAN consists of five consonants: P, K, S, T and N. Phonetically, P is a voiceless bilabial plosive. The word ‘bilabial’ is of particular interest to us, which means, in order to utter the consonant, one needs to close one’s lips to stop the flow of air out of the mouths. None of the other consonants in the word ‘Pakistan’ requires a closing of lips. The mouth remains open while we utter all these consonants. The phrase ‘POPULAR FRONT’ has two bilabial plosives: P and P and one labiodental fricative: F. A labiodental fricative is pronounced by touching the lower lip with upper teeth. One requires to close one’s mouth thrice to utter the phrase POPULAR FRONT, and that is exactly what the man in the pink shirt does. It is impossible to utter the word ‘Pakistan’ by closing the lips thrice in quick succession. The reader must remember that it is the vowels in any alphabet that form the crux of a syllable, which in turn, enables us to make meaningful sounds. In that moment of an extreme adrenaline rush, the man in the pink shirt doesn’t clearly utter the vowels — O, U, A and O in the phrase POPULAR FRONT. That is why it might sound like some other word. But a phonetic analysis, as done above, proves beyond a speck of doubt that what is being said has three bilabials, and that can’t be Pakistan. Thus, after a detailed analysis of all the relevant footage that Alt News had procured in what is now a two-part story, it can be ascertained that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans had not been chanted during the PFI protest in Pune. Saam TV criticized Alt News for an ‘inadequate’ fact-check and claimed that we had not checked the full video of the incident. Several verified profiles on Twitter also shared a clip from Saam TV’s coverage and furthered this claim. Saam TV provided their own footage as evidence, yet failed to carry out basic verification processes before finding fault with our work in public. A detailed Alt News analysis with proper corroboration shows the reader that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans had not been chanted during the protest. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th September 2022 / 10:11 pm / Last updated: 28th September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/analysis-of-saam-tv-clip-of-pfi-protest-reaffirms-no-pro-pak-slogans-raised/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder & Indradeep Bhattacharyya" }
269	ANI - A tale of inadvertent errors and oversights - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st October 2018 / 8:31 pm / Last updated: 4th January 2019 In a tragic accident, a train mowed down Dussehra revellers gathered close to railway tracks near Amritsar. At least 60 people were feared dead. Soon after, videos of the disaster shot by several eyewitnesses were picked up by news organisations, including Asian News International (ANI). Subsequently, ANI also put out an eyewitness’ statement that blamed the Congress for the incident. This tweet was posted at 8:39 PM on October 19. #WATCH Eyewitness at #Amritsar accident site says, “Congress had organised Dussehra celebrations here without permission. Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife was the chief guest at the celebrations and she continued to give a speech as people were struck down by the train.” pic.twitter.com/rcsxbVxiB9 — ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2018 At 11:49 PM, it was pointed out that the ‘eyewitness’ quoted by ANI was a spokesperson of BJP Punjab and former president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). At 12:36 AM, ANI tweeted a ‘correction’, clarifying that the ‘eyewitness’ was BJP leader Rajesh Honey. #Correction: The eyewitness is BJP spokesperson Rajesh Honey who was present at the site when the DMU train ran over people watching Dussehra celebrations in #Amritsar. https://t.co/jnPLUIUTnj — ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2018 What’s noteworthy is that after 14 hours of ANI’s clarification, only 463 users retweeted it and 769 people liked it. Contrastingly, its earlier tweet drew over 5,000 likes and retweets. The damage was already done. Moreover, ANI’s correction missed another essential fact. After ANI’s eariler tweet received backlash on social media, its News Editor Smita Prakash stood by the outlet’s reportage, saying that Rajesh Honey, even though a BJP leader, was present at the spot and this makes him an ‘eyewitness’. Incidentally, Honey himself tweeted that he reached the spot 20 minutes after the incident occurred. Therefore, he could not have been a witness to the accident. This wasn’t an isolated instance when ANI’s reportage missed essential facts. One more ‘eyewitness’ account taken by ANI, which also was picked up by other media outlets, was by an independent politician from Punjab Mandeep Singh Manna. Within hours of the tragedy, the incident was politicised with the ruling and opposition parties placing the blame on each other. In such a situation, tweeting statements by members of political parties as ‘eyewitness’ accounts was unfortunate. Multiple times in the past, ANI has made similar slights. In May 2015, ANI had tweeted a statement from a purported Bangalore resident praising Prime Minister Modi’s radio program ‘Mann ki Baat’. However, after it was pointed out that the person quoted was not just a ‘resident’ but a BJP Karnataka MLA, ANI deleted its earlier tweet and put out a fresh tweet with the politician’s name. In April this year, ANI tweeted a ‘Mangalore resident’ saying that former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has created a divide between Hindus and Muslims in the city. As it turned out, the ‘local from Mangalore’ was Fazal, a member of BJP minority cell, Mangalore. ANI tweeted a correction and deleted the earlier tweet which missed the fact. A ‘tea stall customer’ was quoted by ANI as commending the shop for enabling online payments post cash shortage after demonetisation. The customer turned out to be a correspondent with ANI. The news agency later deleted the tweet without a clarification. On March 23, 2017, ANI tweeted a video of vandalism, claiming that “bus passengers beat toll booth employees and cause damage in Firozabad, UP.” #WATCH Bus passengers beat toll booth employees and cause damage in Firozabad, UP pic.twitter.com/buGqqmbpAI — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 23, 2017 However, ABP News reported on the same day that the people involved in the vandalism were BJP workers. According to the report, “आरोप है कि मारपीट करने वाले बीजेपी के कार्यकर्ता थे और बीजेपी नेता के शव को लेकर टोल से होते हुए पास के गांव उसायनी जा रहे थे. टोल पर किसी तरह की कहासुनी हुई, जिसके बाद शव को गांव पहुंचा कर कुछ लोग लाठी डंडों के साथ वापस आए और टोल पर मारपीट की. (The accusation is that the ones thrashing (the toll booth) were BJP workers who were taking the dead body of a BJP leader to Usaini. Due to some altercation at the toll, some people returned with sticks after delivering the body and started thrashing the toll. )” On multiple occasions in the past, ANI has tweeted about “Muslim women from Varanasi” either celebrating Hindu rituals or praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A layperson scrolling through these tweets would either infer that many women belonging to Varanasi’s Muslim community were promoting Hindu festivals and/or PM Modi, or that a Muslim organisation was doing the same. However, ANI failed to mention that these women are members of an organisation founded by a staunch BJP supporter. In the first tweet (of the collage above), ANI quoted a ‘member’ of Muslim Mahila Foundation (MMF) as saying that she prays that PM Modi contends from Varanasi. This tweet is from 2014. The woman in the photograph isn’t a member but the founder of MMF, Nazneen Ansari. She has reappeared in several other tweets by ANI. Ansari is a vocal BJP supporter. In 2014, she, along with another supporter of the BJP, floated the Bharatiya Awam Party (BAP) and declared unconditional support to Narendra Modi. BAP has also shared the stage with RSS. Last year, Nasari accepted soil from Ayodhya as her (and her foundation’s) support toward building Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. According to a Times of India report, “an office-bearer of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Purnendu Upadhya said the “sacred” soil will be put at different places for public view.” Muslim Rashtriya Manch is affiliated to the RSS. While ANI’s reportage about these “women from Varanasi” is not misinformation, it is incomplete and misleading. On August 21, 2018, ANI tweeted that “people in Lucknow” were cutting a cake this Bakrid instead of sacrificing goats. The media outlet also quoted a man from the Muslim community who said, “the custom of sacrificing an animal on Bakrid is not right.” People in #Lucknow are preparing to celebrate an eco-friendly #Bakrid by cutting cakes with a goat image. A buyer at a bakery says, “The custom of sacrificing an animal on Bakrid is not right. I appeal to everyone to celebrate the festival by cutting a cake instead of an animal.” pic.twitter.com/C5EJ73dKM1 — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 21, 2018 However, they weren’t just “people from Lucknow” but members of RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch celebrating bakrid by cutting a cake. The man in the photograph is a member of the organisation. Alt News had earlier reported this instance here. In 2017, ANI tweeted that Gangan Dhawan, a former Congress MLA was arrested by the ED for involvement in a Rs 5,000 crore scam. The news agency later deleted this tweet and put out a clarification saying that Dhawan is a businessman and not a former MLA of the INC. With an explosion of information from every corner of the country and a race among media outlets to be the first to break the news, inadvertent slights are bound to happen. Even though subsequent corrections are issued, the initial errors are always a matter of concern as incorrect information gets much wider circulation. We have seen in most cases that the corrected versions do not reach the audience who have been affected by the earlier misinformation. Such misinformation not only misleads the citizens but has the potential to add fuel to existing political biases and favour certain parties. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st October 2018 / 8:31 pm / Last updated: 4th January 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-a-tale-of-inadvertent-errors-and-oversights/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
270	Did ANI fall for a WhatsApp forward about 2000 Rohingyas planning to attack Nagaland? - Alt News Sam Jawed 15th October 2017 / 8:32 pm / Last updated: 15th October 2017 “Rohingyas likely to attack Nagaland” The ANI story on Oct 12 quoted Intelligence branch of Nagaland Police to raise alarm bells about the security threat that Rohingyas pose to national security. The story went on to say that “the Imam of Dimapur is contacting the Rohingya rebels and has commenced collecting huge amount of arms and ammunitions from Bangladesh” and that “2,000 Muslims have volunteered to take up arms against the Nagas, if the latter try to drive them out.” It did not end there. ANI went on to say that around 20 ISIS terrorists had entered Nagaland and were training the volunteers and suicide bomb attacks and bomb blasts were likely throughout Nagaland. ISIS training camps? Bomb attacks throughout Nagaland? Even before we could react to the claims made, the news was deleted by ANI. The story disappeared from the ANI website almost as mysteriously as it had appeared but not before it was picked up by websites like Postcard News and India Times. You can read the now deleted ANI story here. We did not find the ANI report in any national newspapers or news channels other than Times Now. Even though the original ANI report has been deleted, the Times Now story is still available. The story was also tweeted by several Right-wing handles. At Least 2,000 Rohingya Muslims Joins ISIS To Attack Nagaland: Reports – https://t.co/JE3E2oGm3m https://t.co/nDQch7zwEQ — Tapan Ghosh (@hstapanghosh) October 14, 2017 At Least 2,000 #Rohingya Muslims join #ISIS with plans to to atack #Nagaland in India's northeast. https://t.co/lFvd8cYBqW — Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) October 13, 2017 Local publication Morung Express raised the flag about ANI falling for fake news. It reported that the so-called “news” was circulating widely on Facebook and WhatsApp groups before ANI reported it. Idgah Committee, the apex body of all the Mosques of Dimapur District had called it false propaganda that was being spread with a malafide intention. The publication also reported that the state Police was not aware about the “intelligence report” and was trying to trace the origin of the social media messages. Alt News found messages dating back to October 10th on Facebook which claimed that Rohingyas are going to attack Nagaland. The following image is an example of one such chain message. The ANI story as we mentioned earlier was dated October 12th. Yet another North Eastern Portal, Time8 spoke to Renchamo P Kikon, IGP, Intelligence Department of Nagaland Police who said, “We have not issued any such statement, also the Muslim Council and Idgah Committee of Dimapur have issued statements informing that these news are fake and they didn’t receive any inputs in the matter of Rohingyas. Most importantly, Police has a certain procedure in notifying an issue.” So far ANI has not clarified why it deleted its story. Did ANI fall for a fake whatsapp forward? If it was later found to be based on unverified reports, ANI has the responsibility to say so. Quietly deleting a story is not the answer. The deleted story has set into motion the rumor mills, right wing handles and websites like Postcard News who are continuing to share and outrage about it. Interestingly, the breaking of this “news” came at the time of the Supreme Court hearing on deportation of Rohingya refugees. With so much of fake news around us on social media, if news agencies like ANI also delete stories without a clarification, who do we trust anymore? Subsequent to our story, Smita Prakash who is the Editor News at ANI has put out a clarification on Twitter which we are presenting here in full. pic.twitter.com/pyuXpumzDq — Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) October 15, 2017 Unfortunately, this news has already reached many because multiple media organisations and fake news portals have republished it and haven’t bothered to pull down their stories. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th October 2017 / 8:32 pm / Last updated: 15th October 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-fall-whatsapp-forward-2000-rohingyas-planning-attack-nagaland/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
271	ANI, India TV portray photographs of mosque in Jammu as Eid prayers in Srinagar - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 12th August 2019 / 9:11 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2019 On August 12, 2019, news agency ANI tweeted a set of photographs, reporting that these were clicked in Srinagar where “People offered namaz in the morning at Mohalla mosques in various parts of the city on #EidAlAdha.” SRINAGAR: People offered namaz in the morning at Mohalla mosques in various parts of the city on #EidAlAdha, today. #JammuAndKasmir pic.twitter.com/5TcwnW0bQf — ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2019 It may be noted that a curfew was imposed in J&K along with a communication blackout after the Union government moved to revoke provisions of Article 370 and reorganize the state. The same set of photos was also published by India TV which reported that these pictures are from Srinagar in Kashmir. Alt News was alerted by a tweet from a journalist working with AFP who pointed out that the mosque shown in the photos in not in Srinagar but in fact in Jammu. #Kashmir This is Jammu city, not Srinagar. ANI claims these photos of #EidAlAdha prayers are from a local mosque in Srinagar, however, this is Makkah Masjid in Bathindi locality in Jammu city. Geo-location of the mosque in Jammu https://t.co/Zusvy1ZAkR — Uzair Hasan Rizvi (@RizviUzair) August 12, 2019 On the basis of this claim, Alt News searched for Makkah Masjid in Jammu to check for similarities. The Makkah Masjid is in the Bathindi area of Jammu. Using Google Maps, we could access the ‘street view’ image of the mosque, which has been posted below. On the basis of the above image of Makkah Masjid in Jammu, we were able to establish similarities between this building and the one shown in the photo, claimed to be from a mosque in Srinagar. As can be seen from the above image, there are similarities in the two buildings which suggest that they are the same: 1. The arches and columns that make up the building’s facade are the same for both. 2. The window seen on the left side of the facade of the building is identical in both pictures. 3. The window seen on the leftmost side too is identical in both buildings. Moreover, in the image posted by ANI and India TV, ongoing construction can be seen on the right side of the building. That this mosque is in Jammu is corroborated by a recent video posted on YouTube which shows the same. Alt News found that this set of photographs had been tweeted by the Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs. It is noteworthy that this tweet did not claim that the photos are exclusively from Kashmir. Instead, these pictures were said to be from Jammu & Kashmir. Prayers being offered on the occasion of #EidAlAdha2019 in #JammuAndKashmir. Sharing sweets and bringing smiles on everyone’s faces @JmuKmrPolice @PIBSrinagar @diprjk @airnewsalerts @DDNewsLive pic.twitter.com/OkubyF4fKt — Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) August 12, 2019 In conclusion, photographs taken at a mosque in Jammu on the occasion of Eid were passed off by ANI and India TV as taken in Srinagar. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th August 2019 / 9:11 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-india-tv-portray-photographs-of-mosque-in-jammu-as-eid-prayers-in-srinagar/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
272	ANI makes absurd claim about Imran Khan's wife based on photoshopped screenshot - Alt News Mohammed Zubair 29th September 2019 / 9:36 pm / Last updated: 30th September 2019 On September 29, multimedia news agency ANI published an article on Pakistan PM’s wife Bushra Bibi with the caption, “Pakistan’s first lady Bushra Bibi’s image does not appear in mirrors: PM House staff”. While quoting an unnamed member of PM House staff, ANI reported that Pakistan’s first lady’s image does not appear in mirrors. The report was based on a screenshot of Pakistan’s Capital TV which reads, “پی ایم ہاؤس کے ٹاف کے مطابق خاتون اول کا آئینے میں عکس نظر نہیں آتا (According to PM House staff, Image of the first lady not seen be seen in the mirror.)” Pakistan’s first lady Bushra Bibi’s image does not appear in mirrors: PM House staff Read @ANI story \| https://t.co/H5eej6qq6R pic.twitter.com/b4Q17GIWu1 — ANI Digital (@ani_digital) September 29, 2019 The article which was also tweeted by ANI editor Smita Prakash is now deleted. After taking it down, ANI published another article titled, “Twitterati divided over reports that Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi’s image doesn’t form in mirrors.” Twitterati divided over reports that Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi’s image doesn’t form in mirrors Read @ANI story \| https://t.co/W7cUTFdyyH pic.twitter.com/go42zqmOyE — ANI Digital (@ani_digital) September 29, 2019 Here they claimed, “Even as some Pakistani journalists alleged that the picture is photoshopped, a Pakistani source said that the news was actually run by the tv channel before being pulled off-air.” While searching for the report by Capital TV, Alt News came across several tweets by the channel calling out ANI and denying that they had published any such report. In one of the tweets, Capital TV blamed ANI and their “irresponsible journalism” for using a “photoshopped poster” with Capital TV’s template. Height of irresponsible journalism; Indian news agency tweets photoshopped poster of ‘fake news’ on official Twitter account, using Capital TV’s logo 👉 Details: https://t.co/FrtEjZXoet#CapitalTV #ANI #IndianMedia #FakeNewsAlert @ANI @PTIofficial @ani_digital pic.twitter.com/oIF9M0JvFx — Capital TV (@CapitalTV_News) September 29, 2019 In another tweet, Capital TV claimed that their administration had already filed a complaint with the FIA about a fake poster when it was circulated a year ago. While speaking to the anchor, Director of Capital TV, Naushad Ali had mentioned that they had filed a complaint with FIA Cyber Crime Wing last year. While searching for older reports, Alt News came across a tweet by a Journalist Aniqa Nisar of Capital TV on Oct 1, 2018, saying no such news was aired by the channel. She had also tweeted that they had filed a complaint with FIA Cyber Crime Wing. For everyone who’s been asking. This is #FakeNews , I gave no beeper on any such news and rest assured no such irresponsible news was aired by @CapitalTV_News pic.twitter.com/MglPJRfXzz — Aniqa Nisar (@AniqaNisar) September 30, 2018 We found another 2018 tweet by Capital TV which shared a copy of the complaint in FIA‘s Cyber-Crime Wing against those “spreading false and absurd news”. 📺#CapitalTV files complaint in #FIA‘s Cyber-Crime Wing against those misusing its logo and branding and spreading the false and absurd news 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/iKrYB1OuQP — Capital TV (@CapitalTV_News) October 1, 2018 Times Now had published an article with a similar headline, “Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s wife Bushra bibi’s reflection can’t be seen in a mirror, claims report.” Times Now also published an article in Hindi. आइने में नहीं दिखती हैं इमरान खान की तीसरी पत्नी बुशरा! सामने आया नया रहस्यhttps://t.co/6GOghw6ecs — Times Now Hindi (@TimesNowHindi) September 29, 2019 Both their reports have been updated without a clarification that the channel had earlier published misinformation. Several other Hindi media outlets had also carried similar stories – Aaj Tak, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, TV9 Bharatvarsh and Loksatta. The Indian Express published a report in Bengali based on the ANI article. TV9 Bharatvarsh tweeted “इमरान की ‘अदृश्य बेगम’ पाकिस्तान में वायरल है! देखिए आज रात 8:30 बजे @TV9Bharatvarsh पर” इमरान की ‘अदृश्य बेगम’ पाकिस्तान में वायरल है! देखिए आज रात 8:30 बजे @TV9Bharatvarsh पर pic.twitter.com/0R9chhRY5X — TV9 भारतवर्ष (@TV9Bharatvarsh) September 29, 2019 The misinformation was also shared by propaganda website OpIndia and MyNation. The former later modified their report, including its title. In conclusion, a piece of misinformation travelled in the media and subsequently to millions of viewers after a misinformed report was published by ANI and later picked up by other media outlets. Co-founder, Alt News Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via Twitter at https://twitter.com/zoo_bear Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th September 2019 / 9:36 pm / Last updated: 30th September 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-makes-an-absurd-claim-about-imran-khans-wife-based-on-a-photoshopped-screenshot/", "author": "Mohammed Zubair" }
273	ANI misreports PMO granting Rs 30 lakh to ailing Agra girl, several media outlets follow suit - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 24th June 2019 / 9:06 pm / Last updated: 25th June 2019 Agra resident Lalita Kumari, 17, has been suffering from aplastic anaemia for the past 19 months. The family required Rs 10 lakh for her treatment, an appeal for which was made to the PMO last year in July. Two months later, in September 2018, partial financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh was provided to Lalita. Since then, the family has been struggling to gather the remaining Rs 7 lakh. The Times of India reported on June 22, 2019, that the family, unable to arrange for the funds, sought euthanasia for their daughter in a written request to chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Soon after, media reports started pouring in with the claim that the prime minister extended Rs 30 lakh aid for the ailing child. On June 22, ANI carried a report claiming that the family was granted Rs 30 lakh financial assistance by the PMO. Several media outlets subsequently published reports based on the ANI story – Times Now, The Quint, Asian Age, India Today, Republic, Financial Express, Hindustan Times, DNA and Deccan Chronicle. The Quint claimed that the family had already received assistance to the tune Rs 30 lakh and was making renewed appeals for more funds. Dainik Jagran and Jansatta also carried reports on the “Rs 30 lakh” story. An English translation of Dainik Jagran’s over-blown headline read – “PM answers her calls, Lalita no longer wishes death as she gets the gift of life.” BJP West Bengal MP Babul Supriyo tweeted the India Today story, thus attracting nearly 6,000 likes and over 900 retweets to the claim that PM Modi sanctioned a grant of Rs 30 lakh to the ailing child. In a June 23 article in The Times of India, the family termed the news reports “fake” and said, “After the intervention of Etah MP Rajveer Singh, who wrote a letter to PMO for financial assistance, only Rs 3 lakh was sanctioned last year on September 30. The report of Rs 30 lakh grant is fake and it has hurt our efforts to get help for my daughter. We need help for our dying girl. This fake news can cost my daughter’s life.” Lalita, who is bedridden, told TOI, “Had PMO granted Rs 30 lakh against Rs 10 lakh requirement, I would have got new lease of life. This is cruel. Whoever has spread this fake news must visit me and see my condition. My family has lost their entire savings, farmland and mortgaged our home to pay my medical bill.” Last year, BMT RK Birla Cancer SMS Hospital, Jaipur gave an estimate of Rs 10 lakh for Lalita’s treatment. A letter stating the same was recently tweeted by TOI journalist Arvind Chauhan. The family sent a letter to the PMO through BJP Etah MP Rajveer Singh in July last year, asking for financial assistance. The prime minister’s office replied two months later, in September 2018, that a partial sum of Rs 3 lakh has been granted to the family from the prime minister’s national relief fund. Chauhan shared the PMO’s response in a June 23, 2019 tweet. The letter said, “Please refer to your letter dated nil received through Shri Rajveer Singh (Raju Bhaiya)…letter dated 14/07/2018, regarding financial assistance for Aplastic Anaemia of Miss Lalita Kumari…The Prime Minister has sanctioned a grant of Rs 300000.0/- from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to partially defray the expenses involved in the surgery/treatment subject to the conditions mentioned overleaf…” Not only did the media circulate incorrect information but Dr Dinesh Arora, the deputy CEO of PM’s flagship health scheme Ayushman Bharat, retweeted a tweet which wrongly claimed that Rs 30 lakh was granted to the family. Despite the letter clearly stating that a grant of Rs 3 lakh was sanctioned, an extra ‘zero’ found a place in media reports nine months after the money was dispersed. Moreover, there has been no fresh announcement of additional financial assistance from the PMO, which is clear from Arora’s tweet where he says, “have requested state to help…” Alt News contacted Chauhan who said that the state government has now stepped in and offered to help the girl. “CMO Agra has offered to arrange for free treatment for Lalita at SGPGI Lucknow,” he told Alt News. This was also reported in the media. CMO Agra Mukesh Kumar Vats acknowledging @timesofindia‘ s effort in bringing to fore the plight of 17-year-old girl suffering from aplastic anemia. CMO to arrange free treatment of the girl at SGPGI Lucknow. @arvindcTOI pic.twitter.com/iAGBQi8Anf — Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) June 24, 2019 A misreport carried by nearly every mainstream media outlet could have potentially derailed the girl’s treatment. It is rather peculiar that a 9-month old grant was inflated ten times and floated by the media simultaneous to the family’s fresh appeals for financial assistance. Clarifications or corrections to the articles are yet to be made despite the family calling out the misinformation and the CMO Agra transferring the girl to Lucknow for treatment. UPDATE: [After Alt News’s fact-check was published, ANI took down its story, however, sans clarification. The same was done by India Today. The Quint rectified its story and added a clarification. Jansatta included The Times of India’s findings in its report without making any other changes to the copy. ] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th June 2019 / 9:06 pm / Last updated: 25th June 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-misreports-pmo-granting-rs-30-lakh-to-ailing-agra-girl-several-media-outlets-follow-suit/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
274	ANI misreports UK High Court ruling on Vijay Mallya's London home - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 23rd November 2018 / 6:36 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019 On the evening of November 22, news agency Asian News International (ANI) tweeted that the High Court of London has ruled in favour of Swiss banking firm UBS to take possession of disgraced liquor baron and fugitive Vijay Mallya’s plush home in Central London. The High Court in London has ruled in favour of Swiss banking giant UBS to take possession of Vijay Mallya’s Central London house. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/IfNJQBS4AO — ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 UBS had gone to court against Vijay Mallya to seek possession of the mansion after Mallya reportedly failed to repay the 20.4 million pound mortgage loan on the property. While Mallya faces an uphill battle to save his family home from risk of foreclosure, ANI jumped the gun. There has been no such ruling from the UK High Court. This was pointed out by Vidya Ram, London based correspondent with The Hindu. The court has done no such thing- yesterday there was just a judgment relating to amended defence submitted by mallyas legal team – the trial only begins next year! https://t.co/BaxvqCAgpb — Vidya Ram (@Vidya_Ram) November 22, 2018 Times of India has reported that in a setback to Mallya’s legal defence, “chief master Marsh of the business and property courts of the high court in London threw out the majority of arguments Mallya and his co-defendants had put forward in their amended defence dated May 11, 2018 to cling onto their prized home. A 10-day trial is scheduled to take place from May 7, 2019.” In other words, the trial to decide the fate of the property will take place only next year in May and the ruling is with regard to the arguments presented by Mallya’s legal team, scores of which were struck down for being unsustainable. Times of India further reports that “UBS had put in an application on August 9, 2018 to strike out certain parts of the amended defence. On Wednesday chief master Marsh ruled that all except one of them should be “struck out” as they were “bound to fail”. The inaccuracy of ANI’s news update was also pointed out by Naomi Canton, who filed the Times of India report from London. ANI @ani_digital put out a false story today saying the court had ordered UBS take possession of Vijay Mallya’s London home. This is NOT true. https://t.co/PUgezirW2Z via @NewIndianXpress — Naomi Canton (@naomi2009) November 22, 2018 ANI’s tweet was posted at 6:47 pm on November 22. Half an hour later, the news agency posted another tweet with the correct information, amending the original tweet, which was online at the time of writing this piece. All of Mallya’s defence claims for repossession order were rejected and the final hearing will take place in May 2019 https://t.co/mQfA0uMFcs — ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2018 ANI‘s erroneous news flash was expectedly picked up by multiple news organisations which reported that Mallya is set to lose his London mansion after the High Court in London ruled the same. This was reported by The New Indian Express, Asian Age and also flashed by The Quint, Business Standard and NDTV, among others. They have credited this news to ANI. On the other hand, the popular Hindi publication Dainik Bhaskar reported that the UK High Court has permitted UBS to take possession of Mallya’s London home, although the article did mention that the trial will take place in 2019. Divya Bhaskar which is a Gujarati newspaper and part of the DNA group, reported on its front page that Mallya’s London house, worth Rs. 195 crore, has been seized. BTVI also broadcast that #London High Court has ruled in favour of UBS to take possession of Mallya’s London house.” India TV also reported that the court has ordered seizure of the property. What must be noted over here is that while the titles of these news reports mention that the High Court has ruled against Mallya, attributing this information to ANI, the content of the reports is specific, and states that trial will take place next year and Wednesday’s ruling was with regard to UBS’ application to the court seeking to strike down portions of Mallya’s amended defence. ANI has been caught on the wrong foot on multiple occasions over its reportage. This was yet another error which did not go unnoticed. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd November 2018 / 6:36 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-misreports-uk-high-court-ruling-on-vijay-mallyas-london-home/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
275	Fact-check: "Nitish Sabke Hai" posters were put up outside JD(U) HQ amidst political crisis in Bihar? - Alt News Kinjal 9th August 2022 / 8:18 pm As per the latest updates on Bihar’s ongoing political crisis, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned and is set to form the majority government with the opposition party RJD. Against this backdrop, leading media channel ABP News ran a poster in one of its broadcasts featuring Nitish Kumar. The poster in Hindi reads, “नीतीश सबके हैं” (Nitish belongs to everyone). During the broadcast, the anchor clearly states that “new” posters of the chief minister were put up in Bihar by the JDU. ABP News also tweeted a video of the broadcast on August 9. It is mentioned that new posters of Nitish Kumar were put up on the streets of Patna. (Archived link) Republic Bharat too aired this poster during a broadcast, claiming that it was put up in Bihar recently. News agency ANI also tweeted and wrote that the poster has been put up outside the JD(U) office in Patna recently. (Archived link) In addition, NDTV tweeted this poster stating that it appeared in Bihar recently. (Archived link) Other media outlets like Hindustan Times and Moneycontrol also ran this poster in their articles. Several other organizations and users tweeted this poster in context with the ongoing political crisis in Bihar. Among them were News24, The Times of India, journalist Osama Zakaria, Aaj Tak journalist Anil Kumar, and Zee Hindustan anchor Saud Mohammad Khalid. However, none of these tweets have made any direct claims about this poster. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found the original image in a BBC Marathi article dated November 10, 2020. It mentions that such posters of Nitish Kumar were put up amid the assembly elections in Bihar. Following this, Amit Shah declared Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate for the state. It is worth noting that in 2020, Assembly elections were held in Bihar, resulting in the BJP and JDU forming a coalition government. Upon further investigation, we came across a video report by ABP Bihar from October 2, 2020. In this ground report, the correspondent states that this poster was put up outside the JDU office. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EodxdrvkBE?start=18] Aaj Tak anchor Chitra Tripathi also tweeted the image on October 6, 2020. Below we have added a collage comparing the photo from 2020 with the one viral in 2022. Two men can be seen walking in front of the poster. Both of them can also be seen in the posters carried by ABP News and Republic Bharat. Apart from this, the wrinkles appearing in both the posters are also similar. Thus, proving that it is at least two years old. To sum it up, had ABP News checked the reports of its own regional channel ABP Bihar, the outlet would have easily known that this poster was not put up recently, but in 2020. Along with the channel, a number of other media organizations including ANI and NDTV also ran it as a poster that appeared recently. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th August 2022 / 8:18 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-ndtv-toi-abp-news-shared-2020-poster-nitish-sabke-hain-as-recent/", "author": "Kinjal" }
276	ANI News misreports firecrackers as dynamite sticks in Kollam fire, right wing rumour mills go to town with it - Alt News Pratik Sinha 10th April 2016 / 7:06 pm / Last updated: 10th April 2016 In a very unfortunate incident, over 100 people died and more than 300 people were injured after a fire broke out at the Paravur Puttingal Devi temple in Kollam, Kerala. According to a NewsMinute report, the fire started when a firework that is supposed to explode while airborne malfunctioned and exploded on the ground near a stash of other fireworks. [pullquote align=”full”] Sometime between 3AM and 3 30AM, just few minutes before the fireworks display was to end, one of the fireworks, called “amittu”, which was supposed to explode in the air and fizzle out, instead fell on the ground, and the sparks flew around causing a fire. This fire then spread to 12 huge “amittus” which were kept nearby, on the shed made of concrete. When those 12 fireworks caught fire, there was a huge explosion, which could be heard hundreds of meters away. [/pullquote] News Minute also published a picture of the unburned ‘Amittus’, a traditional Keralite fire cracker, that caused the fire. However, ANI News reported the incident in a different way. They first claimed that unexploded dynamite sticks were found at the site and 2 hour laters, they tweeted again saying that they were actually fire crackers and not dynamite sticks. 2 hours between the original erroneous tweet and the correction was enough time for the right wing rumour mills to go to town with this issue. The traditional Keralite fire cracker called “Amittu” became dynamite sticks and the fire become an attack on Hindus thanks to the right wing rumour mills. For eg, one of the right wing propagandist Facebook pages put this up with the hashtag #HindusUnderAttack Even when the ANI News tweeted that its earlier report of dynamite sticks was erroneous, a typical right wing website called lotpot wrote an entire hypothesis as to why it was dynamite and not firecrackers. This hypothesis was tweeted over and over again. Even Times of India wrote an article claiming it was dynamite sticks based on ANI News report and then had to later delete their report. The original URL to their report was => http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Massive-fire-at-Paravur-Puttingal-temple-in-Kerala/liveblog/51761690.cm One particular twitter account posted a series of inflammatory tweets and then deleted the account later. This is how the right wing rumour mills roll. Question that needs to be asked is, without any forensics reports whatsoever, how did ANI News conclude that those crackers were dynamite sticks? Just because they look big and frightening? If that indeed is the case, it is shameful journalism. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th April 2016 / 7:06 pm / Last updated: 10th April 2016	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-news-misreports-firecrackers-dynamite-sticks-kollam-fire-right-wing-rumour-mills-go-town/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
277	ANI, News18 misreport RSS-affiliated Muslim org as "people in Lucknow" celebrating Bakrid by cutting cake - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 24th August 2018 / 4:18 pm / Last updated: 24th August 2018 On August 21, ANI tweeted that “people in Lucknow” were cutting a cake this Bakrid instead of sacrificing goats. The media outlet also quoted a man from the Muslim community who said, “the custom of sacrificing an animal on Bakrid is not right.” People in #Lucknow are preparing to celebrate an eco-friendly #Bakrid by cutting cakes with a goat image. A buyer at a bakery says, “The custom of sacrificing an animal on Bakrid is not right. I appeal to everyone to celebrate the festival by cutting a cake instead of an animal.” pic.twitter.com/C5EJ73dKM1 — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 21, 2018 A similar report was carried out by News18. The media outlet posted a video where one “Molana Tauqir Ahmed Naqvi” says that he buys a cake every year because he does not believe in sacrificing animals. News18 introduced Tauqir as a “customer”. He is the same man who was photographed by ANI. The cake in this report was also identical to the image of the cake uploaded by ANI. As reports of both the media outlets mentioned “people in Lucknow”, it could be inferred that many members of the Muslim community across the city decided to celebrate Bakrid by cutting a cake instead of sacrificing goats. However, this was misleading as we will find during the course of this article. On August 23, The Times of India (TOI) published an article titled, “Cut cakes, end slaughter, says RSS arm, sparks row”. The report said that “the RSS-affiliate Muslim Rashtriya Manch on Wednesday (August 22) asked its members to cut cakes with goat caricatures to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha.” According to the report, the Manch has 13 lakh members. TOI also included an image of a few members of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch cutting a cake that looked similar to the ones shared by ANI and News18. The man in the picture looked similar as well, however, this could not be conclusively said as the photograph used by TOI was not very clear. The Times of India quoted the Vice President of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Raees Raja, who said that the practice of not sacrificing goats has been followed by the organisation since its inception in 2002. Alt News contacted Raja who confirmed to us that the Manch is affiliated to RSS, of which he is also a part. He added that it is run under the guidance of RSS leader Indresh Kumar. When asked if the images used by ANI and The Times of India pertained to the same Bakrid celebrations, Raja affirmed. He added that the man clicked in all the photographs is also the same person and his name is Tauqir, which was also the name of the “customer” provided by News18. A video of members of the Manch, including Tauqir celebrating the festival at their karyalay is attached below. As it turns out, ANI and News18 misreported RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch as “people in Lucknow” cutting a cake. Celebrations of the Manch have been covered by ANI in the past when it did not omit to mention the outfit’s name. In 2016 ANI wrote “RSS Muslim wing” and 2017, it mentioned the name of the outfit “Muslim Rashtriya Manch”. It is unclear what prompted ANI and News18 to omit the fact that RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch members cut a cake to celebrate Bakrid. However, the omission might have given readers the impression that many members of the Muslim community across Lucknow followed this practice, which was not borne by other media reports. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th August 2018 / 4:18 pm / Last updated: 24th August 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-news18-misreport-rss-affiliated-muslim-org-as-people-in-lucknow-celebrating-bakrid-by-cutting-cake/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
278	ANI presents RSS-backed event as ‘Muslim community’ celebrating PM Modi’s birthday at Nizamuddin - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st September 2020 / 9:02 pm / Last updated: 27th September 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated his 70th birthday on September 17, 2020. News agency ANI published a story that same day claiming the Muslim community in Delhi gathered outside the Nizamuddin Markaz building to commemorate the occasion with prayers and cake cutting. “In the last 6 years, the PM has never spoken about religion, caste, or creed. He has only spoken about the 130 crore people in our country,” one Maulana Suhaib Qasmi was quoted in the report. Nizamuddin Markaz is the global headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat network which was vilified by the media in early April after the Markaz was identified as a COVID-19 hotspot. The ANI story was republished by Business World and Yahoo News. A video of the event is viral on social media captioned as, “Maulana sahab celebrated Modi’s birthday in front of Nizamuddin Markaz gate. (मरकज़ निजा़मुद्दीन के गेट पर मौलाना साहब ने मनाया मोदी का जन्म दिन.)” Another wide-angle video is also being shared. मरकज़ निजा़मुद्दीन के गेट पर मौलाना साहब ने मनाया मोदी का जन्म दिन मरकज़ निजा़मुद्दीन के गेट पर मौलाना साहब ने मनाया मोदी का जन्म दिन। मुसलमानों में बेहद गु़स्सा Posted by Millat Times on Thursday, 17 September 2020 Alt News has received verification requests for the video on its official mobile application. A video of a group of Muslim men celebrating PM Modi’s birthday outside Nizamuddin Markaz was uploaded by Suhaib Qasmi, the ‘maulana’ quoted in ANI’s report. निजामुद्दीन मरकज पर मौलाना सुहैब क़ासमी की अध्यक्षता में देश के प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी का जन्मदिन मनाया गया और उनकी सेहत और लंबी उम्र की दुआ की गई और उनको खास मुबारकबाद दी गई जिसमें देश के कई प्रदेशों से उलमा इमाम और बुद्धिजीवी शरीक हुए Posted by Suhaib Qasmi on Thursday, 17 September 2020 Qasmi’s Facebook bio says that he “works” with the RSS. He is also the President of the Ayodhya Varta Committee which was set up in 2016 “to resolve the Ayodhya land dispute by engaging influential people from both sides to discuss and find a solution to the issue,” Qasmi was quoted in a 2019 ANI report. Another video where the same group of men can be seen honouring PM Modi on his 70th birthday was tweeted by Qasmi. This video was taken outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in Delhi. It may be pointed out here that Qasmi’s Twitter handle is @sahaibqasmibjp. बीजेपी केंद्रीय कार्यालय में मोदी जी के 70 वे जन्म दिन पर उनकी लंबी उम्र की दुआ हुई जिसमें देश के कई प्रदेशों से उलेमा इमामो ने शिरकत की । Modi ji zindabaad pic.twitter.com/M3A6W2dKeD — Suhaib Qasmi#IStandWithFarmersBill (@suhaibqasmibjp) September 18, 2020 A man in this video, who is also visible in the viral video, has adorned an orange-green scarf of the BJP. Qasmi in fact shared one more video of PM Modi’s birthday celebrations inside the BJP office. He has tagged the top brass of the party in his tweet. @AmitShah @narendramodi @BJP4India @blsanthosh @byadavbjp @amitmalviya @anil_baluni @shivprakashbjp @ShyamSJaju @rammadhavbjp @Ramlal @swatantrabjp @sunilbansalbjp @syedzafarBJP @aniljaindr @RSSorg @DattaHosabale @KGopalRSS prayer on modi ji birthday at bjp head quarter pic.twitter.com/wyZb9Z4NvE — Suhaib Qasmi#IStandWithFarmersBill (@suhaibqasmibjp) September 18, 2020 The ANI report quotes another person—Firoj Bakht Ahmed, Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad. “Modi ji truly does believe in Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and we are proud to call him our leader. I hope that he remains in this position for the next 10 to 20 years,” reads a part of the statement attributed to Ahmed, the grandnephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, first Education Minister of India. Ahmed’s support to BJP’s political initiatives is not unknown. He has long-favoured the construction of Ram temple in the disputed land in Ayodhya, supported the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Ahmed had also written an article published on the website of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, the Muslim wing of the RSS, where he attempted to explain how the Sangh has been ‘misunderstood’ as anti-Muslim. This isn’t an isolated case when ANI published stories partially identifying Muslim figures, veiling their affiliation or support to the BJP. On multiple occasions in the past, the news agency has tweeted about “Muslim women from Varanasi” either celebrating Hindu rituals or praising the Prime Minister. However, these women don’t merely hail from the Muslim community of Varanasi but are unequivocal supporters of PM Modi. The woman seen in the ANI tweets had floated the Bharatiya Awam Party (BAP) and declared unconditional support to the Prime Minister. BAP has also shared the stage with the RSS. In 2018, ANI had portrayed RSS-affiliated Muslim organisation as “people in Lucknow” celebrating Bakrid by cutting a cake. [Update: The reference to Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has been removed from the article. Suhaib Qasmi is the national president of Jamaat Ulama.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st September 2020 / 9:02 pm / Last updated: 27th September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-presents-rss-backed-event-as-muslim-community-celebrating-pm-modis-birthday-at-nizamuddin/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
279	ANI shares old video of firecracker explosion in Maharashtra as Telangana - Alt News Jignesh Patel 30th October 2019 / 8:05 pm / Last updated: 31st October 2019 On October 28, news agency ANI tweeted a video of firecracker shops engulfed in flames supposedly at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Khammam, Telangana. The tweet informed that there were no injuries or casualties. Several Facebook and Twitter users have posted the same video with an identical claim in Telugu, “ఈరోజు ఖమ్మం పట్టణం సర్దార్ వల్లభాయ్ పటేల్ స్టేడియం ఎస్.ఆర్.అండ్.బి.జి.ఎన్.ఆర్ కాలేజ్ ప్రాంగణంలో ఏర్పాటు చేసిన దీపావళి స్టాల్స్ నిప్పురవ్వలు చెలరేగి తగలబడి పోయినవి” Twitter handle Bharat Johnny was one of the earliest to post the video on October 27, a day before ANI. ఈరోజు ఖమ్మం పట్టణం సర్దార్ వల్లభాయ్ పటేల్ స్టేడియం ఎస్.ఆర్.అండ్.బి.జి.ఎన్.ఆర్ కాలేజ్ ప్రాంగణంలో ఏర్పాటు చేసిన దీపావళి స్టాల్స్ నిప్పురవ్వలు చెలరేగి తగలబడి పోయినవి. Source:wa pic.twitter.com/1EzcgNPdsS — Bharat johnny (@Bharatjohnny_) October 27, 2019 With a keyword search on Google, Alt News found that the video is at least three years old and is from Aurangabad, Maharastra. YouTube Channel Mango News uploaded the video with the description, “Watch Exclusive Visuals of all crackers shop explode at a time in Aurangabad, In the visuals, it is seen that the reason might be the negligence of the officials or a Short Circuit.” Several mainstream media outlets including ANI reported on the incident on October 29, 2016. We found the same video published by UK’s Daily Mail. “The fire ripped through 200 shops and stalls in this devastating footage. Thousands of firecrackers are heard shooting into the air as the blaze grows in size in Aurangabad, central India,” stated the report published on November 2, 2016. ANI apologised for the error and, “Upon further review, this video was an old story which was played out yesterday, therefore we retract it.” However, the clarification was later deleted. A three-year-old video of firecracker shops gutted in fire in Aurangabad, Maharastra was being shared on social media as a recent incident from Khammam, Telangana. ANI had also tweeted the same video. However, both the tweet and the retraction now remain deleted. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th October 2019 / 8:05 pm / Last updated: 31st October 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ani-shares-old-video-of-firecracker-explosion-in-maharashtra-as-telangana/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
280	Ankit Das, owner of second car in Lakhimpur incident, is a BJP supporter - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 7th October 2021 / 3:20 pm A horrific video purportedly showing three vehicles, including a Mahindra Thar and a Toyota Fortuner, running over a group of farmer protestors at Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri surfaced on social media after four farmers died in Sunday’s incident. Injured protesters and eyewitnesses have alleged that Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish (Monu) was in the Thar. The politician has, in turn, claimed that his son was not present at the site of the incident. Several media outlets, and social media accounts supportive of the BJP, have attempted to shift the blame on farmers, claiming that the cars ferrying BJP leaders and workers lost control after being attacked by the protesters. Evidence to support this claim is yet to be presented. A new video has now surfaced where a policeman is seen interrogating a man who claims to have been sitting in the second car (Toyota Fortuner) that had five occupants. He claimed that the car belonged to Ankit Das. According to reports, Ankit is the nephew of late former Congress MP Akhilesh Das. This video is being circulated by members of the BJP to allege a Congress conspiracy behind the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Below are tweets by Amit Malviya and Priti Gandhi with the suggestive question, “What were Congress leaders doing in Lakhimpur?” लखीमपुर दुर्घटना में घायल यह युवक पुलिस के सामने दावा कर रहा है कि काफिले में पूर्व कांग्रेस सांसद अखिलेश दास के भतीजे अंकित दास भी अपनी फार्च्‍यूनर गाड़ी में सवार थे। उत्तर प्रदेश जाने के लिए आतुर गांधी परिवार के बच्चे ये बताएँगे की कांग्रेस नेता लखीमपुर में क्या कर रहे थे? pic.twitter.com/IKuaLNAVLs — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) October 6, 2021 This youth injured in #Lakhimpur is admitting that Ankit Das, nephew of former Congress MP Akhilesh Das, was also present with his Fortuner car in the convoy. Children of Gandhi family, eager to go to Uttar Pradesh, should tell us what Congress leaders were doing in the convoy? pic.twitter.com/wzLKT9waCN — Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) October 6, 2021 Among the journalists who shared the video were Aman Chopra and Himanshu Mishra. It was also referred by many media outlets including ABP News and Dainik Bhaskar. Shehzad Poonawalla tweeted the video questioning, “Why was Cong Akhilesh Das’ nephew in convoy? [sic]” The question is fairly simple to answer. Ankit Das is a supporter of the BJP. In fact, as reported by Aaj Tak, on the arrival of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, posters with photos of Ashish Mishra and Ankit Das were put up at several places in Lakhimpur on October 3. Ankit Das appears close to both Ashish and his father BJP leader Ajay Mishra. Below is a poster of a collage of pictures of Ankit with Ajay Mishra. He shared the pictures on the occasion of the Union Minister’s birthday and referred to him as his “guide”. He has shared pictures with Ajay Mishra numerous times, including photos of him at his residence with other BJP leaders. In one of the posts below, he calls Ashish a “dear friend”. Ankit has not made any posts on his Facebook profile praising Congress or its leaders. His account documents his political activities with the BJP. He made the first post on his Facebook profile on September 21 and the very next day, he shared a poster praising UP CM Yogi Adityanath. In fact, Ashish Mishra and a Twitter account by the name of BJP Lakhimpur have also uploaded pictures with Ankit at BJP events. Ankit identifies as the Vice President of Akhil Bharatiya Vaishya Ekta Parishad, an organisation that openly supports the BJP. There are videos of top leaders of the party attending national conventions of Vaishya Ekta Parishad as speakers. There is an organised attempt to claim that a Congress leader was in the convoy that ran over farmer protesters in Lakhimpur. OpIndia published an article blaming Congress leaders for sharing a clipped portion of the police interrogation video. The article has no mention of Ankit Das’ closeness with the BJP, which is apparent from his political activities. BJP members and supporters are busy highlighting the fact that Ankit is the nephew of former late Congress leader Akhilesh Das who was earlier in the BSP. But Ankit is a friend of Ashish, as per reports, and a senior police officer was quoted by The Times of India as saying that the Fortuner is registered in his name. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th October 2021 / 3:20 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ankit-das-owner-of-second-car-in-lakhimpur-incident-is-a-bjp-supporter/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
281	Old video from UP shared as DPS Rajbagh teacher's speech against CAA, NRC - Alt News Archit 4th October 2021 / 2:38 pm / Last updated: 4th October 2021 Twitter user @sdtiwari posted a video of a man speaking against CAA, NRC and politicians including Home Minister Amit Shah to a media person. @sdtiwari claimed that the man is ‘Shakeel Ahmed Ansari’, a teacher at DPS Rajbagh in Gujarat’s Valsad. This video gained over 10,000 views. ये वलसाड के DPS SCHOOL Rajbag का टीचर शकील अहमद अंसारी है इसको इतना शेयर करो की ये टीचर और स्कूल दोनों बंद हो जाए । वीडियो वायरल होने से काफी फ़र्क पड़ता है ओर कार्यवाही होती है जिसे दया न आये वो अपना मुंह (टाइपिंग) बंद रखे । pic.twitter.com/qvspkTRPHI — 🇮🇳 शेषधर तिवारी 🇮🇳 (@sdtiwari) September 4, 2021 Twitter user @saffronncloud also posted this video. It gained over 100 retweets. हिंदुओ सुन लो कि प्रधान मंत्री दारूबाज है। ये वीडियो सबको भेजिए ये वलसाड के DPS SCHOOL Rajbag का टीचर शकील अहमद अंसारी है । यह खुलेआम धमकी दे रहा। प्रिय हिंदूओं सोते रहो। pic.twitter.com/4fIg0M29TL — 🇮🇳Nainika🇮🇳🚩❤ ऊँ❤🚩 (@saffronncloud) September 14, 2021 Multiple Facebook and Twitter users have posted this video. Before we begin the fact-check, it’s worth noting that in 2019 Alt News debunked three false claims about DPS School Rajbagh. In this report, we will answer the following questions: DPS Rajbagh is located in J&K A keyword search on Google reveals that the said school is not in Gujarat as claimed on social media but in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kathua city. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found that the video dates back to at least December 13, 2019. A higher resolution version of the video was uploaded by a YouTube account named ‘irfanbagwan GFC‘. This video has the watermark of ‘LTV Exclusive’ which led us to the channel’s Facebook page. The video was uploaded on December 12, 2019. It has gained over 12 million views since then. नागरिकता बिल पास होने पर फुटा लोगों का गुस्सा, इस बन्दे ने जो कहा सभी को सुनना चाहिए नागरिकता बिल पास होने पर फुटा लोगों का गुस्सा, इस बन्दे ने जो कहा सभी को सुनना चाहिए Posted by सच सबसे आगे on Wednesday, 11 December 2019 In the backdrop, the Banaras Hindu University’s iconic entrance can be spotted. Thus the video was shot in Varanasi. The image below is a street view of the gate. A comparison of the gateway seen in the LTV video and Google street view is added below. The three palm trees in front of the entrance wall and the tomb in both images are the identifiers. We reached out to a source at BHU and they identified the man and shared his Facebook profile. The man’s identity is concealed in an attempt to prevent online harassment. However, we can reveal that he is a political science researcher and human rights activist. Over a telephonic call, he told Alt News, “Yes, this my interview from Banaras during anti-CAA protests at BHU’s main gate in December 2019. I would like to share what I said was in context to the political scenario and circulating it now without context isn’t appropriate.” To sum it up, a 2019 video of an activist’s interview with The LTV News during an anti-CAA protest in Banaras was shared with the false claim that the man in the video is Shakeel Ahmed Ansari, a teacher at DPS Rajbagh in Gujarat’s Valsad. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th October 2021 / 2:38 pm / Last updated: 4th October 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/another-false-dps-rajbagh-claim-shared-online-this-time-video-is-from-2019-anti-caa-protest-in-bhu/", "author": "Archit" }
282	Another 'Harthal' embarrassment for Kerala BJP, post-mortem report of BJP worker attributes death to high blood pressure - Alt News Alt News Desk 10th April 2017 / 2:08 am / Last updated: 12th July 2018 A strike called over the “custodial death” of one of its workers in Kasargode district has landed the Kerala BJP in a soup. The post-mortem report, which came out on Sunday, completely ruled out any kind of torture and attributed the death to high blood pressure, leading to haemorrhage. (Source: Reporter Live) Sandeep, a BJP worker, was arrested along with his friends on Friday from the paddy fields of the Agriculture Department’s seed farm for consuming liquor in public. There have been several complaints against the group for consuming liquor and abusing the staff at the seed farm. On seeing the police, Sandeep and four others attempted to flee the place. However, Sandeep fell down while the others were caught. But Sandeep collapsed while being taken to the police station along with others. He was rushed to the general hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead. However, the BJP called for a strike in the district on Saturday, alleging that he died of torture. The BJP and RSS workers, led by the party’s district president K Shreekanth, picketed the town police station. But, the post-mortem report said that there were not even marks or any injury on Sandeep’s body. The post-mortem was carried out by a team of six led by the the forensic department head of the Kozhikode Medical College Prasannan. Small bruises were noticed on the toe and the knee. This could have happened when he was running and when he fell down. The report rules out the occurrence of any torture. Even when the BJP announced the harthal, there were allegations that it was based on a false charge. The BJP’s allegations were also attributed to the party’s displeasure with the Kasargode police sub-inspector Ajith Kumar P. When the allegation of custodial torture was raised, the department responded by transferring him to the Armed Reserve Camp the very next day. With the revelations in the post-mortem report, the BJP leadership is facing questions for indiscriminate strike calls based on misinformation. Early in February, the party had called a strike in Thrissur district against the murder of Yuva Morcha worker Nirmal, alleging that CPI(M) workers had carried out the murder. However, it was revealed a day later that one of the five accused in the murder was a BJP worker. The murder was a result of personal rivalry. Earlier this week, 10 RSS workers were arrested for the murder of a 17-year old former RSS worker in Alappuzha district. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th April 2017 / 2:08 am / Last updated: 12th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/another-harthal-embarrassment-kerala-bjp-post-mortem-report-bjp-worker-attributes-death-high-blood-pressure/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
283	Anti-CAA protesters at Lucknow confess taking bribes? No, clipped video viral - Alt News Archit 27th January 2020 / 8:55 pm / Last updated: 3rd February 2020 A 20-second video of a woman donning a hijab speaking to a reporter is widely circulating on social media. Accompanying claims suggest that she accepted that women protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are taking bribes. The woman can be heard saying, “Women are told to come here for Rs 500 and mainly biryani. You tell me, what is Rs 500 these days? These women leave their home, child, husband and studies and come here. [ Translated from औरतों को यहाँ पे बुलाया जा रहा है, Rs 500 दे कर के और खाने के लिए बिरयानी के लिए, mainly बिरयानी के लिये औरतों को Rs 500 में बुलाया जा रहा है यहाँ पे रोकने के लिए। अब आप मुझे ये बात बताइये कि Rs 500 में क्या होता है आज कल? औरतें अपना घर छोड़ कर, अपने बच्चे, अपना husband, अपने मम्मा-पापा, अपनी पढ़ाई, सब छोड़ कर वो यहाँ आएंगी। ]” Twitter user @PrayagrajWale tweeted the viral video along with the following text in Hindi – “Folks from Congress, have some shame at least. How can a helpless woman run her home in Rs 500 and biryani? This is an exploitation of people. And top of this the Lucknow Police won’t allow a dancing car, how can this work? [Translated from कांग्रेस वालों कुछ तो शर्म करो,एक अबला खातून 500₹ और बिरयानी में कैसे अपना घर चलाएगी,लोगों का शोषण कर रहे हो ,ऊपर से लखनऊ पुलिस वहां डांसिंग कार भी खड़ी नही होने दे रही , ऐसे कैसे चलेगा]” This tweet has been retweeted over 1,400 times. कांग्रेस वालों कुछ तो शर्म करो,एक अबला खातून 500₹ और बिरयानी में कैसे अपना घर चलाएगी,लोगों का शोषण कर रहे हो ,ऊपर से लखनऊ पुलिस वहां डांसिंग कार भी खड़ी नही होने दे रही , ऐसे कैसे चलेगा 🙈🙈🙈🙈 pic.twitter.com/KWHPCBhsYX — Vivek Mishra (@PrayagrajWale) January 23, 2020 Several Facebook and Twitter users have posted the viral video with the same text. Alt News did a keyword search a video on YouTube and found the original video. It was uploaded by the channel Lucknow Live on January 23. Lucknow Live also uploaded this video with the title ‘सीम रिजवी पर भड़की मुस्लिम महिला [Muslim women attacks Waseem Rizvi] on January 20 on their Facebook page. In the video, the woman introduces herself as Sameera. The reporter from Lucknow Live asked her, “Yesterday Waseem Rizvi made horrible allegations on the women at the clock tower. What are your comments? [Translated from “कल वसीम रिज़वी जी ने एक वीडियो रिलीज़ करी है, जिसमें उन्होंने घंटा घर की महिलाओं पे बहुत ही संगीन इल्जाम लगाए हैं। उसके ऊपर आप क्या कहना चाहेंगे?]” Syed Waseem Rizvi is the chairman of the Shia Central Board of Waqf in Uttar Pradesh. On January 18, he made controversial comments about women who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Clock Tower in Lucknow. He questioned the character of the protestors and alleged the women were gathering for money. He reiterated his comments during a January 23 Bharat Samachar broadcast as well. According to a report by ANI, a complaint has been filed against Rizvi for his remarks. The viral video has been edited from the 15th second in the video. The viewers neither hear the reporter’s question about Rizvi nor Seemra’s opening statement – “He said the following things about the women…(उन्होंने महिलाओं को यह बोला गया है कि … ]” Alt News reached out to Rustam Khan who manages the Facebook page of Lucknow Live. He said, “This video was shot on January 19 at the Hussainabad Clock Tower. We uploaded it January 20. Since last few days, an edited version of our video has gone viral.” On January 25, Lucknow Live alerted viewers about the misinformation posted, “Attention Viewers: On January 20 we uploaded a video with a title ‘Muslim women attacks Waseem Rizvi.’ An edited version of this video is viral on social media with false claims. [Translated from दर्शकों के लिए सूचना : Jan २० को हमने ‘वसीम रिजवी पर भड़की मुस्लिम महिला’ के नाम से एक विडीओ डाला था । सोशल मीडिया पर इस विडीओ को एडिट कर ग़लत फ़ेमी प्रचार करी ज़ारही। – Rustam Khan, Lucknow Live]” In conclusion, the viral video has been edited in a way that the woman seems to suggest that anti-CAA protesters at Lucknow’s Clock Tower accepted bribes. However, she was referring to the statement made by Syed Waseem Rizvi, chairman of the Shia Central Board of Waqf. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th January 2020 / 8:55 pm / Last updated: 3rd February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/anti-caa-protesters-at-lucknow-confess-taking-bribes-no-clipped-video-viral/", "author": "Archit" }
284	Anti-Govt protests in Algeria viral in India as Muslim mob attacking police in France - Alt News Jignesh Patel 29th April 2019 / 9:41 pm A video of a group of people who are attacking a bus, has been shared by a user named Jitender Pratap, with a message, “This happened in france when police entered in one Muslim area. Open eyes all Indian now.” It is suggested that the scene depicts a Muslim mob attacking the police in France. It may be noted that Pratap is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter. This happened in france when police entered in one Muslim area. Open eyes all Indian now. pic.twitter.com/ILq3kq2o7n — 🇮🇳 Chowkidar Jitendra pratap singh🇮🇳 (@jpsin1) April 28, 2019 Many other individuals on Facebook and Twitter have shared the video with an identical narrative. It is also viral on both with the Hindi text, “फ्रांस में जब पुलिस एक मुस्लिम बहुल इलाके में प्रवेश किया तो शांतिदूतो ने पुलिस का ऐसे वैलकम किया करोड़ों (कानूनी और अवैध) शरणार्थियों का स्वागत करने वाले पुरे यूरोप को इसी तरह की स्थितियों का सामना करना पड़ रहा हैये जाहिल इंसान के भेष में छूपे खुंखार भेड़िये है”. It’s also circulating on WhatsApp, with the same claim. A Twitter user, @Timido762, posted the video with a message which reiterated the same claim in Spanish. (En Francia hoy en un barrio musulmán a policías…esto no sale en la Sexta…..cuando las barbas de tu vecino veas.) En Francia hoy en un barrio musulmán a policías…esto no sale en la Sexta…..cuando las barbas de tu vecino veas…. pic.twitter.com/rbwkp8LnWC — Timido76 (@Timido762) April 22, 2019 Agence France-Presse had earlier debunked this video and found that it is related to a protest, which took place last month, in Algeria. We found another video of the same incident that had occurred in March, 2019 at Algiers, the capital of Algeria. Cashbah Tribune, a Facebook page, had posted this video on March 8, saying, “An aspect of the violence against the police this Friday March 8, 2019, Karim Belkacem Street # Algeria (Google translated)”. En vidéo ↪️ Exemple de violences commises contre la police ce vendredi 8 mars 2019, rue Krim Belkacem à #Alger ↩️بالفيديو : جانب من أعمال العنف التي مورست ضد الشرطة هذه الجمعة 8 مارس 2019، شارع كريم بلقاسم #الجزائر Posted by Casbah Tribune on Friday, 8 March 2019 March, 2019 saw a general strike by Algerians against the fifth term of the ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. These protests were broadly carried out peacefully across the country until the beginning of April when the demonstrations turned violent. Bouteflika finally resigned earlier this month. until the president finally resigned at the beginning of April, 2019. Earlier, the video was viral on Twitter with a false narrative that police was attacked by a Muslim mob in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, clashes did occur on April 15 in Copenhagen, which was later followed by the arrest of 23 people. In conclusion, a video of protesters attacking a police bus in Algeria was falsely shared as that of a ‘Muslim mob’ attacking the police in France. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th April 2019 / 9:41 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/anti-govt-protests-in-algeria-viral-in-india-as-muslim-mob-attacking-police-in-france/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
285	April round up: Misinformation about Kathua rape floods social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 2nd May 2018 / 8:38 pm The month of April saw a flurry of fake news with regard to the Kathua rape and murder case and the Bharat bandh protests on April 2, apart from missteps by mainstream media organisations and attempts by elements on social media to further communal polarisation through provocative messages and photographs. 1. Dainik Jagran’s front page splash contradicts post-mortem report of Kathua victim No rape of the girl in Kathua, postmortem report only talks of injuries” screamed the front page of the Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran on April 20. The article claimed that the post-mortem report of the Kathua incident made no mention of rape. It stated that there could be other reasons for the injuries that the victim suffered. The article was on the front page of Dainik Jagran editions in New Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Amritsar, Aligarh, Kathua and Jammu among others. Nai Dunia, which is a part of the Dainik Jagran group also published this article. Alt News had contacted Dr. Jaydip Sarkar who is a forensic expert. He confirmed that the findings of the post-mortem report suggest: 1. The injuries described in the report appear to be consistent with non-consenting/forcible act in the sexual region of the victim. 2. Post-mortem information must be seen in the context of all other facts of the case (abduction, drugging of victim, homicide, confessions of accused etc.) 3. The information available based on the two post-mortem sheets suggest on balance of probability that sexual assault has taken place This claim was negated by the J&K police. In a tweet, the police clarified that it had been confirmed that the victim had been subjected to sexual assault. 2. ShankhNaad spreads fake news about elderly woman attacked by muslims in Kerala “Shocking: Elderly Hindu woman brutally attacked, idol and temple desecrated by Muslims in secular Kerala. Why is Bollywood silent? #*** #islam”. Serial communal rabble-rouser, Shankhnaad once again tried to polarize communities and target Kerala by spreading communally sensitive news on social media. In a second tweet he wrote “Jihadi attack on Hindus, Temple vandalism continue in Kerala during protest for ***. Worse fate awaits if Hindus continue with their ignorance and one-way secularism”. The image circulated by these handles is a six-month old image that was shared by a Bangladeshi Facebook page called Suptodisha in October 2017. According to the following Facebook post, the incident happened in Chittagong district in Bangladesh. The Bengali text accompanying the Facebook post can be translated as follows: “This woman is Panchabala Karmakar, resident of Jaldhi village, under Banskhali Police Station of Chittagong district. This poor and helpless woman was beaten up badly in a pre-planned attack by his influential neighbour Pradip Ghosh and his son Biswajit. Her situation is now precarious. There is now no one to take care of her or treat her. Kindly share this.” 3. Viral video claims one ‘Mohammed Ilyas’ arrested for Kathua incident A video was circulated widely on social media, in which a person is seen handcuffed and escorted by policemen. The message along with this video claimed that a person called Mohammed Ilyas has been arrested and is one of the accused in the rape and murder of the 8-year old girl in Kathua, Jammu in January. Alt News analysed the video and found that the video is from Hanuman ganj area of Bhopal. The incident took place on April 5, 2018 when a man accused of raping a 13-year old girl was escorted by policemen to be taken to court. 4. Times Now breaks fake news of Nirav Modi’s arrest On the evening of April 9, 2018, Times Now broke a story. The story was that Nirav Modi, accused in the Rs.11000 crore PNB scam has been arrested in Hong Kong. Apart from Times Now, regional news channel VTV Gujarati also reported that Modi has been arrested in Hong Kong. It was also reported by news channel TV9 Telugu. Curiously, Times Now did not return to this ‘big breaking news’. Moreover, 3 hours after Times Now ‘broke’ this news, not a single National Channel has announced Nirav Modi’s arrest. This is because the news that Times Now flashed on Nirav Modi was fake. 5. Slip up by New Indian Express about Jignesh Mewani’s image on laptops seized in Karnataka On April 10, 2018, The New Indian Express in its Bengaluru edition reported that youth leader and MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani has been booked by Karnataka police for violating the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the assembly election in the state. The write-up which was published on page 7 of the newspaper reported that 160 laptops had been seized by Election Commission authorities, and that these laptops had pictures of Jignesh Mevani on it. The laptops in question were seized on March 31, and they did not carry Jignesh Mevani’s image as reported by The New Indian Express, nor was he booked by the police in this particular case. The newspaper later regretted the error. 6. One video, two false narratives A video was shared widely on social media in which policemen are seen clashing with a group of devotees. The interesting bit is that this video was being circulated with two different claims. According to one claim, the police is of West Bengal and they are assaulting ISKCON sanyasis and preventing them from distributing literature related to Hinduism. According to the other, Krishna devotees are being attacked by Christians in collusion with the police in Goa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPgdF10CI1A The video in question is old; the incident took place in Goa in 2008 and the clash was between the police and Russian members of a religious sect after the latter reportedly created a ruckus leading to complaints by locals. 7. Fake news about involvement of ABVP member in Surat rape case In the aftermath of the rape and murder of a young girl in Surat in April, social media was abuzz with the claim that an ABVP worker is the culprit in the case. A website called www.dailygraph.in was one of the first to post this information on April 14. This article mentioned one Harish Thakur as responsible for the rape and murder. The article was later edited and this detail was removed. This claim that the rape and murder was the handiwork of an ABVP activist named Harish Thakur is false. This was confirmed by Surat police in a reply to a tweet by a user named Irfan Anjum who was among those who made this claim. Anjum has also been booked along with two others under Section 505(1) of the IPC for spreading rumours on social media. 8. ‘Fact checking website’ promoted by Union Ministers paints false picture about crime in Karnataka “What’s the State of Law & Order in Mr Siddaramaiah’s Karnataka?” asked the headline of the article by The True Picture, the website that was enthusiastically shared by Union ministers on social media. The article claimed that “Karnataka has a higher incidence of crimes committed against SCs than its neighboring states, which is a clear reflection of its safety record when it comes to Dalits and other marginalised sections of society”. Alt News busted this claim by The True Picture, showing how the data from the NCRB records was cherry picked to arrive at a preset conclusion. The article by the so called fact checker randomly selected six states for comparison in order to show Karnataka in poor light, and relied on absolute number of cases of crime against SC/STs instead of comparing the crime rate which takes into consideration factors such as differences in population between states. 9. Fake news peddlers milk public anger on Kathua incident, post misleading videos The Kathua incident which led to an outpouring of anger on the streets as well as on social media was a trigger for certain elements to post misleading videos and fake claims with regard to the incident. A video of a funeral procession was circulated on social media with the claim that it was the funeral procession of the victim of the Kathua incident. Another video that was posted showed a young girl reciting a poem. It was claimed that this young girl was the Kathua rape and murder victim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huk2f23d1BU Both the claims turned out to be false. The two videos were of some other incident/event and had been misrepresented. Thousands of social media users fell for these claims. 10. Politics over cash crunch in ATMs, fake news of cash seized With ATMs across the country facing a cash crunch in April, supporters of political parties spread fake news, blaming the other for the cash crunch in ATMs. Photographs were shared of huge amount of currency notes that were seized in raids. A video of currency found during a raid was shared as that of a raid on the house of Congress minister from Karnataka D K Shivkumar. Another image of currency notes was shared along with a photo of a man surrounded by policemen, with the claim that he was arrested by Karnataka police and that he was a BJP worker. Both the claims were fake. In the first instance, the video was of an Income Tax raid on T&T law firm in Delhi founded by Rohit Tandon that took place in Delhi in November 2016, whereas in the second instance, two unrelated images were put together and the claim that the arrested person was a BJP worker had no basis as investigation is still on. 11. Fake news over Bharat bandh called by Dalit groups on April 2 Dalit groups had declared Bharat bandh on April 2 to protest dilution of provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by a Supreme Court verdict. The sporadic violence that occurred on the day of the bandh was used by rumour mongers to spread fake news on social media. In one instance, it was claimed, along with a set of pictures, that a sub-inspector was brutally beaten to death by a Dalit protester. Another post that was viral on social media showed a Sikh gentleman standing next to his charred truck with the claim that it was set ablaze by Dalit protesters during Bharat bandh. In the first case, Alt News found out that these pictures are of June 2017 and they were taken in Uttar Pradesh. According to a report by Daily Mail, a teenage school girl was raped during treatment at the Jagruti hospital in Kanpur, U.P. The crowd that had gathered to protest turned violent, indulging in destruction of property and even assaulted the police officer on duty at the hospital. As for the cop who had died on duty, it was found that sub-inspector Mahendra Chaudhray was on duty during Bharat bandh on April 3 when he had a heart attack. He was being treated at a hospital in Jodhpur but with no improvement in his condition, he was referred to a hospital in Ahmedabad. He succumbed on the way. In the second case, the incident had occurred during the Jat agitation for reservation that had rocked Haryana in February 2016. This particular photograph was carried by the Indian Express in an article dated April 26, 2016. 12. Journalist Rana Ayyub trolled over fake quote by parody account “Minor child rapists are also human, do they have no human rights. This Hindutva Government is bringing ordinance for death to child rapists just to hang muslims in larger numbers. Muslims aren’t safe in India anymore”. This quote was ascribed to journalist Rana Ayyub. A tweet with this quote was posted by an account @repubIicTv. The tweet and the account were later deleted. The tweet was from the parody account of Republic TV, whose original Twitter handle is @Republic. Original accounts are distinguished by a blue tick. Ayyub herself in a Facebook post clarified that she had not made any such statement and that it was from a spoof account of the news channel. 13. Old, unrelated photo of mob assault in West Bengal shared as attack on Hindu women A photograph with disturbing visuals accompanied by provocative text was circulating on social media. According to the post, the Mamata Banerjee led TMC in West Bengal is persecuting the Hindu community in the state. The text along with the picture said, “In West Bengal, TMC’s muslim politicians stripped our Hindu sisters and daughters naked and beat them mercilessly. Hindu girls were humiliated and their honour was publicly sullied. Slogans of Hindu Murdabad were chanted. Friends, please share this. What Hindus in Bengal are facing today, Hindus in the rest of India will face tomorrow” (translated). कट्टर हिन्दू इस पोस्ट को ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर एवं इस पेज को लाइक करें Posted by राम लला हम आएंगे मंदिर वही बनाएंगे on Saturday, March 31, 2018 The claim that this brutality is the handiwork of Muslim political leaders of TMC is false. While the photograph is from West Bengal, it has nothing to do with the current tension in the state. In fact, it has nothing to do with religious communities. The photo was taken in 2014 and the incident had occurred near the village of Kaliabazar in West Bengal. A local ‘tantrik’ and two other men were thrashed by angry villagers after they were suspected of having raped and murdered a seven-year old girl. (Photo Credit: Featured image by Newslaundry) Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd May 2018 / 8:38 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/april-round-up-misinformation-about-kathua-rape-floods-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
286	April 2019: Political misinformation dominates social media propaganda in poll season - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 15th May 2019 / 4:29 pm / Last updated: 15th May 2019 April was characterized by a flurry of political activity on social media. With the Lok Sabha election underway, supporters of prominent political parties took potshots at each other, often resorting to misinformation in the process. Political parties and their leaders too were not immune from furthering the spread of misinformation. A purported newspaper clipping of popular Bengali daily বর্তমান (Bartaman) was shared on social media with its headline reading, “৪২টা আসন দিন হিন্দু কীভাবে কাঁদা তে হয় দেখিয়ে দেব: মমতা (Give me 42 seats & I’ll show you how to make the Hindus cry: Mamata)” The image had also circulated on WhatsApp. Alt News found that the image was photoshopped. A careful glance at the clipping was sufficient to reveal that the image has been morphed. The font, size and colour of the words “হিন্দু (Hindu)” and “কাঁদা তে (cry)” do not match the words in the rest of the sentence. They are not in perfect alignment, are larger than the other words and are in a deeper shade of black. Moreover, some words were replaced from the original image. A man points at magnificent European architecture and claims that Congress president Rahul Gandhi owns the lavish property. “He has looted India and bought these buildings in Italy,” the man says in Gujarati. This video was circulated widely on social media. The over one-minute clip shows a man cautioning people against Rahul Gandhi who has bought three extravagant buildings in Italy with India’s money and gets paid in hefty rent. इटली से आयी पप्पु की सच्चाई देखो ओर दूसरो को भी दिखाओ ……. Posted by Mera Bharat Mahan on Saturday, April 27, 2019 The claim was not only false but ludicrous. The buildings showcased in the video are a part of a city square – Piazza Castello – in Turin, Italy. The square-shaped landmark houses museums, theatres and palaces, including the Royal Palace of Turinbuilt in the 16th century. Several of the architectural complexes are world heritage sites protected by the UNESCO. Alt News’ fact-check can be read here. “What kind of language is this Mr. PM? Does it beholds the Prime Minister of the country to use profanity and that too publicly? Shocking beyond belief !! Have some respect for the chair, if nothing else.” The above message was tweeted by Gaurav Pandhi, along with a video which has been superimposed with the words ‘Modi said BC at a rally’. Pandhi is associated with the Congress party. The video was shared widely not only on social media platforms but also on WhatsApp, with the narrative that the Prime Minister had used profane language. What kind of language is this Mr. PM? Does it beholds the Prime Minister of the country to use profanity and that too publicly? Shocking beyond belief !! Have some respect for the chair, if nothing else. 😡 pic.twitter.com/tVrHVbSlek — Gaurav Pandhi गौरव पांधी (@GauravPandhi) April 21, 2019 The assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi uttered the word ‘bh****’ at the rally, is false. PM Modi had used the words ‘thavan(i) chhe’, which PM Modi can be heard uttering the second time in the video clip, has been wrongly interpreted as ‘bh**‘. ‘Thavan(i) chhe’ roughly translates to ‘Will happen/going to happen’. The classical usage is ‘thavani chhe’, but PM Modi says ‘thavan chhe’, which is colloquial usage. Repeatedly playing the word ‘thavan(i) chhe’, as was done in the video clip, creates the illusion that PM Modi said ‘bh****’. TMC supporter Garga Chatterjee tweeted photographs of a man dressed as Hanuman and said that he was “Jagannath Sarkar, BJP MP candidate from Ranaghat” in West Bengal (archive). The claim was circulated widely on Facebook and Twitter. The photographs viral on social media depicted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent rally in West Bengal’s Ranaghat constituency. Dilip Ghosh, president of the BJP WB unit, had shared the images on April 22 with the caption – “রানাঘাট লোকসভা কেন্দ্রে প্রার্থী জগন্নাথ সরকারকে নিয়ে রোড শো (Roadshow with Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency candidate Jagannath Sarkar).” Ghosh had uploaded several photographs, including the ones where a man dressed as Hanuman can be seen seated atop a jeep. Sarkar was NOT dressed as Hanuman. A tweet by Renuka Jain, who is followed by prime minister Narendra Modi, has gained traction not only on Twitter but also on Facebook (archive). In her tweet, Jain claimed that the Congress party had used the same elderly woman for all their photoshoots. “Congress pays her 5000 Rs. per photoshoot,” read her tweet. Congress pays her 5000 Rs. per photoshoot. pic.twitter.com/jhYEOArSqK — #RenukaJain Chowkidar 🇮🇳 (@RenukaJain6) April 22, 2019 The claim is false. All four women might seem alike because of their old age and white hair. A closer look, however, reveals apparent distinctions in physical features. Alt News juxtaposed photographs of the four women for a clearer view. The second woman was photographed with BJP’s K Surendran and the fourth, with Shashi Tharoor. The third elderly woman is the same who could be seen embracing Rahul Gandhi. On April 28, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar addressed an election rally in Ratia in the state. During his speech, the CM spoke about a purported video of Rahul Gandhi which was “too difficult to even talk about”. Khattar alleged that the Congress president “insulted the honour of our mothers and sisters”. He cited a video where he claimed Gandhi said that women in Uttar Pradesh can give birth to one child a week or 52 children a year. The video referred to by Manohar Lal Khattar was mischievously clipped. A 7-year-old speech of Rahul Gandhi in UP’s Phulpur was lifted, clipped and circulated on social media.In the original speech, Rahul Gandhi talks about Janani Suraksha Yojna under the National Rural Health Mission, where pregnant women get an incentive of Rs 1,400 for institutional delivery. In that context, the Congress president claimed that according to an RTI response, women with the same name were getting incentives every week due to corruption in the scheme. Alt News’ fact-check can be read here. “What are your thoughts?”, tweeted Divya Spandana, social media head of the Congress party, along with two photographs. The photograph on the left is that of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, whereas the one on the right is of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. What are your thoughts? pic.twitter.com/b8GcgKL2ih — Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) April 29, 2019 The same image had been circulated by detractors of Narendra Modi in 2018 as well. It was debunked by Alt News. A reverse image search on Google revealed that Hitler’s image used in the post is photoshopped. In the original image, he is not holding the child’s ears but resting his hands on her shoulders. An article in The Sun has published the original image which was apparently clicked to portray the Nazi leader as a “personal friend and guardian of the German youth”. “The impact of MODI TSUNAMI – Mamata Banerjee appeals everyone to vote for BJP!” – the official twitter handle of BJP Bengal declared in a tweet that the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Bannerji, appealed to vote for BJP in a rally. Accompanying the tweet was a short 18-second video in which her words – “BJP shorkar ke vote diye” – were played in a loop. The English translation of the statement is – “vote for BJP”. The impact of MODI TSUNAMI – @mamataofficial appeals everyone to vote for BJP! The first time she’s made any sense during this election campaign! Thanks a ton DIDI !! pic.twitter.com/Os6PxdF9GS — BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) April 23, 2019 It turns out that BJP Bengal had tweeted a doctored video, which was clipped and played in a loop to give a misleading impression. Mamata Banerjee addressed a rally in Khanakul, West Bengal on April 23. While ending her speech, Banerjee asked the people to vote out BJP, with a sarcastic tone to her words. Banerjee’s words “6 May aasche din, ekhane bhalo kore gonotontroye BJP Sarkar ke vote diye bhalo kore kobor din, bhalo kore kobor din, bhalo kore kobor din“, can be approximately translated as follows: “On May 6, cast your vote for BJP government and give them a proper burial, give them a proper burial, give them a proper burial”. The part where Banerjee says “bhalo kore kobor din“, which literally translates to “put them in the grave“, was clipped out by BJP Bengal. Instead, the part where Banerjee sarcastically says “vote for BJP” was retained and played in a loop. People of Delhi have understood that @INCIndia and @SheilaDikshit are merely vote-cutters. If you dont believe it then watch this 24 second video. After today’s #AAPkaManifesto, the 2-3% people who would have voted for Congress will now not. (translation). The above message has been tweeted by Ankit Lal, the social media in-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party, along with a short video clip showing former Delhi CM and senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit. The tweet referred to the Congress party as a vote katua, incapable of garnering the popular mandate in Delhi for the Lok Sabha election of 2019. दिल्ली के लोगों ने समझ लिया है कि @INCIndia और @SheilaDikshit सिर्फ़ वोटकटवा हैं। अगर यकीन नहीं आता तो ये 24 सेकंड का वीडियो देखिए। आज के #AAPkaManifesto के बाद जो 2-3% लोग कांग्रेस को वोट दे सकते थे, वो भी नहीं देंगे। pic.twitter.com/gDOsEgQMSZ — Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) April 25, 2019 The video which has been posted by Lal on his Twitter account was misleading. It is not a recent news report. It is from November 2013. NDTV had reported on the turnout at the Congress party’s rally in Ambedkar Nagar, ahead of the 2013 assembly election which took place in December that year. INC was the biggest loser in the election, plunging from 43 seats to 8. Celebrated boxer Vijender Singh, who recently joined the Congress party, tweeted a live video on April 24. Singh broadcast the video via his Twitter account, as he paid a visit to a mohalla clinic in Delhi. The mohalla clinic turns out to be locked, and Singh can be heard criticizing the AAP government. https://t.co/KdAOsWHvy6 — Vijender Singh (@boxervijender) April 24, 2019 The pugilist turned politician was probably unaware that the timing of the mohalla clinics is from 8 am to 2 pm. Singh reached the clinic at 2:40 pm and obviously found it locked. A photograph of Priyanka Gandhi wearing a cross necklace was shared widely on social media. Several pro-BJP Facebook pages posted an image, in which two photographs of Priyanka Gandhi were juxtaposed. In the photograph on the left, Mrs. Gandhi is seen wearing a cross. It has been claimed that the picture was taken in Kerala. In the image on the right, Mrs. Gandhi is sporting a rudraksha necklace. This photo was claimed to be from Uttar Pradesh. The attempt was to highlight the supposed hypocrisy and skullduggery of Priyanka Gandhi. The picture of Priyanka Gandhi wearing a cross, is photoshopped. Alt News had fact-checked the photograph and found that Mrs. Gandhi was actually wearing a pendant, which was replaced with a cross necklace through photoshop. The original photograph was from a rally in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. An image of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan interacting with the country’s army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa is being circulated on social media. Congress leaders Shatrughan Sinha and Navjot Singh Sidhu, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee and Congress president Rahul Gandhi can also be seen in the photograph, sitting in a corner. It was circulated with the caption – “ನೀವು ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಗೆ ಮತ ಹಾಕಿದರೆ ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನ ಕ್ಕೆ ಮತ ಹಾಕಿದ ಹಾಗೆ.ಚಿತ್ರ ನೋಡಿ ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನ ದ ಪರ ಗುಲಾಮರು ಮೂಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದಾರೆ,” which roughly translates to, “If you vote for Congress, you will be able to vote for Pakistan. Look at the picture, how are the slaves of Pakistan sitting in the corner.” Alt News found that the original photo, in which no Indian leader is seen, was digitally altered. The image was photoshopped by Twitter user @Atheist_Krishna who had posted it on April 5 with the caption – “बालाकोट में मारे गए आतंकवादियों के सबूत जुटाने पाकिस्तान पहुंचा विपक्ष। (Opposition reaches Pakistan to gather evidence for the death of terrorists in Balakot)” – which suggests that he took a sarcastic jibe at the opposition leaders. A photograph of movie stars Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone was posted by a page on Facebook. The photograph showed the two sporting saffron scarves on which ‘Vote for BJP N Modi’ is printed. The text accompanying the image read, ‘कमल का बटन दबाकर देश की तरक्की में भागीदार बनें’ (Press the lotus button, become a part of the nation’s progress- translated). As expected, the image was digitally manipulated. Alt News reverse searched the image on Google and found the real photograph, which was clicked on November 30, 2018. Singh and Padukone had visited the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, where the picture was clicked. It was carried by several media publications. “कांग्रेस के विधायक अनिल उपाध्याय भी हुए पीएम मोदी के मुरीद, बंधे तारीफों के पूल (Translated: Congress MLA, Anil Upadhyay also becomes a disciple / fan of Modi, lavishes praise on him)”. The ‘Breaking News’ headlines telecast on April 27th by Republic TV’s Hello Bharat programme, carried a video of a person praising PM Modi and saying that only the corrupt want him to lose. The anchors further explained what they called the ‘big news’ saying that not only the common citizens of the country but also PM Modi’s political opponents are full of praise for him. They introduced the person as Anil Upadhyay, a Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh. कांग्रेस के विधायक अनिल उपाध्याय भी हुए पीएम मोदी के मुरीद, बांधे तारीफों के पूल कांग्रेस के विधायक अनिल उपाध्याय भी हुए पीएम मोदी के मुरीद, बांधे तारीफों के पूल Posted by Republic Bharat on Friday, April 26, 2019 Republic TV had clearly misreported. This is because Alt News found that there is no Congress MLA by the name of Anil Upadhyay. The person in the video was identified by The Quint as Mohan (Munna) Pandey. Several videos of Pandey have been shared by twitter user, Tanmay Shankar (@Shanktan). In all these videos, he is seen as making a very spirited and emotional case for supporting PM Modi. Speaking to The Quint, Shankar confirmed that the person is Mohan Pandey and is known to him personally. In a debate broadcast by ABP News from Darbhanga in Bihar, the question of Smriti Irani’s degree once again come to the fore, when one person from the audience raised a question over her questionable educational qualifications. In response, the ABP News anchor moderating the debate said that Irani has a Master of Arts (MA) degree. The relevant portion of the discussion can be seen at 38:16 minutes in the video posted below. In response to a question raised by a member of the audience, ABP News anchor Rubika Liyaquat promptly responded, saying, “MA kiya hai sir correspondence se, MA kiya hua hai, MA kiya hua hai (She has done MA through correspondence, she has done MA, she has done MA- translation).” This is not true, as Irani’s poll affidavit for 2019 clearly mentions that she had not completed her three-year degree course. When you reach poling booth and find that your name is not in voter list, just show your Aadhar card or voter ID and ask for ” challenge vote” under section 49A and cast your vote. If you find that someone has already cast your vote, then ask for “tender vote” and cast your vote. If any polling booth records more than 14% tender votes, repolling will be conducted in such poling booth. Please share this very important message with maximum groups and friends as everyone should aware of their right to vote As India geared up for general elections, the above message was shared widely on social media and messaging platforms. Most of these claims are false. Alt News’ detailed fact-check can be read here. According to a message which was shared widely on Facebook and WhatsApp, a pre-election survey conducted by the British global news broadcaster BBC had concluded that the ruling BJP is all set to better its 2014 performance and storm to power. The message was a total fabrication. No such pre-election survey has been conducted by the BBC. In fact, the broadcaster does not conduct pre-election surveys at all for India. In a statement to Alt News, BBC spokesperson said, “This fake survey on the Lok Sabha polls has been circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook, with messages claiming it to be from BBC News. We’d like to make it absolutely clear that it is fake and does not come from the BBC. The BBC does not support pre-election surveys in India”. Political misinformation has spilled over into the month of May as expected, since the general election is scheduled over seven phases, ending on May 19. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th May 2019 / 4:29 pm / Last updated: 15th May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/april-round-up-political-misinformation-dominates-social-media-propaganda-in-poll-season/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
287	Video of pro-Palestine rally in Qatar viral as pro-Hamas rally held in Kerala's Wayanad - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 24th May 2021 / 4:00 pm A video of a pro-Palestine rally has been shared with the claim that the protest was held in Kerala, Wayanad, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s constituency. Twitter user @ByRakeshSimha claimed that the rally supported Hamas which is designated as a terror group by the United Nations, US and many European countries. (Archive link) This is not Gaza or Baghdad or Tehran. These pro Hamas jehadis supporting Palestine are in Kerala’s Waynad, Rahul Gandhi’s constituency. This is virtually a pro Hamas branch in India. pic.twitter.com/zfVRzunxg2 — Rakesh Thiyyan (@ByRakeshSimha) May 20, 2021 Several others on Twitter have made the same claim. यह #फिलिस्तीन या #पाकिस्तान नहीं है केरल के मल्लापुरम में हमास की कार्यालय का उद्घाटन हुआ। सोचिए यूनाइटेड नेशन और दुनिया के 160 से ज्यादा देशों ने #हमास को आतंकवादी संगठन घोषित किया हुआ है…!!#IndiaStandsWithIsrael #IStandWithIsrael pic.twitter.com/BdiZ1pQI4s — राजेश केसरी (@rajeshk9835455) May 19, 2021 The clip is massively widespread on Facebook. A user named Jayadeep Kotian posted the video and wrote, “Hamas branch in India.” Facebook page ‘We support BJP & RSS.‘ shared the clip with a caption in Hindi. Alt News received several requests to fact-check the video on its mobile application. People in the video are raising slogans in Malayalam. We performed a keyword search on Facebook taking this as a clue and came across a Facebook post by one Anees Manjeri who shared the same clip on May 16. He wrote in Malayalam that Malayalis in Qatar participated in a local rally held in support of Palestine. People are also seen holding the Palestinian flag in the video. Several media reports stated that on May 15, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip, met with Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. According to Qatari outlet The Peninsula, Haniyeh on Saturday addressed a solidarity rally near the Imam Muhammad ibn al-Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital, where thousands had gathered. We compared the building seen in the background of the viral video with an image of the Imam Muhammad ibn al-Wahhab Mosque on Google Maps. This confirmed that the viral video was taken during the May 15 rally in Qatar. Qatar Living, another local media platform, also tweeted a video from the same gathering. Thousands of people from different nationalities gathered yesterday in the Imam Muhammad bin Abdulwahhab Mosque square to express solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression. #Qatar #QatarLiving #savesheikhjarrah #palestine🇵🇸#قطر #فلسطين #غزة_تحت_القصف pic.twitter.com/v2r1CVb3C6 — Qatar Living (@qatarliving) May 16, 2021 Apart from this, several videos from the occasion were posted online, where the mosque is clearly visible. A gathering in Doha, Qatar held in solidarity with Palestine, in which citizens of Indian origin also participated and raised slogans in Malayalam, was shared with the false claim that the rally was held in Wayanad, Kerala. It is noteworthy that India at the UN reiterated its support for the “just Palestinians cause” on May 16 while calling for an immediate de-escalation of violence and condemning firing from the Gaza Strip targeting the civilian population of Israel. A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th May 2021 / 4:00 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/are-these-people-in-keralas-waynad-protesting-for-palestinians/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
288	Are 'TMC cadres' seen pelting stones at cops in video shared by BJP leaders after Nabanna march? - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder & Indradeep Bhattacharyya 19th September 2022 / 7:03 pm / Last updated: 19th September 2022 Violence erupted during Nabanna Abhijan, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s protest march to West Bengal state secretariat ‘Nabanna‘ on September 13 as police in various parts of Kolkata and the adjoining Howrah district tried to stop the march. The protest rally was launched at a time when a number of Trinamool Congress leaders, state ministers and government officials are facing probes by central agencies over allegations of corruption. In July end, Rs 50 crore in cash and jewellery was recovered from the apartment of a ‘close aide’ of former education and industries minister Partha Chatterjee accused in the School Service Commission scam. Parts of Kolkata and Howrah resembled a battlefield in the late afternoon of September 13 as the protesters clashed with police. The cops used water cannons and tear gas and resorted to lathi-charge as BJP leaders and members tried to break barricades put up by police. TV coverage of the march showed a police jeep engulfed in fire at Chittpore crossing in central Kolkata. A few metres from the spot, an assistant commissioner of Kolkata police, Debjit Chatterjee, was allegedly assaulted by BJP members carrying party flags, with rods and sticks. In the backdrop of this, a video of a group of people (one of them wearing a skullcap) pelting objects into the distance went viral on Twitter with the claim that Trinamool Congress party workers were pelting stones at police during the rally. Amit Malviya, in-charge of BJP’s national information & technology department, tweeted a 23-second clip from news channel Aaj Tak’s coverage of the rally, where the skull-capped man was circled out in red, and captioned it: “Mamata Banerjee sent TMC cadres to pelt stones at the police so that later BJP could be blamed for it…”. In the video, the reporter says, “Look at how the demonstrators are pelting stones. The police vehicle that you see on screen was torched by the demonstrators”. There is an apparent insinuation that the people seen on the screen are the ones who set the car on fire. (Archive) Mamata Banerjee sent TMC cadres to pelt stones at the police so that later BJP could be blamed for it… pic.twitter.com/SkUBecr042 — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 13, 2022 Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, national secretary of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, also tweeted this video with the same claim. (Archive) Mamata Banerjee sent TMC cadres to pelt stones at the police so that later BJP could be blamed for it… pic.twitter.com/DAuccQUM4G — Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) September 13, 2022 Debasree Chaudhuri, BJP leader and former union minister of state for women and child development, made the same claim while tweeting the clip. (Archive) Mamata Banerjee sent TMC cadres to pelt stones at the police so that later BJP could be blamed for it. #CholoNobanno pic.twitter.com/8qYvs2KiMq — Debasree Chaudhuri (@DebasreeBJP) September 13, 2022 Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj, national general secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha, did the same. (Archive) ⁦@MamataOfficial⁩ sent ⁦@AITCofficial⁩ TMC cadres to pelt stones at the police so that later ⁦@BJP4India⁩ could be blamed for it…#ShameOnTMC pic.twitter.com/ErhwJDAwM8 — Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj (@deeptirawatbjp) September 14, 2022 None of the above persons explained what made them identify the circled man as a Trinamool cadre. During India Today’s primetime show on September 13, host Rajdeep Sardesai asked Shehzad Poonawalla, BJP’s national spokesperson, who was responsible for the vandalism of public property. Referring to the skull-capped man in the viral clip, Poonawalla says “…if you look at it frame by frame, it doesn’t look like a BJP karyakarta at all. Look at who is pelting the stone”, insinuating that the people seen in the video were TMC workers. He further suggested that the Trinamool Congress sent its workers to vandalise and torch the police vehicle as well. (The conversation can be heard from the 0.35-minute mark onward in the following video.) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVDZ5anV_iA] News 18 India reported Amit Malviya’s allegations. At 8:40 in the video below, Amit Malviya’s allegations of TMC party workers inciting violence during the rally were aired. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuN1FMCVLLY?start=518] Amit Malviya’s allegations were also highlighted by Times Now while airing the viral clip. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0ZPIJh3pjE] Aaj Tak repeatedly aired the clip where the skull-capped man can be seen throwing something into the distance and dubbed it a “TMC vs BJP” war (4:48 in the video below), insinuating that the people seen in the video are TMC workers. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rvc0FjBD7Q?start=290] Alt News closely observed Republic Bangla’s live coverage of the Nabanna Abhijan rally. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HLHd3eZ3N8?start=114] In the beginning of a 17-minute clip uploaded by them on YouTube, a few men can be seen vandalising the police vehicle (PCR 10) using bricks, helmets and sticks while a man waves a BJP flag in front of it. For the convenience of the reader, Alt News has taken the liberty to add the relevant clips from live coverage of the incident wherever it was needed. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/751153336] At the 6:47-minute mark, the ground reporter standing right next to the police jeep can be heard saying, “The police vehicle has been set on fire by frenzied BJP workers and supporters”. Some other BJP workers tried to douse the fire at the same time, but in vain, he added. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/751154229] Then at 12:21 in the video, the ground reporters state that the crowd has gone berserk again. A few seconds later, the male reporter says that the local businessmen have started to retaliate against the BJP workers and they are throwing stones back at the BJP workers. At this point, the skull-capped man can be seen behind him at the 12:53-minute mark in the video. According to the Republic Bangla reporter, the local shop owners were trying to chase the BJP workers away in order to save their business establishments. [vimeo https://vimeo.com/751156236] Below we have compared stills from the viral video and Republic Bangla’s live coverage. At 13.35 in the video, the skull-capped man can be seen hurriedly shoving some gunny bags inside a shop right next to the burning police car (image below). At 13.58 the reporter says that paranoid shopkeepers are trying to save their stuff and putting them inside a shop. The man can still be seen on the screen. To find out what actually transpired on the day, Alt News went on the ground where the viral footage had been shot and spoke to locals. The police vehicle was set afire in front of a row of shops, barely 50 metres from the Mahatma Gandhi Road-Rabindra Sarani junction also known as Chittpore crossing. The Royal Indian Hotel, famous for its biriyani, is a few steps down the way. The man shown in the viral image is apparently throwing a stone towards the crossing through which the march was supposed to move westward. Alt News spoke to five shop owners, all of whom denied the presence of any TMC cadre on the day of the march. When the clip of the man in a skullcap throwing an object was shown to them, they first identified him as ‘a local guy’. On pressing further, they said he was a ‘local shop assistant’, but they refused to give further details about the man. The Republic Bangla coverage and the clip of him moving some gunny bags away from the spot of the fire into a shop lends credibility to this claim. Two of the local businessmen, Munna Bhai and Sheikh Shahjahan (pictures above), agreed to speak to Alt News on record. Shahjahan was among the local shop owners who rescued the injured ACP from the marauding protesters and took him inside Munna bhai’s footwear shop. “There were no TMC men in the area on that day. Our shutters were down, but we were in the vicinity. The BJP march was supposed to pass through the M G Road. But the protesters chased policemen and entered Rabindra Sarani. They targeted the cops who were easily outnumbered. When the jeep was set ablaze, we feared for our shops and gathered the courage to retaliate. It was us who pushed back the protesters,” Munna Bhai told Alt News. Looking at the viral footage of stone pelting, he identified the man as a local shop-keeper. This Times of India report corroborates Munna Bhai’s point that the protesters’ foray into the Rabindra Sarani was sudden and unplanned. Shahjahan said, “The jeep was torched at 2.56 pm. The police officer was attacked around 3.12. We panicked thinking that the fire may spread to our shops. Then we assembled here and shouted at the BJP protesters. That is when they stepped back.” When shown the footage separately, he said, “He is a local man. The stone he picked up was thrown by the protesters. A number of shop owners did the same (that is, picked up stones and hurled them back at the protesters) to save their business establishments,” he added, before narrating to these correspondents how they barely saved the police officer from getting killed. This report in The Indian Express corroborates Shahjahan’s point that BJP supporters threw stones at the cops. The live reportage of Republic Bangla and Alt News’s conversation with locals and eye witnesses contradict the claim made by several BJP leaders including Amit Malviya that Trinamool Congress cadres were seen pelting stones at cops. On the contrary, the people throwing stones were actually trying to chase away protesters who had set the PCR van on fire. This is not the first time Amit Malviya has put out false information through social media. Alt News has in the past debunked several of his misleading/false claims. Readers can find related reports here, here and here. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th September 2022 / 7:03 pm / Last updated: 19th September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/are-tmc-cadres-seen-pelting-stones-at-cops-in-video-shared-by-bjp-leaders-after-nabanna-march/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder & Indradeep Bhattacharyya" }
289	Are UPA-era oil bonds the reason for high fuel prices, as claimed by Finance Minister? - Alt News Archit 25th August 2021 / 4:38 pm On August 16, while responding to queries by the media on the ongoing issue of soaring fuel prices, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed, “UPA government had reduced fuel prices by issuing oil bonds of ₹1.44 lakh crore. I can’t go by the trickery that was played by the previous UPA government. Due to oil bonds, the burden has come to our government. We are bleeding to pay the oil bonds of ₹1.44 lakh crore of the UPA government.” She added, “We’ll still have to pay interest of ₹37,000 crore by 2026. Despite interest payments, a principal outstanding of over ₹1.30 lakh crore is still pending. If I didn’t have the burden of oil bonds, I would have been in a position to reduce excise duty on fuel.” The following media outlets carried Sitharaman’s statement on face value — Livemint, Free Press Journal, Zee News, News18, Zee Business, and Latestly. Most of these articles are based on the reports carried by ANI and PTI. BJP had made the same claim in 2018. What the economist PM Manmohan Singh said & did on petroleum prices? He said that money does not grow on trees & left unpaid bills of oil bonds worth Rs. 1.3 lakh crore. Modi govt paid off the pending bills with interest because ‘we should not burden our children’. #NationFirst pic.twitter.com/Z8zTV1kG1i — BJP (@BJP4India) September 10, 2018 While Nirmala Sitharaman blamed the interest paid on oil bonds issued during the UPA government for her inability to reduce excise duty on fuel, the math doesn’t add up. The earnings from the petroleum sector to the central government in 2021-22 (₹4.5 lakh crores) is significantly greater than the sum of the principal amount (₹1.44 lakh crore of oil bonds issued) and total interest (almost as much as the principle) on the principal amount. Since coming to power, the BJP government has paid back ₹3,500 crores of the principal amount and approximately ₹10,000 crores annual as interest as of August 22, 2021. Before we get into why oil bonds were issued, what are oil bonds, assessment of their impact on current fuel, it is important to understand the impact of inflation of fuel prices on the economy. IMPACT OF INFLATED FUEL PRICES India’s demand for fuel is largely met via import. Thus, the impact of the increase in global fuel prices is on India’s trade deficit. However, an increase in domestic fuel prices has both seen and unseen effects because it impacts retail prices of all other commodities manufactured using crude. For instance, vegetable prices shoot up because of the increased cost of transportation. In July, Alt News reported that approximately 33% of fuel’s retail price per litre goes to the central government as excise duty. In June, ICRA Limited, professional investment information and credit rating agency, said that the union government has room to cut the cess it levies on petrol and diesel by ₹4.5 per litre without losing revenues, to ease inflationary pressure. WHY WERE OIL BONDS ISSUED? Global crude oil prices prior to 2014 (during the UPA government) were significantly higher as compared to prices under the BJP government. Yet, the fuel prices under UPA were cheaper than current prices. How did UPA achieve that? Finshots, a finance newsletter platform co-founded by IIM Ahmedabad alumni Bhabu Harish Gurram, explains, “Back in 2005, the UPA government had a massive problem on its hands. They were trying to fix the price of oil in a bid to make fuel more accessible to the general public. They subsidized the price of oil by setting aside a portion of their budget [known as under-recoveries]. And to their credit [in form of oil bonds], they continued to do this until they realized they could do this no more.” It is pertinent to note that in 2006 the Committee on Pricing and Taxation of Petroleum Products stated, “The practice of issuing oil bonds is strictly inadvisable as it does not resolve the problem; it only postpones the resolution while compounding the economic and financial costs.” In an interview with The Hindu, then (2012) chairman of Indian Oil Corporation RS Butola explained, “It [under-recovery] is a real loss of revenue. Under-recovery is the difference between the procurement price of products and their selling prices. While the procurement prices, which are import-parity based, change in line with international prices, the selling prices of sensitive products are controlled by the government. The difference between the two gives rise to under-recoveries.” Three years ago Moneycontrol explained, “In the aftermath of the recession, oil manufacturing companies (OMCs) were facing large under-recoveries. This presented the government with the dilemma of ensuring the financial stability of OMCs, many of which are government-owned while taking into account the political repercussions of allowing fuel prices to rise. Oil bonds were chosen as the vehicle to dampen the pressure on OMCs while keeping prices in check.” WHAT ARE OIL BONDS? Oil Bonds, like all bonds, are essentially a form of a loan. Investopedia explains, “A bond is a fixed income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower (typically corporate or governmental). Governments (at all levels) and corporations commonly use bonds in order to borrow money.” UPA issued them in order to meet the above-mentioned under-recoveries. Due to the low risk of bonds, they can be sold in the market. In July, it was reported that two OMCs who were issued these bonds sold them. Ever since the 2011-12 budget, oil bonds have been featured distinctly in a dedicated section under the Receipts Budget section. As per the said budget, the amount of ₹1.44 lakh crores was to be paid in instalment over a period of 14 years along with interest. The maturity period of each instalment was pre-determined. Bloomberg Quint (BQ) calculated the interest amount and it turns out that the BJP government has paid approximately ₹10,000 crores as interest on oil bonds each year from 2014 to 2021: that’s roughly ₹70,000 crores. The readers should note that the interest amount has been rounded off by BQ. In addition to the annual interest on the principal amount of oil bonds (1.44 lakh crores), the BJP government has paid ₹3,500 (₹1,750 x 2) crores of the principal amount in 2015. By 2024, the BJP government would have paid ₹73,456.33 (orange highlight) crores of the principal amount including ₹10,000 (₹5,000 x 2) crores later in 2021. ARE FUEL PRICES HIGH BECAUSE OF OIL BONDS? However, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s claim, “If I didn’t have the burden of oil bonds, I would have been in a position to reduce excise duty on fuel,” doesn’t hold merit because earnings (highlighted in red) from the petroleum sector to the central government is significantly higher than interest on oil bonds and total principal due until 2024. In the 2020-21 financial year, the Central government earned over ₹4.5 lakh crores from the petroleum sector. That’s over 3 times [1.443=4.32] the total cost of oil bonds issued by UPA. Similarly, in the same year, the annual interest on oil bonds constitutes about 2.2% of the revenue from petroleum in 2020-21. [₹9,990/₹4,53,812100]. Several media outlets, journalists, and social media users, including former finance minister P. Chidambaram, have called out the misleading claim. The FM’s statement that servicing oil bonds stands in the way of giving relief on petrol and diesel prices is astonishing. At best the statement is incredible ignorance; at the worst it is motivated malignity. — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 17, 2021 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Several social media users have shared a purported break-up of fuel prices that claims state… On February 26, Uttar-Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted in Hindi, “Despite the global economic… After the fifth increase in LPG refill prices since December 2020, except for a meagre… On August 22, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) tweeted an infographic listing the projected Gross… Did the Modi government clandestinely transfer over 200 tonnes of gold overseas, from the Reserve…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th August 2021 / 4:38 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/are-upa-era-oil-bonds-the-reason-for-high-fuel-prices-as-claimed-by-finance-minister/", "author": "Archit" }
290	Are Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Sunny Deol joining the BJP? - Alt News Jignesh Patel 2nd February 2019 / 3:50 am / Last updated: 2nd February 2019 A Facebook page I Support Modi with a massive follower base of 18 lakh posted an image of cricketing stars Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol. All the celebrities in the photograph are seen wearing either a saffron scarf or saffron-coloured clothes. The text inscribed in the image said, “Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunny Deol and Gautam Gambhir with BJP (translation).” It claimed that these celebrities are now with the BJP. The post has been shared more than 9,300 times since it was posted on January 31, 2019. Political parties fielding celebrities from Bollywood and cricket to encash on their popularity in elections has been a fairly common phenomenon in Indian politics. With celebrities having openly supported particular parties in the past as well, pictures of certain celebrities in caps or scarves representing a political party during the election campaign is quite usual. Alt News found that none of these celebrities has made public announcements about joining politics. Although, Gautam Gambhir and Sunny Deol have indeed campaigned for the BJP in the past. Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli’s image has been photo-shopped with a saffron coloured scarf and cap to suggest that he has supported the party. We found that Virat Kohli and actress Anushka Sharma visited the PMO to invite PM Modi to their wedding. This photograph pertains to this visit in 2017. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that a sportsperson in his prime would join full-time politics. #WATCH Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma met PM Narendra Modi today to extend wedding reception invitation. pic.twitter.com/JZBrVLlkEJ — ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2017 The photograph is of a visit to the Siddhivinayak temple on Tendulkar’s 42nd birthday when he had donned an orange kurta. The post has used an unrelated three-year-old picture clicked in 2015. Speaking to BOOM, sources close to Tendulkar have denied the claim of him joining BJP or any other political party. In 2014, Sunny Deol had campaigned for then BJP candidate Satyapal Singh from Baghpat constituency of Uttar Pradesh. Photo credit: One India If reports are to be believed, Deol may contest for the Gurdaspur constituency in the next Lok Sabha elections. An article published by The New Indian Express on September 16, 2018 stated, “Sunny Deol is also among the probables for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seats, which the BJP ceded to the Congress in the bypoll after the demise of Vinod Khanna”. Although, it may be noted that the actor has in the recent past categorically denied standing for election. Not standing for any #Elections … for now busy with my son #KaranDeol‘s launch film #PalPalDilKePaas — Sunny Deol (@iamsunnydeol) January 24, 2017 Gambhir’s photograph is related to one of the road shows, where he was seen campaigning for Arun Jaitley in Amritsar during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Like Deol, Gautam Gambhir has also rubbished speculative media reports about his entry into politics. “There are rumours which I have heard as well, probably the reason is maybe I take up social issues as well… For me Twitter was always a platform which is very, very important and where I take up social issues”, said Gambhir speaking to the media about the rumours. In conclusion, the claim about these celebrities joining the Bharatiya Janata Party is fake. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd February 2019 / 3:50 am / Last updated: 2nd February 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/are-virat-kohli-sachin-tendulkar-gautam-gambhir-and-sunny-deol-joining-the-bjp/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
291	An army of fake profiles attempt to discredit Narmada Bachao Andolan and Medha by impersonating the ousted people - Alt News Sam Jawed 9th August 2017 / 12:53 am / Last updated: 9th August 2017 “I’ll never be able to forget my house, the place I grew up. But I understand how important Sardar Sarovar Dam is for development of 3 states.” When you first read this tweet it may seem like an emotional appeal from someone who lost his home to the Narmada dam project and is yet supportive of it in view of a larger objective. But then the second tweet saying, “Since we had to lose our houses on opening of gates of Sardar Sarovar Dam, chief minister @ChouhanShivraj ensured we got best facilities” makes you wonder is there is anything fishy out here. By the time you read the third tweet, saying, “It is not easy to leave behind everything, but when you have a thoughtful CM @ChouhanShivraj, you can put your apprehensions behind,” you are sure about it. Identical words have been tweeted close to 300 times by different twitter handles at the time of writing this article. The adulation for the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh doesn’t stop there. Scores of accounts also tweeted, “Chief Minister @ChouhanShivraj‘s concern for our rehabilitation proves how he lives by the title ‘Mama’. I am grateful to him” If these twitter handles are to be believed, they have lost everything but thanks to Shivraj Chouhan, they are so delighted that they have decided to share their feelings on social media. And all of them have the same script to say. Another one goes, “Mamaji @ChouhanShivraj‘s effort in providing every facility to people like us, who left our homes behind on banks of Narmada is appreciable” Daniel Bhardwaj, Arjit Fernandes, Arindam Sengupta, Ishita, Jasmin, Parveen Khan and dozens of other such profiles who have supposedly lost their homes, also switch to chaste Hindi with complete ease, even if it means repeating the same grammatical mistake. विस्थापितों की देखभाल प्रशासन भली-भाँति कर है। यह संभव हो पाया है हमारे मुख्यमंत्री @chouhanshivraj जी के अथक प्रयासों से। They also don’t miss an opportunity to take an identical collective dig at Congress भड़काऊ कांग्रेसी मेधा की शहादत में जुटे हैं और सीएम उनकी सेहत को लेकर चिंतित हैं। आँखे खोलिए मेधाजी कि कांग्रेसियों का असल चरित्र क्या है. And yet another set of identical tweets attacking Medha Patkar. There are many interesting patterns in these tweets. Other than being identical tweets, each handle has also tweeted the the same tweet multiple times. If you look at these accounts a little more closely, you realize that they tweet nothing other than praises for Shivraj Chouhan. There is clearly a network of fake profiles at work here. We don’t know if it is the Madhya Pradesh IT cell or someone contracted by them. We have seen such organized effort earlier in Rajasthan as well. It is common to see fake profiles or paid social media influencers being used to promote a policy or create a buzz around a product. This however takes it a step further as the fake profiles are impersonating those who have lost their homes. Such a desperate attempt not only mocks the ousted people and their circumstances but also raises serious questions about the credibility of those who came up with the idea of impersonation as a means of countering the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th August 2017 / 12:53 am / Last updated: 9th August 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/army-fake-profiles-attempt-discredit-narmada-bachao-andolan-medha-impersonating-ousted-people/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
292	Army of fake Twitter profiles defend Vasundhara Raje and Rajasthan Govt over lynching of Zafar Khan - Alt News Alt News Desk 19th June 2017 / 3:42 pm / Last updated: 22nd June 2017 When Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan broke her silence over the lynching of Zafar Khan by municipality workers, her choice of words was met with shocked outrage on Twitter. Her tweet, “the demise of Zafar Khan ji in Pratapgarh is extremely unfortunate. Investigation is on, justice shall prevail” was seen by many as a refusal to openly acknowledge the circumstances that led to Khan’s death. The investigation into the incident is still ongoing and in this situation, it is tricky for the Chief Minister to word her tweet but Newspaper reports tell us that 44 year old Zafar Khan was beaten up by municipality workers for objecting to them clicking photographs of women defecating in the open which reportedly led to this death. The demise of Zafar Khan ji in Pratapgarh is extremely unfortunate. Investigation is on – justice shall prevail. https://t.co/1V9DmV26KY — Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) June 18, 2017 As many outraged about Raje’s tweet, they noticed that a loyal social media army had emerged to defend her. A certain Aashif Khan and Juned Khan were very vocal in their defense of the Rajasthan government. They responded to every person criticizing Raje’s tweet explaining that the cause of death was a heart attack, it was unfortunate, an enquiry is on, you cannot blame the government for what happened, Vasundhara government is the best, and so on They were soon joined by many others like Ganga Singh, who tweeted the same message in English Juned Khan later changed his narrative to say it was a fight between two groups. Twitter user @yehlog was first to point out the pattern in the tweets and alert to the possibility of fake accounts operating here. Juned Khan turned out to have lifted the photograph of a Sandeep Biswas, a faculty member at the Central University of Jharkhand. Soon @yehlog was joined by another twitter user, @singhdds who found that Aashif Khan was using the picture of a Sandeep Amar, a vice president at an IT company. Ganga Singh turned out be using the picture of a Telugu actress. Many people use pictures of actors and leaders but a quick look at the profile revealed that it was created with the purpose of tweeting in favour of the Rajasthan government. It had one follower and every tweet since the account was created one year ago seemed to have only one purpose, to be a cheerleader for the Rajasthan government and defend its every action. Between the two, @yehlog and @singhdds uncovered many fake profiles who were tweeting identical messages in support of Rajasthan government. Another one, Aarti Gupta was using a picture of Amina Ahmed from Pakistan Diksha Mishra was caught impersonating @niti_taylor. @niti_taylor See, who is using your picture? pic.twitter.com/GWbcwkKaKA — Touchstone (@singhdds) June 18, 2017 Aarti Gupta, Juned Khan, Diksha Mishra and Aashif Khan, each one of these accounts were created in April 2014. As Prasanto noted, it was a field day for fake handles with Muslims names, Gujjar names and identical text in Hindi. Fake handles springing up today by the dozens! Muslims names, Gujjar names…identical text in Hindi. 1 follower… pic.twitter.com/B1AO7lfLOc — Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) June 18, 2017 The above is only a small selection of tweets from fake accounts. When fake profiles set out to defend a state government, they do more harm than good. They make a laughing stock of who they set out to defend. We don’t know whether this is the handiwork of an IT cell or a group of volunteers who have put these fake accounts to work. What we do know is that the strategy is not achieving its intended objective. It is however providing a good laugh to twitter users. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th June 2017 / 3:42 pm / Last updated: 22nd June 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/army-fake-twitter-profiles-defend-vasundhara-raje-rajasthan-govt-lynching-zafar-khan/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
293	Army Jawan's video alleging ill treatment by senior officers goes viral; 5 Jawans committed suicide in the last month - Alt News Pratik Sinha 7th March 2017 / 5:44 pm / Last updated: 7th March 2017 An Army Jawan, Sindhav Jogidas, from Junagadh, Gujarat, has made a video alleging that Jawans are mistreated by certain senior officers with no action being taken against them. He alleges that even though Indian Army has one of the highest budgets in the world, Indian Jawans are often given sub-standard food. In the video, he shows papers which he apparently submitted to the Prime Minister’s office and Defence Minister’s office. He claims that not only no action was taken against the officers, action was initiated against him for this act of rebellion. The video can be seen below: Recently, Roy Mathews, a whistle blower jawan was found dead. A report in The Times of India said that 33-year-old Sahayak Roy Mathew’s decomposed body was found hanging from the ceiling of an abandoned barrack outside the unit lines in Devlavi Cantonment. Mathew had joined Indian Army some 13 years ago and was part of a sting video on the ‘Sahayak System’ which went viral on social media. In the video, Mathew had said that higher officials allegedly mistreated their ‘sahayaks’, and forced them to do petty jobs like polishing shoes, washing clothes and taking their pet dogs for walks. Besides the shocking suicide of Roy Mathews, there have been many other cases of suicides in recent times in the Army. A video of a BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav had also gone viral on social media alleging extremely poor food quality. A few days after the video had gone viral, his wife had alleged that Tej Bahadur had gone missing. Recently, another video of Tej Bahadur Yadav surfaced where in he claims how he has been mentally tortured for exposing corruption and how his phone is being tampered with to show that he has contacts with Pakistan. When will the country start outraging about so many Army Jawans committing suicide? Is their ‘use’ limited only to extracting political brownie points? Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th March 2017 / 5:44 pm / Last updated: 7th March 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/army-jawans-video-alleging-ill-treatment-senior-officers-goes-viral-5-suicides-jawans-last-month/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
294	Army PRO denies viral claim of troops, artillery deployed in Delhi to quash farmers' protest - Alt News Archit 11th December 2020 / 8:11 pm / Last updated: 12th December 2020 As the farmers’ protest enters the 16th day, thousands of more protestors have camped at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla (Delhi-Noida) border points. On December 5, Republic TV reported that Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, were deployed at Delhi-Noida border. On December 10, Business Insider reported that Gurugram plans to increase security as farmers’ plan to block Delhi-Jaipur Expressway. In the backdrop of this development, several short clips surfaced on social media where the man recording these videos suggests that the Indian army has been summoned in the capital to “address” the ongoing farmers’ protest. Twitter user @deepakvasisth (archived link) shared a different video of a similar incident. This video was shot at night and the military trucks are on an express highway, as per the man recording video who said the clip has been shot at Delhi-Ghaziabad toll gate. In the video, military trucks can be seen clearly. It was also uploaded by Twitter user @inspiratnworld (archived link). Abtu modi sarkar border se army delhi bola rahi hai Kisan andolan ko mitane, https://t.co/RJPYTZheS1 pic.twitter.com/8a99ixRdH5 — inspiration world (@inspiratnworld) December 10, 2020 A second video of the same military vehicles was also circulated online. It was uploaded by a Facebook user on December 10. In this video, the man claims that the Modi government is scheming to crush the farmers’ protest using the Indian army. (archived link) Delhi me army aa rahi he kisaano ke liye Posted by Lovedeen Khan on Thursday, 10 December 2020 On November 30, the Twitter account of UK-based Gurudwara Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall posted a clip of multiple military trucks in traffic and wrote, “We’re receiving reports of the Indian army being deployed in Delhi against the peaceful farmers. We will not allow another massacre and genocide in Delhi. The world is watching.” This video was viewed about 12,000 times. (archived link) We’re receiving reports of the Indian army being deployed in Delhi against the peaceful farmers. We will not allow another massacre and genocide in Delhi. The world is watching @TanDhesi @SCUKofficial @BBCNews @jazzyb @johnmcdonnellMP pic.twitter.com/3Jvy7wxHuK — Sri Guru Singh Sabha (@sgsssouthall) November 30, 2020 Another video was posted by a Twitter user where a man alluded the same in Punjabi. (archived link) Looking at the movement of the Army on the highway to Delhi our man has started shitting bricks….he thinks they’re going to take the Khalistani’s to task 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/6lBDSMtvUc — Eagle Eye (@SortedEagle) December 7, 2020 Alt News spoke with Col Aman Anand, Indian Army PRO, who informed, “The vehicles seen in the video belong to the Indian army. However, the claim that those vehicles or weapon systems are going to be placed at ongoing farmers’ protest is false.” Readers should note that there is no sign of military personnel in the videos. We can only see trucks, cargos and heavy artilleries in transit. This claim was the earlier fact-checked Fact Crescendo. Both Nitin Wakankar, DG, Media & Communications in Ministry of Home Affairs and A. Bharat Bhushan Babu, spokesperson of Ministry of Defence refuted the social media claim. There have been reports of Indian army deployed to control civilian protests in the past. However, visuals of the same would show soldiers on the ground, not heavy artiliery. The image below shows army personnel preparing for a flag march following protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill at Bokel, in Dibrugarh. Thus, in the backdrop of increased security at various state borders due to ongoing farmers protest, several social media users shared videos of Indian army trucks and artilery with the misleading claim that the army has been deployed to control the protests. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th December 2020 / 8:11 pm / Last updated: 12th December 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/army-pro-denies-viral-claim-of-troops-artillery-deployed-in-delhi-to-quash-farmers-protest/", "author": "Archit" }
295	Did Arnab Goswami bluff about his car being attacked during 2002 riots? - Alt News Pratik Sinha 20th September 2017 / 4:12 pm / Last updated: 20th September 2017 On the back of Amit Shah’s testimony in court in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case, an old video of Arnab Goswami resurfaced on social media in which he talks about his experience while he was in Gujarat covering the 2002 riots. In this video, he claims that the car in which he was traveling was attacked near then Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. The original video has been deleted hence we have re-uploaded the video. The rough transcript of the video is as follows: And we came out 50m from his residence and we were stopped. Suddenly our Ambassador car is stopped and there are people who are breaking the windows with trishuls. They are breaking the windows..all the windows are broken. It’s almost as if there are trishuls all around and I know this is very unsavory but I must share with you the reality of life as I have seen it. When that happens we are all going to reveal our religion. It is 50m from the Chief Minister’s house. How it happened, I don’t know. We said we are journalists .. (No, No.. what is your religion, what is your religion) And thankfully there was nobody from minority community with us…We had our identity cards, press cards, my driver didn’t have a press card, I looked at him, and I was sitting in the front, I have an obsession with sitting in the front seat and I looked to my right and I can see the look on my driver’s face. When people talk of secularism, I have seen hate from up close and I know that group of people would have killed him. He had a Tattoo, he put a ‘hey ram’ or something on his .. it is not a tattoo, it is just actually an imprint that you put which stays with you. He showed that and we walked out. But I saw for that moment how scared you.. However, soon after the video reappeared on social media, Rajdeep Sardesai in a series of tweets claimed that Arnab was misrepresenting facts. It was actually Rajdeep himself who was in the car and he had written about this in his book “2014: The Election That Changed India”. Wow! My friend Arnab claims his car attacked next to CM Res in Guj riots! Truth:he wasn't covering Ahmedabad riots!! https://t.co/xOe7zY8rCp — Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 19, 2017 Yes, incident which Arnab speaks of did happen. Only he wasn't there, some of us who actually were on ground zero were! (Read my 2014 book)😀 — Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 19, 2017 He also retweeted a couple of journalists who were in Ahmedabad with Rajdeep during this period with Sanjeev Singh being the NDTV Correspondent based out of Ahmedabad during this time period. Thank you Sanjeev. Since you were @ndtv correspondent in Ahmedabad at the time for setting the record straight also. https://t.co/Th4q7fOoWG — Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 19, 2017 Reconfirmed by another of our correspondents on the ground. Time to set the record straight and call out impostors. https://t.co/TKvaPKvuhx — Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 19, 2017 Alt News spoke to Sanjeev Singh and he told us that Rajdeep had gone to CM Modi’s place to get his views on the Godhra train burning incident and the ensuing riots on Feb 28th. Later they realised that the clip did not have any audio which meant that the interview had to be re-recorded. At this point, Rajdeep and the crew had to go back to CM Modi’s place. There were 5 people in the car including Rajdeep. When they left from CM’s residence after recording the interview, their car was gheraoed by a mob. Sanjeev Singh also told Alt news that Arnab Goswami came later and he was deputed to Kheda district in Gujarat. Alt News further spoke to one of the camera technicians who was in the crew that visited CM Modi’s place on that day. He confirmed that the sequence of events that were narrated by Arnab Goswami actually happened but Arnab was not present in the car. As a face saving measure, a Republic TV employee Prema Sridevi has put out a picture in which Arnab Goswami and Rajdeep Sardesai are seen in the same frame with the text, “The crew that covered 2002 Gujarat riots”. The crew that covered 2002 Gujarat riots pic.twitter.com/W5OEcxTZwm — Prema Sridevi (@premasridevi) September 20, 2017 However, Maya Mirchandani of NDTV confirmed that the picture was taken at a later date. This was taken over a week later, when Mr Goswami had gone to Kheda for 2 days. Doesn't change his lie! @sardesairajdeep @nalinmehta https://t.co/au1zQoBgUp — Maya Mirchandani (@maya206) September 20, 2017 given that I was around in the newsroom in Delhi, I can confirm this too. Mr Goswami was full of bombast, but from safety of Delhi. https://t.co/CqGfHpkVog — Maya Mirchandani (@maya206) September 20, 2017 It is shameful enough that Arnab Goswami passed off an incident that happened with someone else in a first person narrative but the backhanded attempts of putting out misleading pictures via a Republic Employee puts a further question mark on Arnab Goswami’s journalistic ethics. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th September 2017 / 4:12 pm / Last updated: 20th September 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arnab-goswami-bluff-car-attacked-2002-riots/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
296	Arnab Goswami misquotes Ambedkar, calls Mahatma Gandhi - "Mohanchand" Karamchand Gandhi - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 23rd August 2018 / 9:44 pm / Last updated: 23rd August 2018 In a familiar high-pitched hyperbolic monologue, another episode of Arnab Goswami’s Daily Newshour ‘The Debate’ wrapped up on August 22. The topic chosen for the hour-long debate was – “What’s wrong with chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai?” in the wake of former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah being heckled by a crowd in Srinagar two days after he chanted the slogan in Delhi. The show started with Goswami urging everybody to shout ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ended with a lecture on the Indian Constitution by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. In between, there were comical moments like Abdullah accidentally referring to Goswami as ‘pagal’ and hastily correcting his faux pas. However, the gaffes were not limited to Abdullah and this article is about the ones that Goswami made during the length of the show. These were originally pointed out by Shuddhabrata Sengupta, an artist, curator and writer with the Raqs Media Collective. While exposing so-called “pseudo-nationalists”, Arnab Goswami said that these are the people who have floated the false rhetoric of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ being an “RSS conspiracy”. Posing a question at Prof Visweswara Rao he asks, “Was Mohanchand Karamchand Gandhi a member of the RSS?” He can be heard making the statement from 35:03 to 35:11. Goswami’s intention was to portray Mahatma Gandhi’s nationalism by citing that he had inaugurated the Bharat Mata temple in Varanasi in 1936. However, while doing so, he mispronounced the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. “We don’t have to shout ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ to prove our patriotism,” said Prof Rao 40 minutes into the debate. Interjecting, as always, Goswami accused him of “appropriating Ambedkar”. “You, who dismissed ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ as jingoistic, what will you say to Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who you tried to appropriate at every leg and opportunity, when he wrote and I quote – The slogan Bharat Mata Ki Jai electrified the whole nation whereas if one were to raise the slogan as India Mata ki Jai, it would look fanciful and uninspiring,” shouted Goswami (from 40:00 to 40:24), concluding that Ambedkar supported the ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogan. As it turns out, the quote was actually not made by Dr B.R. Amdebakar. A basic Google search reveals that the lines Goswami attributed to Ambedkar are a part of a book written by Dr Raj Kumar, titled “Ambedkar and His Writings: A Look for the New Generation” and published in 2008. The book, which is the author’s study of Ambedkar’s work for the Depressed Classes, mentions the lines in the context of India being referred to as “Bharatvarsha”. He writes that “the name India was given to the country by foreigners” and that “a proper noun is never translated”. The difference between “India” and “Bharatvarsha”, Dr Kumar writes, is visible when the two are interchanged in the slogan. Therefore, it is clear that the statement was never made by Ambedkar but was the author’s opinion. While calling Mahatma Gandhi “Mohanchand” Karamchand Gandhi might have been a slip, it is ironical that Goswami was browbeating his panelists on nationalism and history and ended up attributing a factually incorrect quote to Ambedkar. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd August 2018 / 9:44 pm / Last updated: 23rd August 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arnab-goswami-misquotes-ambedkar-calls-mahatma-gandhi-mohanchand-karamchand-gandhi/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
297	Arnab Goswami’s video alleging attack, doesn’t predate the attack - false claim by Congress members - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 23rd April 2020 / 6:50 pm / Last updated: 7th July 2021 Arnab Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, alleged in a video statement that he was attacked by goons affiliated with Indian Youth Congress (IYC) on April 23. He claimed that two bike-borne men pounded on his car windows and threw bottles when he was driving home from work with his wife. Since then, several social media users have accused Goswami of manufacturing the alleged attack. National coordinator of Congress IT cell Gaurav Pandhi claimed that the metadata of Goswami’s video reveals that it was shot much before the alleged attack. Congress member Suraj Hegde and Twitter handle Rofl Republic also tweeted the purported metadata. 🔸Arnab has a Y category security 🔸His security guards caught the attackers, who then talked at great length & were let off?😂 🔸Why were they not handed over to the Police? 🔸Also metadata of the video put up by #Repuplick suggests it was shot much before the alleged incident pic.twitter.com/mXNOj5Anag — Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) April 23, 2020 National campaign in-charge of IYC, Srivatsa, claimed that BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit knew about the alleged attack before the information was shared by Republic TV. His claim was based on the timing of the tweets put out by the channels and the two individuals. Ashoke Pandit knew about attack on Arnab a full ten minutes before it supposedly happened 😂 These #PaidNazi enthu cutlets of BJP IT cell started posting their drafted tweet much before they were supposed to Arnab hire better scriptwriters and directors next time. pic.twitter.com/SQuk870KHJ — Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) April 23, 2020 That Patra knew of the alleged attack before Republic TV was also tweeted by the handle @dostam_comrade (drawing over 1,200 retweets) and @VinayDokania (gathering close to 700 retweets). In this fact-check, we shall analyse both claims separately. 1. Does the metadata of the video show that it was shot before Republic TV informed viewers of the alleged attack? 2. Did Sambit Patra and Ashoke Pandit tweet about the alleged attack before it happened? The answer to both the questions is no. Let’s see why. Metadata Metadata is essentially data (information) about data. Certain tools expose the metadata associated with videos. But such data is accurate only when extracted from the original file. Metadata is modified based on the platform where the video is sent. Metadata of Twitter files will show date and time based on when they were uploaded on the platform, not when they were shot. Congress members used the website metadata2go.com to extract the metadata of the video. They downloaded the video and uploaded it on the website. Readers can also try the same for the purpose of self-verification. The website shows the time as 20:17 (8:17 PM) on April 22. However, in the ‘tags’ section, the website gives the time as ‘2020-04-22T20:17:11.000000Z’. The letter ‘Z’ denotes Zulu Time which is the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), now known as the Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). To adjust this with the Indian Standard Time (IST), one needs to add 5:30 hours which means that the creation time is 1:47 AM, April 23. This is the exact time when Republic TV uploaded the video on Twitter. Twitter user Ravi Nair added another claim. He checked the video on YouTube and suggested that Goswami’s statement was created at 21:04 UTC or 2:34 AM IST on April 23, before the purported attack took place at 12:15 AM. His analysis was based on the results he derived from metadata2go.com. However, when Alt News checked the same on metadata2go.com, we got a different result. This means that checking the metadata of a YouTube video by downloading and uploading it to metadata2go.com is not a reliable process. A much better tool to check YouTube metadata is Amnesty International’s YouTube DataViewer. According to Amnesty, the video was uploaded on YouTube at 21:13 or 2:43 AM IST on April 23. Same as Twitter, YouTube strips all the metadata from a video. The time showed by Amnesty is the upload time on YouTube, not the actual date of creation of the video. Therefore, several Congress members and social media users misinterpreted the upload time on Twitter and YouTube as the true metadata (date of creation) of the video. Furthermore, the metadata reflected the time in UTC which has to be adjusted to reflect the Indian time. Tweets In the video, Goswami claimed that he was attacked at 12:15 AM on April 23. Republic TV’s first tweet about the alleged attack was put out at 1:06 AM. Sambit Patra and Ashoke Pandit tweeted a few minutes before at 1:05 AM and 12:55 AM respectively. This caused many to believe that the two individuals knew about the purported attack before Republic TV broke the news. However, social media is not the only place to break news. Republic TV had disclosed the alleged attack during a 12:45 AM broadcast. This was before the channel either tweeted about it or uploaded Goswami’s video on Youtube. The claim that Patra and Pandit knew about the alleged attack before it took place was based on the time of Republic TV’s tweet. However, the channel had reported on the alleged incident first on TV, then on social media. Both allegations by Congress members and several other social media users are therefore, false. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd April 2020 / 6:50 pm / Last updated: 7th July 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arnab-goswamis-video-statement-alleging-attack-doesnt-predate-the-attack-unlike-claimed-by-congress-members/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
298	Arnab v/s Arnab: The hypocrisy runs deeper than the viral Arnab Goswami video - Alt News Sam Jawed 31st May 2017 / 4:30 pm / Last updated: 31st May 2017 The viral “Arnab v/s Arnab” video, where Arnab of Times Now is seen shouting back at the Arnab of Republic TV is more than a hilarious exposé of the double standards of Arnab Goswami on the issue of beef ban. It is a template he has adopted while at Republic TV to take a moral high ground on any issue. It is a template that deflects the attention away from the failures of the government and keeps up the pressure on dissenting voices. We will look at another equally shocking example of this hypocrisy, but first about the beef.. The video made by Gaurav Pandhi of the Congress social media team exposed a shocking contrast in Arnab’s approach while handling the topic of beef ban. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. Watch it below: From shouting, “Is eating beef a crime” at Times Now, Arnab took an absolutely contrasting stand while at Republic. The question about “Beef politics to stay relevant” was not addressed to the government. It was addressed to the seculars. In the context of the slaughter of a calf by Congress workers in Kerala and the Beef fest organized to protest the virtual beef ban, Republic attacked the opposition and the seculars, accusing them of making a political statement, instigating a religious divide on the basis of meat and pitting one community against the other. Instead of discussing the implications of the recent regulations on sale of cattle in livestock market, the channel managed to change the narrative to “What is secular about eating the meat of a calf slaughtered in public view?” The raging row over beef ban was reduced to an attack on the opposition. The purpose was achieved. Attention was deflected from the government. A new agenda for public debate was set. Here are the questions raised by Republic, none of which are addressed to the government. What a contrast this is to the Arnab Goswami of Times Now days Beef is not the only issue where Arnab Goswami has taken a hypocritical stand. When the deadly Sukma ambush that killed 24 CRPF soldiers, happened in April, Arnab took to Twitter to express his opinion. Republic was not yet launched but the channel put out a set of four tweets as “Arnab Asks”. The only problem with this outrage was that none of the questions were addressed to the government. They were instead addressed to student leaders of JNU and other activists, who he took the liberty to label as “foreign funded anti nationals”, “PSEUDOS” and “FRAUDS”. Here are the four questions: In sharp contrast, when a similar attack happened in Sukma in April 2014, the same Arnab Goswami at Times Now led an onslaught on the UPA government. In April 2014, when attack happened in Sukma, Times Now questioned then Union Govt, in 2017, they're questioning student leaders. pic.twitter.com/vAL3PSDn5i — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) April 24, 2017 Alt News would like to put out four questions to Arnab Goswami after viewing this duplicity: ALT News ASKS: Can the real PSEUDOS and FRAUD journalists who call themselves nationalists but do not raise the issues an aam aadmi faces stand up and name themselves? ALT News ASKS: Should media act as a cheerleader for the government? ALT News ASKS: Should media deflect the attention away from the failures of the government to questioning student leaders, opposition leaders, seculars and everyone else? ALT News ASKS: If not the media, WHO will hold the government to account? The nation wants to know. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	31st May 2017 / 4:30 pm / Last updated: 31st May 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arnab-vs-arnab-hypocrisy-runs-deeper-viral-arnab-goswami-video/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
299	Arrest of Zakir Naik's aide in Malaysia falsely linked to terror attack in Sri Lanka - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 29th April 2019 / 4:27 pm Multiple images of a man photographed with Islamic preacher Zakir Naik are being circulated on social media with the claim that he is the Sri Lanka suicide bomber. A former officer of the Indian army and a newly-inducted member of the BJP, Major Surendra Poonia was among those who shared the photograph. He also shared an image of Congress MP Digvijay Singh with Zakir Naik in an attempt to link an alleged terrorist with the Congress party. From a Twitter handle Chowkidar, The Activist (@AhmAsmiYodha), the post received nearly 4,000 retweets. He addressed controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik as “Congress party’s maternal uncle.” Images of the same man posing with Naik are viral on Facebook as well. The man photographed with Zakir Naik is not one of the suicide bombers of the Sri Lanka terrorist attack. He is an Islamic preacher and Naik’s disciple. Reverse-searching the image with the keyword “Zakir Naik” redirected us to an article published in Malaysia-based newspaper Malaymail on April 28. The man is Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu who was arrested in Perlis, Malaysia on Sunday for alleged blasphemous remarks on Hinduism. “A brief video said to show Zamri Vinoth being taken into custody was posted on Facebook this morning by Seberang Perai Municipal City Councillor David Marshel,” reported Malaymail. Polis menahan Zamri Vinot A/L Kalimuthu di Arau Perlis 2 pagi ini 28/4/2019.. Inilah Padah jika mana mana pihak menghina agama lain!!! #Syabas #PDRM #SialKenaTahan #DakwaSiSialIni Posted by David Marshel on Saturday, 27 April 2019 There are several other photographs of Zamri with Naik on the former’s Twitter account. Hanya Allah sahaja yang boleh memuliakan seseorang dan menghina seseorang manusia tidak berkuasa untuk itu.Dr Zakir. pic.twitter.com/TRqgErnXNU — Zamri Vinoth (@Zamri_Vinoth) April 22, 2016 All nine suicide bombers were identified as Sri Lanka citizens. Zamri is a Malaysian who was arrested on April 28 hence, could not have been a suicide bomber in the Sri Lanka terror attack. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th April 2019 / 4:27 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arrest-of-zakir-naiks-aide-in-malaysia-falsely-linked-to-terror-attack-in-sri-lanka/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
300	Article 370: Derogatory poster on PM Modi used in London protest attributed to AMU students - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st August 2019 / 10:55 am / Last updated: 21st August 2019 A poster that reads “Modi the Dracula of Kashmir” has been shared by several people on social media with the claim that the banner was put up by Aligarh Muslim University. On Twitter, the claim has been widely propagated using the hashtag #aligarhmuslimuniversity. The claim has been floated on Facebook as well. अलीगढ़ मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी में कुछ छात्र नेताओं द्वारा कश्मीर मुद्दे पर मोदी जी का यह बेनर लगाया गया है ,ऐसे युवा देश का भविष्य नही हो सकते जो राष्ट्रविरोधी हो,योगी सरकार से अपील है ऐसे लोगो पर सख्त कार्यवाही हो Posted by संवाद on Monday, 19 August 2019 Alt News found that the poster was not featured in any part of the country, let alone put up by students of AMU. The banner was a part of a recent protest organised outside the Indian High Commission in London. On August 15, protestors waved Pakistani and Kashmiri flags outside the Commission against the Indian government’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370. A Times of India report says that Khalistan flags were also waved at the rally which turned violent after protestors began throwing objects like shoes, bottles, eggs, etc. A Pakistani Twitter user had also uploaded a picture of the same poster now circulating on social media with a false claim. Modi the Dracula of Kashmir#15AugustBlackDay Free Kashmir Today’s Black Day protest in London outside Indian high Commission. pic.twitter.com/BVBd4u9zJo — Anila Qazi (@AnilaButtPTI) August 15, 2019 Aligarh police took cognisance of the misinformation and clarified via a tweet that the poster was not put up by AMU students. सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल माननीय प्रधानमंत्री का बैनर पर लगे निंदनीय/अशोभनीय चित्र का अलीगढ़ पुलिस पूर्णतया खण्ड़न करती है ।#UPAgainstFakeNews pic.twitter.com/L7GShK01cJ — ALIGARH POLICE (@aligarhpolice) August 20, 2019 Thus, a poster that was part was a protest in London against the dilution of Article 370 is viral on social media targetting Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh Muslim University. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st August 2019 / 10:55 am / Last updated: 21st August 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/article-370-derogatory-poster-on-pm-modi-used-in-london-protest-attributed-to-amu-students/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
301	Article 370: Modi, Rajnath Singh effigies burnt abroad? No, old video from Mizoram - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 16th August 2019 / 6:59 pm A video where a crowd can be seen setting ablaze effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is circulating widely on social media. It is being claimed that the video was shot in a foreign country. The accompanying message says, “विदेशो मे साहब की थू थू हो रही हैं और अपने देश के जाहील भक्त इसे मास्टर स्ट्रोक बता रहे हैं तरस आ रहा हैं तुम पर भक्तों मे इस विडियो की कड़ी निंदा करता हुं (The master is being condemned in foreign countries and idiotic bhakts are calling this a masterstroke. I pity you bhakts. I staunchly condemn this video.)” From the profile of an individual Facebook user Dilip Patel Gavli II, the video drew more than 60,000 views. विदेशो मे साहब की थू थू हो रही हैं और अपने देश के जाहील भक्त इसे मास्टर स्ट्रोक बता रहे हैं तरस आ रहा हैं तुम पर भक्तों मे इस विडियो की कड़ी निंदा करता हुं Posted by Dilip Patel Gavli II on Wednesday, 14 August 2019 The video has also been shared on Twitter. विदेशो मे साहब की थू थू हो रही हैं और अपने देश के जाहील भक्त इसे मास्टर स्ट्रोक बता रहे हैं तरस आ रहा हैं तुम पर भक्तों pic.twitter.com/LbFlQFp1nN — mr ali (@mrali29018324) August 13, 2019 It is viral on both platforms – Facebook, Twitter. The video in question is unrelated to the government’s recent move on Article 370. It pertains to a protest organised in Mizoram against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The video was broadcast by Northeast Live on January 23, 2019. According to the media outlet, “The influential Mizo Zirlai Paul (MZP) staged a statewide protest opposing the bill which it feels will threaten Mizo identity.” People can be seen burning the effigies of PM Modi and Rajnath Singh 0:18 seconds onward in the clip posted below. The protest was also reported in mainstream media. “Effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh were burnt as protesters took out rallies from Aizawl’s seven district headquarters and at over 50 other places. Raising slogans and carrying placards, the agitators demanded the resignation of PM Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, alleging that the controversial bill will endanger the very existence of the Mizos,” per NDTV. Since the dilution of Article 370, several old, unrelated videos have been floating on social media to depict people’s opposition to the government’s move. Recently, an old video of a funeral procession was shared as women protesting the revocation of J&K’s special status. Similarly, a contrasting narrative attempts to portray the Kashmiri people welcoming the decision. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th August 2019 / 6:59 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/article-370-modi-rajnath-singh-effigies-burnt-abroad-no-old-video-from-mizoram/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
302	Article 370: Old BJP rally video shared as Kashmiri children singing 'Hindustan Hamara Hai' - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 8th August 2019 / 5:12 pm / Last updated: 19th August 2019 A Twitter user Geetika Swami, who is followed by railway minister Piyush Goyal’s office, shared a video where several Muslim children are singing ‘Hindustan Hamara Hai’. Swami tweeted the video claiming that average Kashmiris are celebrating the dilution of Article 370. Her tweet read, “#KashmirWelcomesChange The children in Kashmir singing ‘Hindustan Hamara hai’ While the seculars are sulking the abrogation of Article 370, an average Kashmiri is celebrating the integration with Mighty India! #ThursdayThoughts #ThursdayMotivation.“ #KashmirWelcomesChange The children in Kashmir singing ‘Hindustan Hamara hai’ While the seculars are sulking the abrogation of Article 370, an average Kashmiri is celebrating the integration with Mighty India! #ThursdayThoughts #ThursdayMotivation pic.twitter.com/QFcPTGJuDi — Geetika Swami (@SwamiGeetika) August 8, 2019 The clip has also been circulated on Facebook with the same caption. The video shared by Swami carried a logo that said – ‘Voice of J&K’. Alt News found a Facebook page by the same name that had shared the identical clip on April 15, 2019. Since the video is four months old, it cannot be representative of an event that took place after the government’s decision to deem Article 370 ineffective on August 5. यह हिंदुस्तान हमारा है गीत गाते हुए जम्मू कश्मीर के राष्ट्रभक्त बच्चे। Posted by Voice of J&K on Monday, 15 April 2019 A keyword search on YouTube led us to the same video uploaded by BJP Jammu and Kashmir on April 15 described as – “Kids Chanting Song Yeah Hindustan Hamara Hai at Challar, Inderwal in Kishtwar during BJP rally.” The video does not represent children in Kashmir celebrating the government’s move on Article 370 but an old BJP rally. This was earlier debunked by Boomlive. After the dilution of Article 370, Alt News has debunked several such cases of misinformation. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th August 2019 / 5:12 pm / Last updated: 19th August 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/article-370-old-bjp-rally-video-shared-as-kashmiri-children-singing-hindustan-hamara-hai/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
303	Article 370: Old mock drill video from Jharkhand viral as 30 Kashmiris shot dead - Alt News Jignesh Patel 9th August 2019 / 9:05 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2019 “لاشیں گرتی دیکھو مسلمانو 😢😢😢 نہتے کشمیریوں کی 30 لاشیں گرائ گئیں آج۔ (See dead bodies of Muslim, 30 Kashmiris were shot dead today -loose translation)”, reads the message posted by a Facebook page Naya Pakistan With Imran Khan along with a video where policemen are sitting in a kneeling position with their guns pointed at a crowd. A group of people can be heard raising slogans. Subsequently, policemen fire some gunshots at the horde and the assembly scatters. Two men can be seen falling on the ground when the shots are fired and a few policemen rush with stretchers to attend to them. It is being claimed that 30 people were shot dead in Kashmir. The video has been shared close to 4,000 times so far. #تازہ ترین. لاشیں گرتی دیکھو مسلمانو 😢😢😢 نہتے کشمیریوں کی 30 لاشیں گرائ گئیں آج۔ امت پھر بھی خاموش 😢😢😢😢 pic.twitter.com/Qy66vFZbFI — اپنا ڈوگی ناڑا (@WiZaf1TVJZNa0gb) August 9, 2019 The video has gone viral on Facebook with the narrative that 30 Kashmiris protestors were killed today. A retired Pakistani Air Force Marshal Shahid Latif also shared the video claiming that it represents Indian forces firing at unarmed civilians in Jammu and Kashmir. This video can be old or recent. The world must watch how Indian occupation forces are firing straight bullets on unarmed civilians who are out on streets against violation of the human rights in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Criminal silence of the UN has no justification. pic.twitter.com/NBqv3PH2Fl — Air Marshall Shahid Latif – (Retd) (@AMShahidLatif) August 9, 2019 Alt News had debunked this video in July 2018 and found that the video depicts a mock drill conducted by Khunti police (Jharkhand) on October 31, 2017. “Moke Dreal of Khunti Police”, reads the title of the same video uploaded on November 1, 2017. If one listens to the announcement heard in the background, it is evident that this a drill and NOT an actual shooting video. The announcement clearly informs the public about the drill. Watching the video frame-by-frame, we found the name of a store visible in the video. It read – ‘Jagdamba Steel’. In a conversation with Alt News, the owner of Jagdamba Steel confirmed that a mock drill was carried out by the police on October 31, 2017. You can read our detailed fact-check here. In conclusion, a video of a mock drill conducted by Jharkhand police in 2017 was circulated on Facebook with the claim that 30 Kashmiris were shot dead. Last year also, the same video was shared as Kashmiris being shot down. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th August 2019 / 9:05 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/article-370-old-mock-drill-video-from-jharkhand-viral-as-30-kashmiris-shot-dead/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
304	Article 370: Pak minister shares Burhan Wani funeral video as Kashmiris protesting against Indian govt - Alt News Jignesh Patel 9th August 2019 / 7:30 pm Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi tweeted a video of a mass gathering with the claim that these were Kashmiri people protesting against the Indian government after the recent development in J&K. “Millions of #Kashmiri rally in IOK against @narendramodi Govt”, reads the message posted by Zaidi. The tweet has garnered more than 1,100 retweets at the time of writing of this article. Millions of #Kashmiri rally in IOK against @narendramodi Govt repealing of 35-A. #SaveKashmirFromModi pic.twitter.com/xoHYwSUYaw — Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 9, 2019 Twitter user Siddharth Jain alerted Alt News about Ali Haider Zaidi’s tweet. Many other individuals on Facebook have shared the video with the identical narrative. With a generic search on Google, Alt News found old videos of the same event posted by several users on YouTube. “Funeral procession of Shaheed burhan Muzaffar Wani 9 July 2016″, reads the title of the video posted below. According to multiple YouTube clips, these visuals depict a mass gathering at the funeral procession of the divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani on July 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEZeFsXVbk In the comparison below, one can see that the visuals in the video tweeted by Zaidi and the one available on YouTube of Burhan Wani’s funeral procession are identical. Three elements are seen in the two frames taken from the video posted by Zaida and the one available on YouTube since October 2016. Namely, a yellow-coloured umbrella, Green flag, and a man in red-shirt sporting a skull cap. The funeral was also reported by India Today. In conclusion, a three-year-old video of a slained militant’s funeral was shared on social media by Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs to claim that a large number of people had gathered in Kashmir to protest the Indian government’s decision to strip J&K of its special status under Article 370. Earlier, Pakistani journalist Ameer Abbas tweeted old and unrelated photographs to depict the recent upheaval in Jammu and Kashmir. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th August 2019 / 7:30 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/article-370-pak-minister-shares-burhan-wani-funeral-video-as-kashmiris-protesting-against-indian-govt/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
305	Article outlining right-wing perspective on Kashmir falsely credited to author Ira Pande - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 8th August 2018 / 6:08 pm ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India’. I have heard this line parroted by leaders of all political hues. It has always sounded like an arbitrary statement designed to rebuff Pakistan, and to reaffirm India’s military might over a coveted geographical area. Recently I came across facts that have changed my perspective on Kashmir totally. Facts that have astounded me. But more than that baffled me, for they reveal glaring lacunae in the history we have been led to believe so far. This is the introductory paragraph to an article which has supposedly been written by author and academic Ira Pande. This ‘article’ has gone viral on social media ever since it made its appearance online, and has been shared widely on Facebook. It has also circulated on WhatsApp. Among those who have shared this write-up is Francois Gautier, infamous journalist and ‘indologist’ of Nostradamus fame. He posted it on July 1, 2018 and was shared over 450 times. However, the write-up shared by Gautier is not credited to Ira Pande and does not mention her name, although the text is identical to what has been circulated in her name. Instead, the text that Gautier has shared has been ascribed to one Dr. V S Karnik. Dr V S Karnik, ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India’. Why is Kashmir so important to India? The facts will astound you… Posted by Francois Gautier on Saturday, June 30, 2018 The write-up lists the historical and cultural accomplishments of Kashmir which justify its place as ‘an integral part of India’, and also talks about how the educational system in the country has deliberately ignored the truth about Kashmir. It states, “Understandable that the British established a syllabus for us that was designed to obliterate our glories and inculcate shame in us for all things Indian. But, 70 years past independence, we are guilty of still toeing their line. Why????? The facts I speak of are proof that Kashmir is the fountainhead from which flows our culture, in fact everything that defines our identity as Indians. Due to my education in an elite school, i had considered myself reasonably well informed. Yet, i had no clue at all about the significance of Kashmir vis a vis Indian history…” There are numerous references, from Panini the grammarian to Rajatarangini and the spread of Mahayana Buddhism by monks from Kashmir. The write-up attempts to build a case for the legitimacy of India’s claim over Kashmir on the basis of deep cultural and historical links. Apart from being shared widely on social media, the write-up has also been published on some obscure websites. The earliest instance of this write-up appearing online that Alt News could find was a post by a Facebook user Nishi Agarwal dated June 22, 2018. There is obviously nothing problematic about articulating a viewpoint. The issue of concern here is that Ira Pande who is credited with having written this article has in fact not written it. The write-up has been falsely ascribed to her. This was clarified by Amitabha Pande, Ira Pande’s husband, via a Facebook post. Friends, everyone, There is a fake article on Kashmir which has gone viral on WhatsApp which has been attributed to my… Posted by Amitabha Pande on Friday, July 20, 2018 Recently, a similar case had emerged wherein an ‘article’ criticising the Gandhi family and the Congress party over the no-confidence motion introduced in the Lok Sabha was ascribed to senior journalist Mark Tully, which later turned out to be untrue. This is a new tactic that seems to be emerging within the misinformation ecosystem whereby credibility is sought to be injected to political assertions by crediting write-ups to authoritative figures. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th August 2018 / 6:08 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/article-outlining-right-wing-perspective-on-kashmir-falsely-credited-to-author-ira-pande/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
306	Viral: Fake letter claims Arundhati Roy questioned the treatment of terrorists in Indian jails - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 4th July 2018 / 2:08 pm / Last updated: 17th August 2019 A ‘letter’ is widely circulating on social media, claiming that author and activist Arundhati Roy repeatedly wrote to the National Security Council (NSC) of India “complaining about the treatment of captive insurgents (terrorists) being held in National Correctional System facilities.” According to posts on social media, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had responded to this letter from Roy informing her about a new government initiative, ‘Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers’ or L.A.R.K. The letter begins by Doval thanking Roy for showing “profound concern for treatment of the ISIS and LeT terrorists captured by Indian Forces”. Under the L.A.R.K program, one terrorist would be placed in the personal care of concerned citizens like Roy. The letter adds, “we advise that you do not ask him (terrorist) to demonstrate these skills (combat skills) at your next yoga group.” What a reply? 😅😂😂😅😂😁 Everyone please share this. Arundhati Roy wrote a lot of letters to the National Security… Posted by Dinesh Chikballapur on Friday, 16 August 2019 The alleged NSC response was also floating on social media last year. In 2014, the letter was shared by Rishi Bagree, who’s followed by PM Modi on Twitter. The letter was also published in 2016 by a website called Satyavijaya. Several users on Facebook and Twitter shared it in 2017 as well. From a Facebook page Rearming Hinduism, it drew 2,500 likes. This post was made in 2016. The alleged NSC response has also been shared on various other right-wing pages in the past few years. Arundhati Roy denied writing any such letter or having any knowledge about its origin. “I’ve been getting calls about the letter, with people asking me if I wrote it. A senior journalist forwarded it to me and I remember seeing the same letter with different details circulating a couple of years ago as well. It is obviously fake because I’ve never written any such a letter and there has also been no interaction with NSC,” she told Alt News. Alt News searched the letter with various keywords and found a similar version posted in 2002. The main difference here is its sender – the then U.S. President George W. Bush. Further research revealed that the letter has been doing the rounds on social media for quite some time now, reshared with changing contexts. ‘The Panama Conspiracy’, a 2003 fictional novel by William Penn, also includes it in a satirical tone. In the book, the Chief of Staff of the President of the U.S gives him the letter to sign. It is written by the CoS to mock a Congresswoman who claimed that the government knew all about the September 11 attacks. American fact-checking website Snopes first debunked a version of the letter in 2005 in an article which was subsequently updated in 2017 to debunk another version of the letter. It was published with the narrative that a “liberal female from San Francisco wrote a lot of letters to the U.S. government, complaining about the treatment of captive insurgents (terrorists) being held in GITMO (Guantanamo Bay detention camp).” The response is undersigned by the U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis. Snopes described the letter as a “well-crafted use of satire”. In 2014, the letter resurfaced on a blog named mediacrooks.com. Here, it was claimed that it was written by a “Canadian female libertarian” who questioned the government “about the treatment of captive insurgents (terrorists) being held in Afghanistan National Correctional System facilities.” The blog shared the letter to direct it at Sagarika Ghose, Kavita Krishnan, Rana Ayyub and Barkha Dutt, who are termed in the post as India’s “Fiberals”. This isn’t the first time that fake news on Arundhati Roy has been floated on social media. In January 2018, a fake quote attributed to the writer claimed that she was drawing parallels between Islamic terrorism, and mothers and teachers who ‘terrorise’ millions of children every day. In May 2017, actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal courted controversy by suggesting the Indian Army should tie Arundhati Roy to a jeep, in a reference to the incident wherein a Kashmiri protester had been tied to the front of an army jeep as a ‘human shield’. In the present case, one quick read through the letter in question gives clear hints that it is meant only as a satire, however, our biases often blind us to the truth. It is pertinent that any information on social media without a credible source is cross-checked. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th July 2018 / 2:08 pm / Last updated: 17th August 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arundhati-roy-fake-letter-national-security-council-nsa-doval/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
307	Arvind Kejriwal falsely claims BJP worker tweeted criticism of Gujarat education system - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 12th April 2022 / 3:25 pm / Last updated: 12th April 2022 On April 9, Dr Bharat Kanabar, a surgeon by profession “blessed to be followed by PM Modi”, tweeted a photo where people can be seen climbing a building presumably to assist students to cheat during an exam. The photo was accompanied by a caption in Gujarati that said, “In this country of 900 universities and 40,000 colleges, teaching has become a commodity in which both the buyers and sellers [referring to buying of seats] are shameless. The education system has been plagued by viruses like paper leaks, theft in exams, and fake degree certificates”. This tweet soon became viral and was widely shared on Twitter with the same photo and caption. ક” કમળનો “ક”તો બરાબર ઘૂંટ્યો પણ “ક્ષ શિક્ષણનો “ક્ષ”એવું કોઈએ ભણાવ્યું નહિ ! ૯૦૦ યુનિવર્સીટી અને ૪૦ હજાર કોલેજોના આ દેશમાં શિક્ષણ એક કોમોડિટી બની ચૂક્યું છે જેના ખરીદદાર અને વેચનાર બંને બેશરમ છે. પેપર લીક,પરીક્ષા ચોરી, નકલી ડિગ્રી સર્ટિફિકેટ જેવા વાયરસથી શિક્ષણ વ્યવસ્થા ત્રસ્ત છે. pic.twitter.com/JfPJMH5Lsz — Mahesh Prajapati (@maheshp65026186) April 10, 2022 AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal quote tweeted Kanabar’s tweet saying, “BJP workers have started questioning the crumbling education system of Gujarat. BJP could not provide a good education system in its 27 years of rule in the state. AAP will work with the people of Gujarat and all other political parties to change this system.” The official Facebook page of AAP Gujarat turned this conversation into an infographic and circulated it widely on Facebook. Even a superficial reading of BJP worker Bharat Kanabar’s tweet reveals that he did not criticise the education system in Gujarat but spoke about the Indian education system at large. Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal assumed that he criticised the BJP government in Gujarat since perhaps the tweet was posted in Gujarati. However, even the photograph does not depict an incident in Gujarat. Photo from Bihar We performed a Google reverse image search on the photo and came across multiple news articles published in 2015, about parents climbing the building of an exam centre in Bihar to help their wards cheat. The photo has been credited to the Associated Press. Kambara also made a tweet clarifying that the photo was from Bihar and that the aim of his initial tweet was to speak about those who plague the education system. He wrote in this tweet that his a BJP worker. મારી ટવીટમાં આપેલ ફોટોગ્રાફ બિહારનો છે. મૂળ મુદ્દો શિક્ષણ ક્ષેત્રમાં પ્રવેશેલ બદીઓ અંગેનો છે. આમાં કોંગ્રેસ કે આપ વાળા હરખાવા જેવું કઈં નથી. ૩૫ વર્ષથી ભાજપનો સક્રિય કાર્યકર્તા છું અને રાષ્ટ્રવાદની વિચારધારા નસ નસમાં છે એટલે ઊંઘમાંથી ઉઠાડીને પૂછો તો પણ “ક” કમળનો “ક” જ બોલાય જાય. — Dr. Bharat Kanabar (@KANABARDr) April 10, 2022 Hence, a tweet made by a BJP worker criticising the Indian education system at large was quote-tweeted by AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal assuming it to be a criticism of the education system of Gujarat. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th April 2022 / 3:25 pm / Last updated: 12th April 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arvind-kejriwal-falsely-claims-bjp-worker-tweeted-criticism-of-gujarat-education-system/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
308	Morphed photo shows Arvind Kejriwal's gigantic photo on Gandhi Jayanti ad - Alt News Priyanka Jha 8th October 2021 / 6:01 pm Jayman Sharma, General Secretary of Gujarat Pradesh Youth Congress, shared a photo on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti carrying a quote by Gandhi with a blown-up image of Arvind Kejriwal. A small picture of Mahatma Gandhi appears at the bottom of the page. Taking a jibe at the Delhi CM, Sharma wrote, “Happy Kejriwal Jayanti – MK Gandhi.” Several others also shared this picture on Twitter mocking the Delhi chief minister. A user named Siddharth shared the original photo of the newspaper clipping from October 2. The newspaper contains a large photo of Mahatma Gandhi with a small picture of Arvind Kejriwal in the bottom corner. Real Image👇 Cc @zoo_bear @AltNews @AFWACheck @boomlive_in @free_thinker @FactCheckIndia pic.twitter.com/SKMO7ifcI8 — Siddharth (@ethicalsid) October 2, 2021 The ad appeared on the fifth page of Dainik Jagran’s Delhi edition. A side-by-side comparison of the original and the edited photo is given below. The photographs of Arvind Kejriwal and Mahatma Gandhi have been swapped in the viral image. Furthermore, the Aam Aadmi Party also took to Twitter to clarify that the image was fake. FAKE NEWS🚨 This is a morphed photo of the Hon’ble CM of Delhi which is being circulated with a malicious intent. The real photo is attached below. pic.twitter.com/vd1XfrZ5AC — Aam Aadmi Party Delhi (@AAPDelhi) October 2, 2021 She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th October 2021 / 6:01 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arvind-kejriwal-jayanti-edited-clip-of-a-newpaper-2nd-october-gandhi-jayanti/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
309	Arvind Kejriwal shares dubious report crediting him for Rishi Sunak's campaign strategy - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 16th August 2022 / 7:44 pm Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal recently shared a news report titled, “ब्रिटेन के आम चुनावों में दिख रही है “केजरीवाल मॉडल” की झलक” (Translation: “A glimpse of the “Kejriwal Model” can be seen in the UK general elections”). The report, published by an outlet called news24india.org, consists of exactly three lines comparing UK’s prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak’s promise to provide more money to help people cope with the UK energy crisis, to Kejriwal’s promise of free electricity in the 2020 Delhi elections and the assembly elections in Punjab in the recent past. Kejriwal shared it on Facebook and Twitter. (Archived link) https://t.co/0WUgPOBzaf — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 11, 2022 The official handle of Aam Admi Party Delhi shared it on Twitter. ब्रिटेन के आम चुनावों में दिख रही है “केजरीवाल मॉडल” की छाप। Kejriwal Model देश तक सीमित नहीं रहा, अब वो दुनिया भर में तेज़ी से फैल रहा है। अब विकसित राष्ट्र भी “Kejriwal सरकार” से सीख कर आगे बढ़ना चाहते हैं। https://t.co/ScvYNO2Qot — Aam Aadmi Party Delhi (@AAPDelhi) August 11, 2022 Pro-BJP propaganda account @PoliticalKida shared an infographic that linked the News 24 India Facebook page to AAP worker Dimpal Singh, implying that News 24 India was an AAP propaganda website. This tweet garnered almost two thousand likes. Several other users also dubbed the News 24 India outlet as inauthentic (1, 2, 3, 4), owing to its links to the Aam Aadmi Party. Understand the chronology of fake news shared by Kejriwal. pic.twitter.com/ndvQQrUHyh — Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) August 12, 2022 The three-lined News 24 India article opines that Rishi Sunak is following the “Kejriwal Model” after Sunak promised to give more money to help the people of the United Kingdom deal with rising electricity bills if he becomes the Prime Minister. The “Kejriwal Model” reportedly entails Kejriwal’s promise of free electricity which has helped him win several elections, including the recent Punjab assembly elections. This article, like many other News 24 India articles, lacks a proper byline. The author of this so-called opinion piece has only made claims without any substantiation whatsoever. Several major media outlets including Aaj Tak and Zee News have published opinion pieces comparing Sunak’s move to Kejriwal’s campaign strategy. But as the reader might notice, all of them are well-drafted pieces with proper corroboration and noticeably more than three lines. In fact, the title of the News 24 India article seems to be more articulate than the actual article. It is thus safe to say that the News 24 India piece shared by Kejriwal can hardly qualify as journalism. It is surprising that the Chief Minister of Delhi would share such an inarticulate report. Moreover, the News 24 India report has used the terms “आम चुनावों” or “General Elections” in its title. According to a Business Standard article, the current race for the UK Prime Minister is “not a general election but an election within the Conservative Party”. The Conservative Party still holds a majority in the parliament, hence a general election is not necessary. It may or may not be held, depending upon the choice of the new Prime Minister. Alt News further analyzed news24india.org to check the authenticity of the news website. The ‘About’ section of News 24 India is indistinct. It consists of a vaguely written paragraph, bereft of the names of the editors or sources of funding, and an email ID. It only states that News 24 India is an independent news portal giving us the latest news on entertainment, politics, sports, and health. Clearly, a lack of transparency is existent between News 24 India and its readers. News 24 India primarily covers local news from Uttarakhand. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, none of the articles contains a name in their respective bylines. All reports are attributed under “By Admin”. There is no information regarding the identity of the admin. It must also be noted that the articles published by News 24 India usually contain three to six lines. The Twitter and Facebook accounts that are linked to the website of News 24 India have been deactivated. However, Alt News found the archives of the linked Twitter account on Wayback Machine and, on visiting the URL of one of the Tweets (https://twitter.com/News_24India/status/1547968410805731329) that were archived, we were redirected to the account @AAP_USNagar. Similarly, all the archived links led to this Twitter handle. The page is named “Aam Aadmi Party Udham Singh Nagar” and the bio of the page reads “Official Twitter Handle Of @AAPUttarakhand District Udham Singh Nagar”. All the tweets by @AAP_USNagar are News 24 India reports. We also matched the unique Twitter IDs of the two pages. Both accounts have the same Twitter ID. Hence is it apparent that the News 24 India Twitter page changed it’s Twitter handle from @News_24India to @AAP_USNagar. Upon a Facebook search, Alt News found an obscure page with News 24 India’s name and logo. The page was created on August 12 and had only 7 likes. Upon Google reverse image search of the logo, we found another page with the same name that had been deactivated. However, we found the cached version of that page. Here, under the ‘Related Pages’ section, politician Dimpal Singh’s profile can be seen. According to Dimpal Singh‘s Facebook page, she is the State Vice President of AAP Uttarakhand. Apart from this, we also found three other obscure Twitter pages with the same name and the same logo. All the pages had minimal interactions and followers (1, 2, and 3). All the pages have news24india.org linked to their respective Twitter pages. These pages have all been created arbitrarily over a span of six months. Alt News also noticed that in spite of News 24 India being obscure, several Aam Aadmi Party workers have shared its news reports in the past. Hence, the report that Arvind Kejriwal shared, to suggest that Rishi Sunak’s strategy to provide more money to help people cope with the UK energy crisis matches Kejriwal’s promise of free electricity, was published by a dubious news website with links to Aam Aadmi Party members and units. The News 24 India website has a vaguely written ‘about’ section with no information about the editorial team or the funding process. None of the articles carries a byline. The Facebook and Twitter pages that are now deactivated can be linked to various AAP workers. Moreover, several obscure social media pages of News 24 India can be found online. These pages have minimal interaction. The authenticity of News 24 India cannot be verified. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th August 2022 / 7:44 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arvind-kejriwal-shares-dubious-report-crediting-him-for-rishi-sunaks-campaign-strategy/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
310	Arvind Kejriwal speaking in drunken state? No, old video slowed down to create illusion - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 9th January 2019 / 5:02 pm A video of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal has been shared widely on multiple social media platforms. The video shows Kejriwal seated in a car and speaking to the camera. His speech appears to be slurred. The accompanying claim is that Kejriwal is drunk. The duration of the video is around one minute. Via TikTok #DarubaazKejri pic.twitter.com/Jo7NmfbFWo — Maithun – HMP (@Being_Humor) January 7, 2019 The above tweet posted by a user @Being_Humor on January 7 has been retweeted over 1100 times so far. The video has been posted with the hashtag #DarubaazKejri. The same video has also posted by another user @himmat0606 and by the handle @UnPaidTimes. The video is watermarked with the words ‘Tik Tok’ and ‘@rkumarmadaan’. The video has also circulated widely on Facebook where Kejriwal has been pilloried. The above screenshot is of the group WE SUPPORT NARENDRA MODI where it was posted by a user. The video has also been posted on another group Arnab Goswami where it has been shared over 200 times. Alt News found that the video was first posted by a user Rajan Madaan on Facebook. The video which has been shared subsequently has been watermarked with @rkumarmadaan. A look at both profiles suggests this is the same person. The earliest instance of the video that we could find on Twitter was of January 4. The original video was posted by Arvind Kejriwal himself on his official Facebook page. Kejriwal had posted the live video on January 29, 2017 when he was campaigning for his party in Punjab ahead of the assembly election which took place that year. The video is posted below. कैप्टन और बादल साहेब बोल रहे हैं की ये उनका आख़री चुनाव है। जिसका आख़री चुनाव हो उसे कभी वोट नहीं देना चाहिए Posted by Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, January 28, 2017 As can be seen, the original video sounds nothing like the viral video, which has been deliberately slowed down so as to give the impression that Kejriwal is in an inebriated condition. The original video is around 1 minute and 50 seconds long. Several individual users too have shared the video which has gone viral. Some users have posted it with the hashtag #Viral_SMS suggesting that the same is being shared on messaging platforms as well. Apart from Facebook, Twitter and messaging apps, the video has also been posted on YouTube. Kejriwal is routinely targeted via misinformation on social media. Earlier, a fake quote on Kashmir was attributed to him and circulated widely. In another instance, he was falsely targeted over celebration of his birthday on the day former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th January 2019 / 5:02 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/arvind-kejriwal-speaking-in-drunken-state-no-old-video-slowed-down-to-create-illusion/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
311	As Statue of Unity is unveiled, divisive misinformation against minorities continues unabated - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 1st November 2018 / 3:46 pm In July 2018, Alt News had reported how social media has become a playground for vested interests seeking to foment communal prejudice and hate. Disinformation has been weaponized to create a fear psychosis, portraying the majority community as under threat from minority aggression. The seeds of division sown in the minds of the people through effective use of social media platforms continues unabated. Purveyors of disinformation are constantly improvising, devising new tactics to create suspicion and fear. Here is a chronicle of several such instances of disinformation on social media and beyond. In October 2018, more than 60 people lost their lives in a tragic accident where an Amritsar-bound train mowed down Dusshera revellers watching the burning of Ravan effigy from railway tracks. Soon after, viral claims on social media began to suggest that the name of the driver was Imtiaz Ali. This claim was viral on both Facebook and Twitter. The tragedy was sought to be communalised by hatemongers on social media. According to a written statement of the driver to the Railway Administration, the name of the driver was Arvind Kumar and not Imtiaz Ali. “Beware! Several gangs of 15-20 Rohingya Muslims have come to Indore, accompanied by women and children. They carry weapons and come around 2 AM at night or any other time at night when the wailing of children can be heard. Kindly do not open the door and share this in all groups – Indore Police, C.S.P. Send to all groups please.” This rumour circulated on Whatsapp in July 2018, and for the first time took a communal turn, targeting Rohingya Muslims. Alt News had found that these messages date back to March 2017. These messages were contextualised, with the location and language being altered depending on where the messages were being circulated. More than 30 people were killed over rumours on WhatsApp about child abduction gangs on the prowl targeting children. A Twitter user claiming to be a member of the VHP and followed on Twitter by the Office of Piyush Goyal, tweeted a photograph along with the message, “Acid attack on Bull in Tumakuru, Karnataka by peace lovers. Will Sickulars Condemn this? Peta act on this?” “Peace lovers” is a commonly used term by Hindutva handles on social media to derisively refer to the Muslim community. As it turned out, the images viral on social media were shared by Facebook user Harish Kumar. His post (now deleted) said that some “miscreants” attacked the bull with acid in Aralepet, Tumkur, unlike the viral claims that suggested that the incident took place in “Tumakuru”. A communal angle was deliberately given to this incident. “Arrested Kanwariyas turned out to be Muslim guys who dressed up as Kanwar and tried to malign Hindus by committing violence“. A message was shared on social media claiming that Muslim men dressed up as Kanwar Yatris and perpetrated violence. In August 2018, violence perpetrated by Kanwar Yatra pilgrims was reported from across states in North India. The claim was false and provocative. The boys in question had donned saffron scarves to resemble the other pilgrims so that they could have easy passage through the traffic and the ensuing chaos of the Kanwar Yatra. This was confirmed to Alt News by the police. A claim about a Hindu boy’s throat being slit by a sword during a Muharram procession in Gauri Bazar area of Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh circulated on social media in September 2018.“In Deoria’s Gauri Bazaar, Islamic terrorists in a Muharram procession slit Hindu boy Vishal Ojha’s throat. The question is why havent the Islamic terrorists been arrested yet? (translation)” tweeted a social media user, Ashutosh Snehsagar on September 21, 2018. Along with the message, he had tweeted a video of a boy bleeding profusely. The video was originally posted by Breaking Tube, a twitter handle. This claim too turned out to be false. Deoria police has tweeted on September 21 that the boy seen in the video, Vishal Ojha had been injured after tubelight shards had slit his throat during a Muharram procession. On August 4, 2018, actor Koena Mitra tweeted an image of what appeared to be an extract from a newspaper, Sanjha Lokswami. It showed a rate list with a price tag put on non-Muslim women with an exhortation to lure them and convert them to Islam. The price ranged from Rs. 6 lakh for a Hindu Brahmin girl to Rs. 3 lakh for a Jain girl and Rs. 7 lakh for a Sikh girl. This information was in the form of an advertisement titled “लड़की भगाओ मुस्लिम बनाओ और इनाम पाओ” (Elope with a girl, convert her to Islam and gain a reward- translated). New India woooaah @narendramodi @PMOIndia @rajnathsingh any action Sir ? pic.twitter.com/ZciU19TzoL — Koena Mitra (@koenamitra) August 4, 2018 The image that was tweeted by Mitra is photoshopped, and this particular message has been circulating on social media and on WhatsApp for several years now. Alt News found that the earliest version of this dangerous provocation is on a blog titled ‘Sikh and Islam’published on February 5, 2010. In September 2018, a Twitter handle @Imamofpeace tweeted, “Islamic Extremists in India beating up a poor and elderly Indian beggar. I truly wish this Islamist criminal is arrested soon. @narendramodi.” A video attached with this tweet showed a youth beating up an elderly man. @Imamofpeace later deleted the tweet without clarification and long after the damage was done. Within six hours, it was retweeted over 3,300 times. Later this evolved into the claim that the person beaten up was a Naga sadhu. Alt News had contacted the SHO of Patel Nagar, Dehradun where the incident had occurred, who told us that the incident was being circulated with a false narrative on social media. “The man who was beaten up is not a Naga Sadhu, but a beggar. He is married and has six children. He went to a house to beg for food and molested the woman who brought him tea and biscuits.”The SHO further said that he was beaten up by the woman’s brother, who was not Muslim but belonged to a Hindu family. In July 2018, Prashant Patel Umrao had tweeted that 280 “minor orphan girls” were impregnated in “Teresa missionary orphanage” and their babies trafficked abroad. His claim was retweeted more than 3,000 times. Umrao’s tweet was also widely shared on Facebook. Alt News had contacted Jharkhand ADGP R.K. Mallick who told us that Patel’s claim is completely false. “The charity gives shelter to unwed mothers. At the time of delivery, they are taken by the nuns to the hospitals. It’s not as if children are born in the MoC homes. Post delivery, the babies are given to different child care centres as their mothers don’t want the responsibility and MoC also cannot take care of so many newborns.” A video of a boy tearing the Indian flag and saying, “Pakka Musalman hoon” was circulated widely on social media. A Twitter handle, @AnuMishraBJP , posted the video stating, “Tearing and throwing away the national flag of India, this boy is saying that … “I am a true Muslim” where is this mentality being born? @sardanarohit @KapilMishra_IND @TajinderBagga -Translated). It has been retweeted more than 2100 times and ‘liked’ more than 2300 times. भारत के राष्ट्रीय ध्वज को फाड़ के फेंक दिया इस लड़के ने कह रहा है…. कि “पक्का मुसलमान हूँ” ये मानसिकता कहाँ से पैदा हो रही है?@sardanarohit@[email protected]/AwFBDp0LsW — रोहित सरदाना (@AnuMishraBJP) August 20, 2018 This incident is from Surat, Gujarat.Two boys from the Hindu community, as part of a prank, made a video of themselves tearing the Indian flag and proclaimed that they are from the Muslim community. In a statement given to Alt News, G.A. Patel, Police Inspector, Amroli police station(Surat) clarified, “Both the teenagers are friends and belong to the Hindu community. The boys have also apologised for acting childishly.” In July 2018, a video was viral on social media which showed a school teacher teaching verses of the Quran to school children. It was claimed that the incident took place in Karnataka and it was alleged that this is the state of affairs ever since the Congress-JDS government came to power in the state. The text accompanying the video said that this school is in Shivamogga in Karnataka. The incident had occurred in Vidhyadeep Vidhyalaya, a kindergarten school in Shivamogga. It turned out that the video being shared widely was merely one of a two-part video. The second video showed another teacher teaching the students shlokas or verses from the Bhagwad Gita. The exercise was conducted as rehearsal for a programme to be held in the school on independence day and included recitation of verses from the Gita, Quran and the Bible. “An intermediate student Priyanka Kushwaha of Gopalganj district was attacked by a Muslim boy. He intended to kill her as he brutally attacked her with a knife. Where are the people who call Islam a peaceful religion? Where are these secular animals? It is because of seculars that such incidents occur (translated). This message was shared along with photographs of a wounded lady by several Twitter users followed by Piyush Goyal’s office. A report of October 11 had stated that a woman was attacked by a man named Sandeep Giri on her way back home from a temple. The perpetrated assaulted her with a knife when his advances were rejected. The incident took place in Kateya, Gopalganj in Bihar. To corroborate the media outlet’s version, Alt News contacted Gopalganj District Magistrate IAS Animesh Kumar Parashar. He informed that the man arrested was not a member of the Muslim community and claims on social media suggesting otherwise are only an attempt to communalise the issue. “In Bhagalpur, Bihar, Muslim pelted stones at the Shobha Yatra and had set fire to it. Hindus you just keep sleeping. If you are a child of Hindu, then share it to 1, 2, 3 whatever groups you have -translated) In July 2018, a Facebook user, रायल संजय सिंह राजपूत (Royal Sanjay Singh Rajput) shared two images and videos with the aforementioned text in a Facebook group, नरेन्द्र मोदी 2019 (साथ हैं तो जुडे़). At the time of writing, the post has been shared more than 7400 times. Alt News found that the images were old and not related to what has been claimed. Moreover, the video that was shared turned out to be that of Asansol, where communal violence had erupted earlier in March 2018. It was not related to any Hindu procession being attacked by Muslims in Bhagalpur as falsely claimed. In July 2018, several claims on social media alleged that members of the Muslim community filed a petition in the Supreme Court against holding ‘Mata ki Chowki’, a Hindu ritual, in public spaces. Among those who tweeted this misinformation was lawyer Prashant Patel Umrao who followed it with a question – “Should Hindus allow Namaz and Muharram on roads?” However, the petition was neither filed by ‘Muslims’ nor was it against the ritual. It was in fact in favour of the ritual and was filed by an organisation, Jyoti Jagran Manch, that was denied permission by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to hold ‘Mata ki Chowki’ and ‘jagran’ (overnight prayer meeting) at a park in South-West Delhi. While the petition referred only to the aforementioned Hindu rituals, the SC’s hearing would pertain to the larger question of whether any religious function should be permitted at public spaces. In May 2018, Priyanka Chopra’s visit to a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazaar as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador had invited much slander and abuse. In July, a photograph showing Chopra wearing a burqa was shared across social media platforms with the claim that the actress had donned the attire when she met ‘extremist’ Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh. The claim was false. In 2011, Priyanka Chopra had starred in a movie directed by Vishal Bharadwaj named ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’. It was for this movie that Chopra had donned a burqa. The photograph dates back to 2010. It was uploaded by Outlook on its website. In August 2018, two pictures were circulated on social media. One showed a woman tying a rakhi to a man and the other was purportedly of the same woman who seemed to be injured. कोमल(@komal44337466), a Twitter user had tweeted these images stating, “In Gonda (UP), a Hindu woman Niru Gautam considered Congress leader Ghafoor Khan as her brother and had also tied a rakhi. On 27th August Monday, Ghafoor called Niru home for some work and then he ran away after beating and raping Niru -translated). A Google reverse image search of the image where a woman is tying a rakhi showed that it is an old image. An image posted by a Twitter user on August 7, 2018 was one of the earliest instances that Alt News could find. The tweet promoted communal harmony stating, “some relations are beyond religion and Love and Hate have no religion (translated).” Hence, it cannot be representative of the incident falsely claimed to have happened. Disinformation of communal nature was relentless on social media, but it was exacerbated by incendiary media reports on certain incidents. Ankit Kumar Garg, a 31-year old teacher was shot dead on October 1 in Delhi. Soon after the incident, multiple news organisations reported that this was a case of honour killing. The basis of the reports was the accusation by the victim’s family that Ankit was killed by the family of the Muslim girl he was in a relationship with. Several news organisations gave a communal spin to the murder. The murder of Ankit Kumar Garg was not a case of honour killing. This was confirmed by the Delhi police via a press release of October 5, 2018. The press release categorically stated that 21-year old Akash has been arrested for the murder of Garg. The motive for the murder was jealousy over the relationship of the victim with a friend of the accused. On October 13, the wife and son of a Gurugram district judge were shot in broad daylight by their personal security officer (PSO) while on duty. On October 16, the police declared that the sole motive behind the murder was “sudden rage”. Several initial media reports had, however, linked the murder to “religious conversion” even before the police concluded its investigation. They declared that PSO Mahipal pressurised the judge’s family to embrace Christianity, which led to frequent altercations, and the subsequent attack. The basis of these reports was the perpetrator’s spiritual inclination and the multiple statements he gave during police interrogation. The murder was not linked to Mahipal’s spiritual inclination. The Haryana police held a press conference on October 16 to provide details about its investigation into the attack and stated that the sole motive behind the murder was the rage he felt when his absence was questioned and he was asked to hand over the car keys. “शुरू हो गया वो सब कुछ जिसका डर था. #up की एक #मस्जिद से आया फरमान – “टुकड़े टुकड़े में काटना है @Uppolice वालों को” (Everything we were afraid of has started. #up A decree came from a #mosque – cut them @uppolice into pieces- translated) tweeted Suresh Chavhanke, the editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News Channel, in July 2018 with an article titled exactly the same, which claimed that a decree against the UP Police has been passed by a mosque in Uttar Pradesh. शुरू हो गया वो सब कुछ जिसका डर था . #up की एक #मस्जिद से आया फरमान – “टुकड़े टुकड़े में काटना है @Uppolice वालों को”@baghpatpolice @dgpup @myogiadityanath @narendramodi@adgzonemeerut @HMOIndia #UPCM https://t.co/B2YBnlCpZ2 — Suresh Chavhanke STV (@SureshChavhanke) July 21, 2018 In a conversation with Alt News, SP Jai Prakash of Baghpat police had rubbished the claim of a threat of massacre of the police force issued by a mosque stating, “It was an act of sudden provocation. The accused has been arrested and produced before the court. In a statement given to the police, the accused has confessed of having lost his cool.” Despite the clarification by the police, Chavhanke did not apologize for this tweet and neither did Sudarshan News retract the article. Hundreds of groups, pages and accounts on various platforms are actively and relentlessly poisoning the social media ecosystem on a daily basis through the use of patently false and inflammatory content. Disturbingly, this trend has seemingly been aggravated through inaccurate reporting by mainstream media. The irony is inescapable- at a time when the Statue of Unity is unveiled with fanfare, organised propaganda that cultivates prejudice, fear and hate and foments communal tension continues unabated. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st November 2018 / 3:46 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/as-statue-of-unity-is-unveiled-divisive-misinformation-against-minorities-continues-unabated/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
312	Assam news outlets misreport 26 'Rohingya Muslims' arrested in Guwahati - Alt News Archit 14th September 2021 / 12:17 pm / Last updated: 14th September 2021 Assam-based media outlets DY365, Asom Live 24, and NorthEast Now reported that 26 Rohingya Muslims were arrested in Guwahati with fake Aadhaar cards. “They were planning to move to Delhi,” wrote NorthEast Now. Anchor Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi, who has over 40,000 followers, claimed that 26 Rohingya Muslims were arrested by Paltanbazar police at Guwahati after they entered Assam illegally from Myanmar. 26 Rohingya muslims entered Assam illegally from Myanmar arrested by Paltanbazar police at Guwahati. Arrested Rohingyas reveal master plan of illegal infiltration in Assam. They were allegedly carrying fake UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) ID cards. pic.twitter.com/jO4J9kdSWt — Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi 🇮🇳 (@NANDANPRATIM) September 12, 2021 This claim was also made by DY365 editor Atanu Bhuyan, Assam-based media professional Sailendra Pandey and university professor Hari Om. A keyword search on Google led us to multiple reports related to the incident in question. On September 12, 26 citizens of Myanmar were arrested in Guwahati. However, none of them belonged to the Rohingya community. This was reported by Assam Tribune, The Times of India, The Shillong Times, and The Sentinel. Assam Tribune and The Sentinel have listed the names of all 26. TOI reported that 26 Myanmar nationals, including 10 women, were arrested under Indian Penal Code 468 (forgery), relevant sections of Foreigners Act, 1946, Passport (Entry into India) Act,1920 and Passport (Entry into India) Rules 1950. The group was apprehended from Guwahati’s Kamrupa Lodge in the Rehabari area after the local police were tipped off. As per the police, the group drove down in two SUVs around 7 am from Mizoram capital Aizawl. “Upon interrogation, it was found that they are citizens of [Falam district] Chin state of Myanmar and were on their way to Delhi to study Bible (theology). We recovered forged Indian documents such as Aadhaar and voter cards, which were made in Mizoram, from their possession,” according to the Assam police statement in TOI report. Alt News spoke with the ACP at Pan Bazaar Police Station (1.5 km from Kamrupa Lodge). He said, “I can confirm that not a single person from the 26-member belongs to the Rohingya community. We interrogated each of them individually and learnt that they follow the Christian faith. We are following up with authorities in Myanmar for more details.” Additionally, we also spoke with DCP Guwahati Central Police Station Rajveer Singh. He said, “In addition to English, some individuals are fluent in Mizo. They were travelling to Bible college in East Delhi.” Even Singh refuted the claim the group belongs to the Rohingya community. The reader should note that Bordoloi posted a 2017 image of Rohingyas arrested in Tripura. To conclude, Assam-based media outlets and journalists falsely reported that 26 Rohingya Muslims were arrested by the Guwahati police on September 12. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th September 2021 / 12:17 pm / Last updated: 14th September 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/assam-news-outlets-misreport-26-rohingya-muslims-arrested-in-guwahati/", "author": "Archit" }
313	Tribal woman assaulted in MP in 2019 for eloping with Dalit man shared with multiple false claims - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 2nd July 2019 / 7:26 pm / Last updated: 25th March 2021 [Warning: Distressing visuals] A video where a tribal woman from Madhya Pradesh was brutally beaten with sticks by her family members is viral on social media with false claims. The incident had occurred on June 25, 2019 in Dhar district where the 21-year-old was reportedly thrashed for eloping with a Dalit man and refusing to marry a man from her community. Among the first claims used to circulate the video was one which blamed ‘saffron terrorism’ for the attack. In the video, a man can be seen wearing a saffron-coloured scarf with religious inscription. The message used to share the video said – “#भगवा_आतंकवाद भाजपा की शान #बेटी_बचाओ_बेटी_पढ़ाओ किस तरह 8-10 लड़के मिलकर एक लड़की को मार रहे हैं ₹50 का भगवा गमछा जिसमे राम लिखा हो गले में डालकर आपको कुछ भी करने की आजादी है यही है @narendramodi का#न्यू_डिजिटल_इंडिया (Saffron terrorism BJP’s pride. Teach the girl child, save the girl child. 8-10 men are thrashing a girl. In Narendra Modi’s new India, you are allowed to do anything if you sport a Rs 50 saffron scarf.)” The video was shared two years later with a similar message in Gujarati blaming the RSS – “ભારત ના જવાન મર્દ .RSS ના ભડવીરો,,,એક લાચાર દલીત છોકરી ને ખેતર. માં કુદરતી હાજત કરવા બદલ કૂરરતાપૂણઁ લાકડીઓ વડે ફટકાર તા ,,,,,,આ પોસ્ટ ને બેટી બચાવો ના નારા લગાવનારા ઓ સુધી પહોચાડે.” Another user claimed that she was beaten by RSS workers for urinating on a farm owned by a Brahmin. The second assertion takes a far more hateful narrative. Giving the incident a communal colour, social media users claimed that a Hindu woman was thrashed by Muslims. “#Share किस तरह 8-10 लड़के मिलकर एक लड़की को मार रहे हैं मुल्लो सुधर जाओ 1 हिन्दू लड़की से बदला लेना वो भी इस तरह से थू हे तेरे धर्म पे भारत में ऐसी घटना हर रोज कहीं न कहीं हो रही है ऐसे लोग इंसान नहीं शैतान है इन्हें गोली मार देनी चाहिए (#Share 8-10 men are beating a girl. Improve yourselves, Mullas. Taking revenge on one Hindu girl and that too in such a manner is shameful. Such incidents are occurring in India every day in the name of your religion. These people are not humans but devils. They should be shot dead.)” The video gained substantial momentum on social media, with many believing it to be from Uttar Pradesh. The incident, however, took place in Madhya Pradesh and had nothing to do with either ‘saffron terrorists’ or members of the Muslim community. UP police clarified that the attack happened in MP’s Dhar district and that the police have begun legal proceedings against the perpetrators. In a conversation with Alt News, Dhar SP Aaditya Pratap Singh rubbished social media claims. “The woman had eloped with a man from a different community. When she returned, her family wanted her to get married to a man from her community. When she refused, she was beaten by her relatives. Four have been arrested and three others have fled to Gujarat. They will soon be taken into custody,” he said. The incident was widely reported in mainstream media. It is commonplace on social media for the truth to be twisted and presented in a provocative manner. Any claim that rouses passion should be cross-checked with credible media reports. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd July 2019 / 7:26 pm / Last updated: 25th March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/assault-on-mp-tribal-woman-for-eloping-with-dalit-man-shared-with-multiple-false-claims/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
314	At least 3-yo photo viral as child serving food during farmers' protest - Alt News Aqib Pathan 21st December 2020 / 4:24 pm On December 17, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) member Bhupender Chaudhary shared an image of a child serving chapatis to people. The image was shared with hashtags #FarmersProtest and #LangarSewa (archived link). ❤️#FarmersProtest #LangarSewa pic.twitter.com/JIToXNZE7c — Bhupender Chaudhary (@bhupenderc19) December 17, 2020 Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, former Education Minister of Punjab and member of Shiromani Akali Dal, shared the same image with Punjabi caption, “ਨਿੱਕੇ ਨਿੱਕੇ ਹੱਥਾ ਨਾਲ ਕਿਸਾਨੀ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਦੇ ਯੋਧਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਲੰਗਰ ਛਕਾਉਂਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਧੀ।” (The daughter of Punjab feeding the warriors of the peasant struggle with a small hand). ਨਿੱਕੇ ਨਿੱਕੇ ਹੱਥਾ ਨਾਲ ਕਿਸਾਨੀ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਦੇ ਯੋਧਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਲੰਗਰ ਛਕਾਉਂਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਧੀ। Posted by Dr Daljit Singh Cheema on Friday, December 18, 2020 One facebook page जय जवान जय किसान upload the image with a hindi caption ““ईमान” का सौदा करता हैं, “जिन्दगी” की क़ीमत क्या जाने? जो “फसल” की क़ीमत दे न सके, वो “जान ” की क़ीमत क्या जाने?” and using #जय_किसान hashtag, which drew over 79,000 likes and 7,400 shares. (archived link) “ईमान” का सौदा करता हैं, “जिन्दगी” की क़ीमत क्या जाने? जो “फसल” की क़ीमत दे न सके, वो “जान ” की क़ीमत क्या जाने? 🌾🌾#जय_किसान🌾🌾 Posted by जय जवान जय किसान on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 This image is viral on Twitter and Facebook with the same Hindi caption. Alt news performed a reverse image search and came across a Facebook post by the page Guru Ka Langar. It posted the same image on July 14, 2017. While we were unable to find other details about the image, it was certainly not taken during farmers’ protest. It is, however, noteworthy that several children of farmers have participated in the ongoing protests. Aqib is monitoring and researching mis/disinformation at Alt News A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st December 2020 / 4:24 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/at-least-3-yo-photo-viral-as-child-serving-food-during-farmers-protest/", "author": "Aqib Pathan" }
315	Atal Bihari Vajpayee's funeral procession viral as PM Modi filing nomination papers - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 17th April 2019 / 5:31 pm / Last updated: 17th April 2019 A video clip circulated on social media is being shared with the claim that it represents a massive crowd of people that gathered in support of prime minister Narendra Modi on his way to filing nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections. “इसे कहते है फार्म भरने जाना,,आंखें फाड़ के देख लो चमचों शेर की चाल (This is called filing nomination. Open your eyes wide, bootlickers, and see the walk of a lion),” is the caption used to circulate the clip. From the individual account of one Srishtiraj Chauhan, the video received over 68,000 views. इसे कहते है फार्म भरने जाना,,आंखें फाड़ के देख लो चमचों शेर की चाल Posted by Srishtiraj Chauhan on Tuesday, 9 April 2019 Other individual users have also shared the identical clip with a similar narrative. The viral video shows PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah surrounded by security personnel and walking behind a vehicle decorated with flowers. If one looks closely, hoardings with the photograph of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are visible on the side of the procession. Alt News searched for videos on YouTube with the keywords – ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee procession’ – and the first result that turned up was a video similar to the one currently viral on social media. The video represents the funeral procession of former PM Vajpayee, which was broadcast by multiple media outlets. Boomlive had earlier fact-checked the viral clip. Moreover, prime minister Narendra Modi is yet to file his nomination papers. The PM will likely file his nomination from Varanasi on April 26. The 17th Lok Sabha elections have witnessed numerous cases of misinformation circulated with regard to the polls. Another old, unrelated video was viral last week to portray Burqa-clad women giving fake votes in the general elections. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	17th April 2019 / 5:31 pm / Last updated: 17th April 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/atal-bihar-vajpayees-funeral-procession-viral-as-pm-modi-filing-nomination-papers/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
316	How media outlets announced former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's death prematurely - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 16th August 2018 / 9:05 pm Atal Bihari Vajpayee was admitted at AIIMS, Delhi for the past nine weeks and passed away at 5:05 PM on August 16, 2018. The 93-year-old former Prime Minister had suffered a stroke in 2009 that weakened his cognitive abilities. Subsequently, he also developed dementia. Vajpayee’s condition worsened in the last 36 hours and he was put on life support. However, before any official announcement of his demise was made, national media outlets, in an attempt to break news, declared the former Prime Minister dead. Times Now published an article titled “Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away at 93” at 2:39 PM and later altered the report to “Atal Bihari Vajpayee health LIVE updates: Confusion over Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement on Vajpayee”. Times Now published another article on “Vajpayee’s health” at around 4 PM without providing any clarification for its earlier slight. Furthermore, the article’s strapline ironically mentioned that “a number of media organisations misquoted Rajnath Singh while he was speaking in the context of Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Dass Tandon.” But the media outlet missed adding that it made the error as well. The Twitter handle of ABP Majha also prematurely tweeted that Vajpayee had passed away and later deleted its tweet without any clarification or apology. ABP News Hindi too took down a tweet posted at around 12:53 PM where they wrote – “amidst reports of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death, a mortuary van reaches the premises of AIIMS.” The Statesman reported that Vajpayee was no more at 2:40 PM but later changed the title of their report to “Atal Bihari Vajpayee death rumours on social media.” The English daily, however, clarified in the article that their earlier “report had inadvertently said Vajpayee had passed away.” HuffPost India carried out an article at 1:40 PM declaring the former PM dead without the official announcement finding a space in their reportage. India TV said on live telecast that Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away and claimed to have gotten the information from DD News. After AIIMS press release was published, India TV said in the same live broadcast that the former PM passed away at 5:05 PM. At around 3 PM, Sudarshan News broke the news of Vajpayee’s death – two hours before AIIM’s press release. Ironically, at around 5:30 PM they published another article declaring the death of the former PM. As posted by a Twitter user, India News too prematurely reported the demise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 2:40 PM. #indianews channel should be ashamed of spreading rumour , they should apologise for this blunder #AtalBihariBajpayee @AltNews @swamv39 @dhruv_rathee @ashu3page @sakshijoshii pic.twitter.com/oVJmzS2yPh — Keshaw 0506 (@Keshaw0506) August 16, 2018 Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy tweeted at 11:23 AM that the former PM has “passed away.” Realising his faux pas, Roy later deleted his tweet and apologised for the same. He wrote that his tweet was based on the information he received from an “all-India TV channel.” I am sorry I tweeted something upon being told by an all-India TV channel. I had taken it to be authentic. There has so far been no official announcement. I have deleted my tweet. Sorry again — Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) August 16, 2018 Himachal Pradesh education minister, Suresh Bhardwaj, gave a speech where he also declared that the former PM was dead. The video of his speech was uploaded by social media users. शर्म करो ।। पूर्व PM अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी के निधन के औपचारिक ऐलान से पहले ही हिमाचल सरकार के शिक्षा मंत्री ने उन्हें मृत घोषित कर दिया… देखें वीडियो—#AtalBihariVaajpayee Posted by Rajender Verma on Thursday, 16 August 2018 Circulating such news without verifying facts can sometimes lead to chaos. Hours before the demise of former CM of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha, social media was brimming with rumours declaring her dead. The Twitter hashtag #RIPJayalalithaa began trending, causing frenzied citizens to attack Chennai’s Apollo hospital. Any slights of posting misinformation on a public portal should always be rectified with a clarification so as keep citizens rightly informed. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th August 2018 / 9:05 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/atal-bihari-vajpayee-death-national-media/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
317	Did Atal Bihari Vajpayee order the CBI investigation in the case of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh? - Alt News Alt News Desk 13th September 2017 / 11:35 am After judiciary’s mandate to send “love charger” Ram Rahim Singh behind the bars, the Indian right-wing on social media has adopted an all guns blazing approach to credit the party and its leaders for what clearly seems a loss of face for the BJP. Latest from this factory are tweets attributing the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Likes of CBFC Member Ashoke Pandit, Reshmi Dasgupta and India Behind the Lens (IBTL), all members of the right leaning Twitteratti, are tweeting about how the letter sent by one Sadhvi to Vajpayee prompted the CBI to start the investigation which resulted in the trial court imprisoning him for 20 years. 1/5: Victim writes anonymous letter directly to then PM Vajpayee in 2002, after state (CM Chautala/INLD) & police fail her. CBI probe begins pic.twitter.com/GuqLmSyroW — I.B.T.L (@IndiaBTL) August 26, 2017 It is a day of celebration. The end of #RapistRamRahim had started with #AtalBihariVajpayee ji & it has been concluded by @narendramodi ji. — Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) August 28, 2017 An anonymous letter penned by the Sadhvi serving the Dera, exposing Ram Rahim and the brutal behind the scenes reality of Dera was addressed to various authorities namely: Haryana CM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Punjab and Haryana High Court. It is indeed true that the erstwhile PM Vajpayee was one of the authorities to whom the letter was addressed but when it comes to taking credit for prompting the action against the flamboyant guru, the claims to credit Vajpayee fail miserably. The only body which deserves credit for bringing the Dera Chief to book is the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, it treated the anonymous letter addressed to it as a PIL petition and asked the CBI to register an FIR against Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the petition Crl. Misc. No. 26994-M of 2002 dated 24.9.2002. Subsequently the special crime branch of CBI, Chandigarh registered the FIR No. RC 5(S)/2002/SIU-XV/CHG dated 12.12.2002. The court’s move to act on its own motion and direct the CBI to register a case is itself a testimony against the false propaganda being spread on social media. The above image is a screenshot of the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s website. It reads the name of the case as “COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION V/S STATE OF HARYANA” (the nomenclature in case of suo motu cognizance) and “BY POST’ in the place where Advocate’s name is to be mentioned. This clears the air in no uncertain terms that the CBI was asked by the High Court and nobody else. Be it the then PM or the Haryana CM. Moreover the court has in its previous order also reiterated this fact. The relevant text is reproduced below. You can read the judgement here: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/53158254/ “Briefly the facts of the case are that petitioner is facing trial in case FIR No. RC 5(S)/2002/SIU-XV/CHG dated 12.12.2002 for offence punishable under Sections 376,506 and 509 IPC registered at Police Station Special Crime Branch, CBI, Chandigarh. The said FIR was registered ‘on the directions issued by this Court on 24.9.2002’ in Crl. Misc. No. 26994-M of 2002 dated 24.9.2002 as writ jurisdiction was invoked by this Court on its own motion in respect of an anonymous complaint. The chargesheet was filed against accused-petitioner on 30.7.2007 and case was committed to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, CBI for trial for offences punishable under Sections 376, 506 IPC on 6.9.2008.” It is established by now that the High Court invoked its writ jurisdiction suo motu on the basis of the letter addressed to it. No government, be it the state or the centre took any measure to set the judicial ball rolling against the self styled godman. The claims do not hold ground when subjected to scrutiny. The very fact that court had to order the CBI to initiate proceedings against the Dera chief says a lot about the deliberate reluctance of the state and centre towards the case. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s conviction is definitely a pat on the judiciary’s back. The uncomfortable reality that has surfaced in the public domain about the close association of various BJP leaders with Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been a set-back of sorts for the BJP. Therefore such rumours about Vajpayee being responsible for the godman’s fate are a part of a face saving exercise by supporters. What really should have happened is that those in power in Punjab and Haryana over years, which includes the two national parties Congress and BJP, should concede their inability to handle the entire Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh episode and apologize to the people of this country for turning a blind eye to his activities in lieu of electoral gains. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th September 2017 / 11:35 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/atal-bihari-vajpayee-order-cbi-investigation-case-gurmeet-ram-rahim-singh/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
318	Was Atal Bihari Vajpayee passenger of India's first ever Metro as claimed by PM Modi? - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 26th December 2017 / 7:26 pm “Hamare liye garv ki baat hai ki 24 December 2002 ko Atal Bihari Vajpayee iss desh ke sabse pehle metro ke passenger bane they” (It is a matter of pride for us that on December 24, 2002 Atal Bihari Vajpayee became a passenger in the country’s first metro), said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi was speaking at an event in New Delhi on December 25 to launch the Magenta line of the Delhi metro. Here is the speech of the Prime Minister. So, is the Delhi metro the first metro system in the country as claimed by PM Modi? The above photograph is of former PM Indira Gandhi laying the foundation stone for the Kolkata metro in 1972, the year in which the project was sanctioned. Kolkata metro is the oldest metro transport system in the country. It commenced operations on October 24, 1984 when the first train rolled out of the Esplanade station to cover a distance of 3.4 kilometres to Bhowanipor. Designed to make travel smoother by transporting masses of people for short to medium distances at high frequency in urban and suburban spaces, the metro system also known as the subway, underground or the tube has been operational since the 19th century when the Metropolitan Railway (now part of The London Underground) opened in London in 1863. The Kolkata metro was conceived as the panacea to the ills of surface transportation in the city where roads accounted for a little over 4 percent of the surface area. A blueprint was prepared in 1971 with the help of U.S.S.R and engineers from East Germany to construct five rapid transit lines in the city. The project was finally flagged off in 1984 after a decade of delays. In 2010, the Kolkata Metro became the 17th zone of the Indian Railways and is operated by the Ministry of Railways. So what about Delhi metro? In 1995, the Government of Delhi and the Government of India jointly set up a company, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC). E.Sreedharan was appointed as the managing director of the joint venture. Construction began in 1998 and the metro was operationalised on December 24, 2002 when then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the Red line of the metro from Shahdara to Tis Hazari. The Delhi metro was the second metro system to become operational in India after Kolkata. Considering that Kolkata metro has been operational since 1984, PM Modi’s statement that Delhi metro is the first ever in India is in sync with the outlandish claims that have been made in the past by the ruling party and its members. Earlier this month, Alt News busted the claim that PM Modi travelled in the first ever seaplane in the country. It has now become a routine affair for politicians to hog the limelight and take credit for big and important projects and indulge in hyperbole. Hence, a healthy dose of skepticism on the part of the citizen is completely warranted. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th December 2017 / 7:26 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/atal-bihari-vajpayee-passenger-indias-first-ever-metro-claimed-pm-modi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
319	Audio analysis of the viral Araria video with alleged Pro-Pak slogans raises suspicions - Alt News Pratik Sinha 16th March 2018 / 11:42 am After BJP’s loss in Araria, Bihar, in the bypoll elections, a video has become viral which is allegedly from Araria and where it is being claimed that supporters of the winning candidate Sarfaraz Alam are raising pro-Pakistan slogans. The video can be seen below. Even a casual look a the video will make it apparent that there are serious issues with lip sync in the video. Alt News decided to dig deeper into this and do an audio analysis of the above video. We examined this video from 3 independent sources. 1) https://youtu.be/96-RkYc0B4w (Size: 478528 bytes) 2) https://twitter.com/sachinsingh1010/status/974320452515512320 (Size: 1640713 bytes) 3) Video received via WhatsApp which can be downloaded here. (Size: 1553257 bytes) We analysed the three videos using an audio editing software called Audacity. What is observed consistently across all the three videos is that in two spots in the video, the volume or the audio level is ZERO (circled). The above two spots with zero audio level are roughly between 1) 0.000 and 0.140 seconds 2) 18.500 and 19.400 seconds An expanded version of the waveform where audio levels are ZERO can be seen below. The same lack of volume can be seen when the audio is analysed using Spek which is an acoustic spectrum analyzer software. The image generated by Spek can be seen below. The two distinct spots with zero audio level is even more apparently in the waveform generated by Spek. If you listen to the video, you’ll hear a sound of a vehicle in the background, one which resembles a tuktuk. There is also other kinds of commotion going on in the background that is audible. However, all that background noise becomes ZERO at the above mentioned time intervals which raises the initial suspicions about this video and its authenticity. As we mentioned earlier, the very first observation about the video was that it didn’t seem to have lip sync. To ascertain whether the audio and video are in sync, we examined individual frames from the video against the audio waveform. For those who are interested in knowing how to break down a video into individual frames, we used ffmpeg which is a cross-platform video editor. The following highlighted command will break down the video into individual frames at a rate of 30 frames per second and add a timestamp to the top left. The timestamp reflects the position of an individual frame with respect to the start of the video. A zip file with all the frames obtained using the above command can be downloaded here. From the above images, we created various collages to see the lip positions of the subjects in the video. The following collage has frames from 3.100 seconds to 3.767 seconds of the video. As can be seen in the above collage, only the person on the right has his mouth visibly open while the other two people have their mouth shut. The person on the right has his mouth visibly open from 3.200 seconds to 3.700 seconds. If the audio and video are in sync, the audio waveform should show increased audio levels during this period. Does it? The audio waveform shows almost nil audio levels in the duration 3.250 seconds to 3.500 seconds. This shows that while the subject on the right had his mouth open and is visibly exulting, the audio for the corresponding period doesn’t match and shows close to nil audio levels. This shows that the audio and video are not in sync. The above observations necessitate that the video be examined by a certified forensic laboratory for its authenticity. With so many easy-to-use software tools available which allows one to dub an audio over an existing video, news channels or journalists shouldn’t be propagating such videos without doing an independent analysis of their own. सरफराज आलम की जीत के बाद लगे थे पाक जिंदाबाद के नारे, FIR दर्ज Live: https://t.co/fOz5QPkk43 #Khabardar pic.twitter.com/jiLt965hfd — आज तक (@aajtak) March 15, 2018 Moments after BJP loss in Araria, Bihar, locals were caught raising anti-India slogans. Ground report by Shyam pic.twitter.com/uizpqIL10J — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 16, 2018 Who are these chaps chanting 'Bharat Tere Tukde Honge' at Araria Bihar? Police have registered an FIR, must probe. What kind of a RJD victory chant is this? Identify, interrogate & punish these elements. Chants today could be something more sinister tomorrow. https://t.co/tgnPqct96D — GAURAV C SAWANT (@gauravcsawant) March 15, 2018 Videos like the one above can cause friction between communities of an area and can be used as part of a political agenda. It is therefore of utmost importance that when these videos become viral, extra care must be taken before mainstream media further popularises such videos. #Bihar: 2 men, named Sultan Aazmi & Shehjad, arrested over viral video from #Araria, that showed people raising anti-India slogans. — ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2018 Two persons have been reportedly arrested with regards to the above video and we hope that police investigation will throw further light on the authenticity of the video. The audio analysis of the videos circulating on social media raise several red flags and hence a detailed forensic analysis of the video should be done. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th March 2018 / 11:42 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/audio-analysis-of-the-viral-araria-video-with-alleged-pro-pak-slogans-raises-suspicions/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
320	Audio clip based on Facebook post from 2017 attributed to journalist Ravish Kumar - Alt News Jignesh Patel 29th May 2020 / 7:46 pm / Last updated: 4th January 2021 An audio clip of 4:46 minutes is doing the rounds on messaging applications like WhatsApp. A man can be heard talking about the lack of representation of the Muslim community in the media and the prevalence of pliant media in this era of corporate-driven news. In the clip, the person criticises the Muslim community for not taking the effort to develop and invest in independent media which would help raise their voice. He then goes on to propose the idea that the Muslim community should take up matters in their own hands and try to find solutions for their problems through technology and technological means. Facebook user Ibn Aadam posted the audio clip while ascribing it to journalist Ravish Kumar. पत्रकार रविश कुमार जी ने हमारी क़ौम को झंझोडने वाली बात कहीं।। इस पर अमल करना ज़रूरी हैं। इसलिए ज़रूर सुने।।👍🙏👏 Posted by Ibn Aadam on Tuesday, 26 May 2020 The following message is being forwarded on WhatsApp along with the audio clip, “Ravish Kumar gives a shoe on the face to Muslims. It is enraging to hear but what can we do. We will have to believe. (रवीश कुमार का मुसलमानों के मुंह पर जूता, सुनकर जलन तो बहुत हो रही है पर अब करे तो क्या करें यकीनन करना तो हमें ही है और हमें ही करना था.)” Transcript of the complete audio clip in Hindi: “मैं देख रहा हूं और पढ़ भी रहा हूं कि कुछ लोग मीडिया को दलाल कह रहे हैं. कुछ मीडिया मुर्दाबाद के नारे लगा रहे हैं. यक़ीनन ये सब मुसलमान ही ज्यादातर कह रहे हैं और बेशक़ मीडिया में बेशूमार हमारे यहाँ की कमियां भी हैं, इस बात से भी कोई इनकार नहीं किया जा सकता है. लेकिन मेरा सवाल जो बार-बार मेरे ज़ेहन में आता है जैसा कि आप बताते है कि आपकी तादाद 20,25 या उससे भी ज़्यादा करोड़ हो सकती हैं, और आपके पास है जो जमियत-उलेमा-ए-हिंद है, जमात-ए-इस्लामी हिंद है, ऑल इंडिया मुस्लिम पर्सनल लॉ बोर्ड है, दारूल उलूम है, देवबंद है, वक्फ़ बोर्ड है, हज़रत निज़ामुद्दीन है, अजमेर शरीफ़ है, और ऐसे बहुत सारे नाम मैं ले सकता हूँ यहाँ पर. जैसे आपके पास इमाम बुखारी है, मुफ़्ती मुकर्रम है, अहमद पटेल है, आज़म खान है, अज़ीम प्रेमजी है, असदउद्दीन औवेसी है, बदरूद्दीन है, अजमल है, शाहरूख खान है, सलमान खान है, आमिर खान है, मोहम्मद अज़हरूद्दीन है, दिल्ली में आपके पास एक बहुत बड़ा इलाका है, औखला है सीलमपुर है. तो फिर मेरा एक सवाल ये है और आपके अंदर पढ़े लिखे लोग न हो ऐसा भी नहीं है. पढ़े लिखे लोग भी आपके पास काफी है, फिर भी आप एक अपना न्यूज़ चैनल नहीं चला सके अभी तक! ये सोचने वाली बात है कि नहीं, चैनल तो दूर की बात है, आपसे एक ढ़ंग का नेशनल अख़बार, राष्ट्रीय अख़बार जिसे बोलते है वो नहीं चलाया गया आजतक! रेडियो स्टेशन तक तो खोल नहीं पाएं है अभी तक! डिजिटल मीडिया, न्यू मीडिया का ज़माना आ गया है, और इसके बावजूद आप जो है एक जानदार या कामचलाऊ वैक्ल्पिक मीडिया अभी तक उसको जो है नहीं ला पाये है, नहीं चला पाये है, नहीं खोल पाये हैं. पता है कि इसकी वजह क्या है असलियत क्या है आखिर? असलियत इसकी ये है कि जो सदियों से जलसों में, इज्तिमो में, उर्स में ग़रीबों के लाखों-करोड़ों उड़ाए गये है और बिरयानी के बाद मीठी सौंफ चबाके, उनको सबको बोल दिया है कि अब खाट पे पड़ के अब सो जाओ. अगर इन्हीं पैसों का ढ़ंग से इस्तेमाल किया गया होता, मीडिया हाउस खोला गया होता, तो आज ये ज़लालत, ये रूसवाई जो आप झेल रहे हैं ना. ये आज आपको झेलनी नहीं पड़ती. आपकी आवाज़ को उठाने वाले कुछ चैनल होते जो आपकी आवाज़ को उठाते. ये ताजमहल, कुतुबमीनार, लालक़िला ये सब दिखाकर कब तक इतराते रहोगे? ये हमारे पुरखे जो बनाके चले गये, इनपे कब तक इतराते रहोगे? तुमने क्या बनाया की जिसपर तुम्हारी औलाद जो है वो कुछ इतरा सके? हमारे बुज़ुर्गों ने विरासत के रूप में क्या क्या दे दिया हमे, वक्फ बोर्ड्स दिया जो अरबों-खरबों की ज़मीन, मस्जिदों, मदरसों, क़ब्रिस्तान, खानकाह, दरगाह, स्कूल, कॉलेज के लिए जो उन्होंने जिसे कहते हैं डोनेट कर दी थी, दान कर दी थी उसे कौन डकार गया? उसे कोई गैर मुस्लिम तो नहीं डकार गया ना! फिर बात करते हैं कि हमारा कोई, हमारे लिए कोई खड़ा होने वाला नहीं है. क्या कुछ नहीं कर सकते थे आप, क्या कुछ नहीं कर सकते थे, लेकिन जब ख़ैरात की ज़मीन पर कोठियां बनाओगे, और उनपर अपने घर बनाओगे तो फिर क्या खुदा को मुंह दिखाओगे, और फिर क्या खुदा तुम्हारे लिए अच्छा करेगा. आप किसे गालियां दे रहे हैं? किसे गालियां दे रहे हैं आप लोग? उस कॉरपोरेट को गालियां दे रहे हैं, उन बिज़नेसमैन को गालियां दे रहे हैं, जिसे सिर्फ मुनाफा चाहिये, जिन्हें जर्नलिज़्म से कोई लेना-देना, जर्नलिज्म से उनका कोई मतलब नहीं. आप अपना मीडिया शुरू करो किसने रोका है आपको? कांग्रेस ने रोका है बीजेपी ने रोका है या किसी और पार्टी ने आपको रोका है? अगर बस की बात नहीं हैं तो फिर छोड़ो यार ये ज़्यादा फड़फड़ाना कि हमारे लिए मीडिया ये नहीं दिखाता, फिर ये सबकी जरूरत नहीं है जैसा वो दिखाऐंगे आपको देखना पड़ेगा, और देख भी रहे हैं, पढ़ भी रहे हैं, सुन भी रहे हैं. जैसा वो आपको पढ़वाएंगे न्यूज़ पेपर के माध्यम से आपको पढ़ना पड़ेगा जैसा आपको न्यूज़ चैनल के माध्यम से दिखाएंगे वो देखना पड़ेगा आपको. यार अब तो ये क़ाहिलपन छोड़ दो, दूसरों के ऊपर (inaudible) दोष देना ये सब छोड़ दो, ये देखो की दिक्क़त कहां है, उसका हल निकालने की कोशिश करो. ये टेक्नॉलोजी का दौर है, टैक्निकल बनो और टेक्निकल तरीके से अपनी लड़ाई लड़ने की कोशिश करो.” A Google search with a phrase from the speech led us to a 2017 Facebook post by one Mohd Zuber Khan. The text of this post matches with the text of the audio clip that is viral on social media. For instance, Khan’s post says, ” देख रहा हूं, पढ़ रहा हूं कि कुछ लोग मीडिया को दलाल कह रहे हैं, और दलाल मीडिया मुर्दाबाद के नारे लगा रहे हैं। यक़ीनन ये सब मुसलमान कह रहे हैं। बेशक़ मीडिया में बेशूमार कमियां हैं, इस बात से भी कोई इंकार नहीं कर सकता!!!”, whereas the man in the the viral audio can be heard saying, “मैं देख रहा हूं और पढ़ भी रहा हूं कि कुछ लोग मीडिया को दलाल कह रहे हैं. कुछ मीडिया मुर्दाबाद के नारे लगा रहे हैं. यक़ीनन ये सब मुसलमान ही ज्यादातर कह रहे हैं और बेशक़ मीडिया में बेशूमार हमारे यहाँ की कमियां भी हैं, इस बात से भी कोई इनकार नहीं किया जा सकता है”. #दलाल_मीडिया और #मुसलमान मैं देख रहा हूं, पढ़ रहा हूं कि कुछ लोग मीडिया को दलाल कह रहे हैं, और दलाल मीडिया मुर्दाबाद के… Posted by Mohd Zuber Khan on Tuesday, 14 April 2020 We reached out to Zuber Khan regarding the viral audio clip. In a conversation with Alt News, he said, “I wrote this post in 2017 and I am a journalist myself and I am associated with a news channel. I have studied at Jamia University. I felt bad when a friend called and asked me if I have copy-pasted the content. When I wrote it back [in 2017], the post had gone viral on Facebook and WhatsApp.” He further informed that he had reposted the same text in April 2020 with some changes. Posted below is the Facebook post from April 2020. #दलाल_मीडिया और #मुसलमान मैं देख रहा हूं, पढ़ रहा हूं कि कुछ लोग मीडिया को दलाल कह रहे हैं, और दलाल मीडिया मुर्दाबाद के… Posted by Mohd Zuber Khan on Wednesday, 23 August 2017 On May 27, he also took to Facebook and clarified that it was originally his post that is now being circulated as Ravish Kumar’s message for the Muslim community. He said that he has heard the viral clip and it’s not Ravish Kumar’s voice. “On one hand you steal content and then initiate a campaign to discredit a reputable and responsible journalist,” Khan opined. Furthermore, Alt News contacted journalist Ravish Kumar for his comments on the viral audio attributed to him. He denied ever recording the clip and sent us a recording in his own voice. In the audio clip posted below, you can listen to Kumar delivering the first few lines of the viral text. The difference between the two voices is quite evident. Therefore, an audio clip based on a Facebook post originally written by journalist Zuber Khan in 2017 was falsely attributed to journalist Ravish Kumar. The clip was passed off as a message from Kumar to the Muslim community. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th May 2020 / 7:46 pm / Last updated: 4th January 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/audio-clip-based-on-old-viral-post-attributed-to-journalist-ravish-kumar/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
321	Audio clip discrediting CAA protestors falsely attributed to Supreme Court advocate Harish Salve - Alt News Archit 9th January 2021 / 8:57 pm / Last updated: 9th January 2021 An audio clip gone viral on WhatsApp is attributed to senior supreme court lawyer Harish Salve. The five-minute audio discredits the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) held across the nation between December 2019 and February 2020. The audio calls the protestors “crooks” and “traitors”. The clip also states that the “likes of Rahul Gandhi and Asaduddin Owaisi would have no future” without the protestors. While listening to the audio clip we noticed that at the 1:34 mark, the person revealed his identity as Suresh Kochattil. We look up this name and found that a LinkedIn profile which says he is the chief operating officer (COO) at Janam TV, a Malayalam language news channel. We also found a Facebook profile with the same name that includes a link to Jaman TV website. Last year in August, Kochattil posted a clarification about the audio clip. He wrote, “An old audio clip of mine is going viral on WhatsApp. It was recorded and released during the anti CAA agitation. Over the last few days, many friends have called/messaged me to confirm it was me and not Harish Salve, as many claimed. If you listen to it closely, at 1:34, I mention by name. Hope this clears the confusion.” He further added, “A few months ago, a video of mine got credited to Justice Srikrishna, so much so that he had to issue a clarification that it was not him. I hope Harish Salve ji is not forced to undergo this trouble.” An old audio clip of mine is going viral on WhatsApp. It was recorded and released during the anti CAA agitation. Over the last few days, many friends have called / messaged me to confirm it was me and not Harish Salve, as many claimed. If you listen to it closely, at 1:34, i mention by name. Hope this clears the confusion. A few months ago, a video of mine got credited to Justice Srikrishna, so much so that he had to issue a clarification that it was not him. I hope Harish Salve ji is not forced to undergo this trouble. Posted by Suresh Kochattil on Sunday, 16 August 2020 Last year in March, Supreme Court advocate Harish Salve shared his opinions on CAA to Moneycontrol, “I fail to understand how a law which is designed to confer the benefit on an identified class of persons, and which identification is based on a rational criterion, can be condemned as being discriminatory on the ground that the legislation could have created a wider class…” which was also opined in the audio clip. Salve confirmed to Alt News that viral audio has not been not recorded by him. An audio clip recorded by Janam TV COO Suresh Kochattil was reshared on WhatsApp in the name of Supreme Court advocate Harish Salve. Last year in April, similar clip on migrant labourers was falsely attributed to Salve. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th January 2021 / 8:57 pm / Last updated: 9th January 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/audio-clip-discrediting-caa-protestors-falsely-attributed-to-supreme-court-advocate-harish-salve/", "author": "Archit" }
322	Audio superimposed on 2015 image falsely suggests Modi govt jailed Muslim women - Alt News Priyanka Jha 2nd January 2020 / 6:17 pm On December 30, 2019, Twitter handle @GoSlowplz tweeted a video and wrote, “Plz save these ladies. What the hell have done modi. Rt” The video shows an image of women locked behind bars and carries an audio clip where the narrator says, “You will be shocked to see this video. Share this video widely. Narendra Modi says, educate the girl, save the girl. But see how they are mistreated here and no one’s come to help. You will share this video if you are my brother. Do not delete.” The clip has been shared in the backdrop of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Plz save these ladies. What the hell have done modi. Rt pic.twitter.com/j039Qa8vwu — Retweet Sarkar™️ ‎ (@GoSlowplz) December 29, 2019 Another Twitter user @IndurChhugani shared it and wrote, “Ladies put in jail. They pleading and seeking YOUR help. Retweet.” Ladies put in jail. They pleading and seeking YOUR help. Retweet.pic.twitter.com/jDIFfUkaQe — Indur Chhugani (@IndurChhugani) December 30, 2019 Alt News reverse-searched the image on Yandex and found that it has been available on the internet at least since 2015. It was shared by a YouTube channel Rohingya Vision on April 7, 2015. As per the channel, a Rohingya boy died due to human trafficking. We found that Rohingya Vision regularly shares videos related to Rohingyas. The same photograph posted by several websites as well in 2015. Among them was arakanna.com which wrote an article on April 15, 2015 – “Rohingya refugees in Thailand complain of being raped in prison.” According to another website islahhaber.net, “Hundreds of people kidnapped from the Rohingya refugee camp in Thailand were announced to be sold to organ mafia by some people. According to human rights activists, Rohingya Muslims, who escaped from the pressure of the Buddhist gangs and the Arakan government in the region, took refuge in Thailand.” The report is in Arabic. Based on this, we performed a keyword search on Google and found media reports from 2015 which talked about Rohingyas who became victims of trafficking in Thailand. While Alt News was unable to independently verify the photograph, as per several websites it depicts Rohingyas who fled to Thailand to evade persecution in Arakan or Rakhine state of Myanmar. However, the photograph’s availability since 2015 proves that it does not represent any incident related to the recently passed CAA. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd January 2020 / 6:17 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/audio-superimposed-on-2015-image-falsely-suggests-modi-govt-jailed-muslim-women/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
323	August 2019: Misinformation centered around J&K, child abduction rumours - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 10th September 2019 / 7:01 pm August 2019 was characterised by a series of dangerous rumours about child abduction gangs, which resulted in a series of violent incidents in various states. This time around, the rumours specifically targeted mentally challenged persons and transgenders. Furthermore, the central government’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu & Kashmir also triggered a deluge of misinformation on social media. This misinformation was generated and furthered by all sides of the political and ideological divide. Rumours of child abduction gangs on the prowl continued from July and took a sinister turn as mentally challenged people and transgenders were specifically targeted via these rumours. Two videos of a woman held hostage by a mob which is accusing her of child-lifting were viral on social media. In the first video, the mob is questioning the woman dressed in a black saree about her team of ‘child-kidnappers’. It was shared with the message, “A team of 2,000 Rohingyas are on a prowl across the country to kidnap children. They either sell these kids or sacrifice them. Watch and listen to it yourself and share it as much as possible -translated. Another video of the same woman, where is she is inquired by the mob about the number of abducted children and their whereabouts, was also shared on social media. सावधान पूरे हिन्दुस्तान में रोहिंग्या की 2000 लोगो की टीम आयी है जो बच्चों को उठा के ले जा रही है कोई बेचता है कोई बलि के लिये ले जाता है खुद देखो सुनो ओर ज्यादा से ज्यादा इसे फैलाओ Posted by Sunita Jairam on Monday, August 19, 2019 Alt News found that this woman was held hostage by a mob in Dimrauni village of UP’s Jhansi district. A YouTube Channel Bharat News 24 Live claimed that the woman was a child-lifter. Alt News contacted Badagaon police station to confirm the incident and inquire about its status. We were informed that the incident is at least 15-20 days old and the woman was a mentally-challenged person. The villagers had mistaken her for being a child-lifter. A video of a man dressed in women’s clothing is massively viral on social media with the claim that he is a child-kidnapper. From a personal Facebook account फौजी सिहँ जी, the video has a whopping 2.3 million views. The post was shared with the claim that at least 2,000 Rohingyas are on a prowl across the country to kidnap children. They either sell these kids or sacrifice them, the message asserted. Alt News contacted Mauranipur police station, Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh and was informed that the man was not a child-kidnapper. He was a mentally-challenged person who was beaten on the suspicion of being a child-lifter. “This incident is at least 10-15 days old. The youth’s name is Pushpendra Singh, son of Gajrar Singh. He is from Ruthiyai gram in Guna, Madhya Pradesh and was getting treated for his mental illness in Gwalior. He lost his way at a station and wandered all the way to Khilara gram in Mauranipur where locals, who believed that he was a child kidnapper, thrashed him.” A set of videos was shared on social media with the narrative that these depict child-kidnappers who sell kidneys of children for money. The message used to share the video claims – “These videos were circulated from district morena of Madhya Pradesh. They were extracting kidneys and heart from children.” The visual description of the four videos from top-left is as follows: Alt News was able to ascertain that out these four videos, three are unrelated to the child-kidnapping. We have traced the origins of each video with their actual narrative. Alt News’ fact-check may be read here. A photograph of lifeless bodies of five children was shared on social media with two separate claims. The first claim suggested that the image was released by Rajasthan police and warned people of an active gang prowling in Rajasthan. The message alerts people to take care of their children. A second claim, also shared in Hindi, was posted by a Facebook user who shared the image of the dead children in a set of four other photographs. He claimed that child-kidnappers are lifting kids and selling their kidneys. A simple reverse-image search on Google revealed that all the five photographs were shared with a false narrative. Alt News’s detailed fact-check may be read here. The video posted below is Alt News’s compilation of 15 such disturbing instances of rumours of child abduction. Misinformation over Jammu & Kashmir was rampant in the month of August, soon after the Central government’s revocation of the special status of the state. This misinformation and in several instances, disinformation was common to all sides of the argument on Kashmir. Those opposed to the revocation of special status desperately sought to portray large-scale human rights violations and civil unrest in Kashmir. Alt News observed that the Pakistani social media ecosystem was particularly active here. On the other side of the fence were those who used misinformation to show absolute normalcy in J&K. On August 10, BBC News had reported that thousands of protesters had taken to the streets in Soura, Srinagar against the government’s decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. The media outlet claimed that it “witnessed the police opening fire and using tear gas to disperse the crowd. Despite that, the Indian government has said the protest never took place.” The same was corroborated by Al Jazeera and Reuters in their reports. <span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="width: 0px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 0" class="mce_SELRES_end"></span>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nica1EKi2h8 Alt News’s detailed fact-check verified the timing and location of the video footage presented by BBC and Al Jazeera, and conclusively established that the visuals of the protest were from Soura, Srinagar. It was further established that the protest pertained to the Union government’s decision to revoke key provisions of Article 370. On August 9, days after the status of J&K was altered, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi tweeted a video of a mass gathering with the claim that these were Kashmiri people protesting against the Indian government after the recent development in J&K. “Millions of #Kashmiri rally in IOK against @narendramodi Govt”, read the message posted by Zaidi. Millions of #Kashmiri rally in IOK against @narendramodi Govt repealing of 35-A. #SaveKashmirFromModi pic.twitter.com/xoHYwSUYaw — Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 9, 2019 Alt News found that the video posted by Zaidi was of the funeral of Burhan Wani, the terrorist who was gunned down by security personnel in Kashmir in 2016. Visuals of his protest, where a large number of people had gathered, were used to claim Kashmiris had risen against the Indian government. In another instance, Zaidi had shared an edited clip to falsely depict atrocity in Kashmir. A video of Republic TV managing director Arnab Goswami surfaced on social media where he was heard saying – “Now operation elimination will start. We have to eliminate all these people. These traitors, the sloganeering brigade, you think we have not given you chance? We now need to have a tough military option. And I’m saying as a proud Indian, I am prepared for collateral damage. Kill thousands.” The video was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, and even quote-tweeted by some journalists. It turned out that the video clip in question was of a programme on Republic TV conducted in March 2019, and was not broadcast after the Union government’s revocation of key provisions of Article 370. A Twitter user who is followed by railway minister Piyush Goyal’s office, shared a video where several Muslim children are singing ‘Hindustan Hamara Hai’. She tweeted the video claiming that average Kashmiris are celebrating the dilution of Article 370. Her tweet read, “#KashmirWelcomesChange The children in Kashmir singing ‘Hindustan Hamara hai’ While the seculars are sulking the abrogation of Article 370, an average Kashmiri is celebrating the integration with Mighty India! #ThursdayThoughts #ThursdayMotivation.“ #KashmirWelcomesChange The children in Kashmir singing ‘Hindustan Hamara hai’ While the seculars are sulking the abrogation of Article 370, an average Kashmiri is celebrating the integration with Mighty India! #ThursdayThoughts #ThursdayMotivation pic.twitter.com/QFcPTGJuDi — Geetika Swami (@SwamiGeetika) August 8, 2019 Alt News fact-checked this and found that the video shared by Swami carried a logo that said – ‘Voice of J&K’. We found a Facebook page by the same name that had shared the identical clip on April 15, 2019. Since the video is almost five months old, it cannot be representative of an event that took place after the government’s decision to deem Article 370 ineffective. “Curfews and media blackout cannot contain revolutions that emerge as a result of grave human rights violations. Yet Indian Govt continues to alienate Kashmir. Unarmed men, women, children being attacked by Indian Army. Inhumane!” With these words, on August 24, 2019, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the political party headed by Pakistani PM Imran Khan, tweeted a video claiming that it represented the supposed brutal suppression of Kashmiris by the Indian army. Curfews and media blackout cannot contain revolutions that emerge as a result of grave human rights violations. Yet Indian Govt continues to alienate Kashmir. Unarmed men, women, children being attacked by Indian Army. Inhumane! #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/ixfPYd86F3 — PTI (@PTIofficial) August 23, 2019 The video in question, tweeted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and claimed to be of a recent crackdown in the Kashmir valley, is actually a combination of two old videos. One of the videos is from 2018, while the other is from 2017. Alt News’s fact-check may be read here. On August 19, Republic TV Consulting Editor Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) quote-tweeted a tweet by a user who claims to be Pakistani Lieutenant Colonel Adnan Gulmirza (@AdnanGMpk). Arya’s tweet said, “In Pakistan, anyone who is not Sunni Punjabi is Wajib-ul-Qatl. The story of this Lt Col is not surprising. According to Pakistan’s Constitution, an Ahmadi can be jailed for simply calling his place of worship a masjid. Ahmadis in Pakistan are treated worse than animals.” In Pakistan, anyone who is not Sunni Punjabi is Wajib-ul-Qatl. The story of this Lt Col is not surprising. According to Pakistan’s Constitution an Ahmadi can be jailed for simply calling his place of worship a masjid. Ahmadis in Pakistan are treated worse than animals. https://t.co/zW1ukI419p — Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) August 19, 2019 Alt News found that the account which claims to be handled by Lt Col Adnan Gulmirza is fake. This account was recently created in August 2019 and the man in the profile picture is not Lieutenant Colonel Adnan. In fact, Lt Col Adnan Gulmirza does not even exist. Alt News found other such fake profiles of Indian and Pakistani army generals which have been created on Twitter, in an attempt to mislead social media users. “Have a look at the Bungalows of…. Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad Mr. Omar Abdullah Mr. Farook Abdullah Ms. Mehbooba Mufti Houses in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir…. These R Government houses & maintained by the Government too at the cost of public money…. U shall soon come to know Y such people R opposing removal of Artical 370 & 35A….” The removal of key provisions of Article 370 unleashed a wave of misinformation pertaining to the state. National Conference leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad were targeted in the above message which accompanied a set of photographs showing what seem like fancy, lavish residential properties, purportedly owned by these leaders. Alt News reverse-searched these images and found that they are not bungalows of top Kashmiri politicians as claimed, but a luxury hotel located in the heart of Srinagar. Photos of The Lalit Grand Palace, Srinagar were circulated with this false claim. Twitter user @pokershash posted an image of children holding the flags of India and Bangladesh. He shared the photographs with the message, “Rampurhat Girls’ High School in West Bengal celebrated Independence Day with a Bangladeshi flag”. He also claimed that TMC MLA Asish Banerjee was present at the school function. The video was quote-tweeted by journalist Abhijeet Majumder. Did you know? The National Anthem of Bangladesh was sung at Rampurhat Girls’ School in Birbhum during #IndependenceDay celebrations.. Step by step, the State of West Bengal is heading towards West Bangladesh… Wake up Hindus, if you don’t act now…Who will?? @tathagata2 pic.twitter.com/LxEA8wKwXQ — Sourish Mukherjee (@me_sourish_) August 16, 2019 Alt News fact-checked this claim and found that the video was mischievously clipped. It was part of a skit promoting India-Bangladesh unity. A video where a woman narrates violent details of domestic violence was viral on social media with a “love Jihad” angle. The message accompanying the video said that the woman used to follow Muslim men on Tik Tok and was trapped by seven such people on the app. एक और मोहतरमा लव जिहाद में गई। और इनको मारा पीटा गया पेसाब पिलाई गई। ये सेक्युलर थी। और बोलती थी ये बहुत अछे होते है।tik tok पर सभी मुस्लिमों को करती थी fallow वही से इन्हें फँसाया गया। 7 लड़कों ने……. Posted by Harishchand Chauhan on Sunday, August 18, 2019 Alt News’s fact-check found that the video was first posted by Pakistani journalist Iqrar ul Hassan on August 13. According to his tweet, the woman is a Pakistani-Italian. The incident is from Karachi, Pakistan. “The central gov’t has taken custody of all the masjids in Kashmir and see yourself, why Masjids are taken into custody.” The above message was circulated on social media and WhatsApp along with a set of photographs. According to the claim, a large stash of arms was recovered from mosques in Kashmir. It may be noted that this went viral after the Central govt’s decision of August 5. Alt News found not only the claim to be false, but the images shared along with it to be either old, or unrelated, or both. Alt News’s fact check may be read here. On August 12, 2019, news agency ANI tweeted a set of photographs, reporting that these were clicked in Srinagar where “People offered namaz in the morning at Mohalla mosques in various parts of the city on #EidAlAdha.” The same set of photos was also published by India TV which reported that these pictures are from Srinagar in Kashmir. SRINAGAR: People offered namaz in the morning at Mohalla mosques in various parts of the city on #EidAlAdha, today. #JammuAndKasmir pic.twitter.com/5TcwnW0bQf — ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2019 Alt News was alerted by a tweet from a journalist working with AFP who pointed out that the mosque shown in the photos in not in Srinagar but in fact in Jammu. On further probing and a detailed comparison of photos, we were able to establish that the mosque shown in the pictures is the Makkah Masjid in Jammu. As part of its #IndiaRejectPropaganda campaign, Times Now recently announced that it will carry out “extensive fact checks to separate truth from fiction”. One such fact-check analysed a tweet from a handle @thezaiduleaks which had posted an image of a scene from the popular TV show ‘Game of Thrones’ with the text, “Kashmiri girl who became blind after she was hit by pellet gun, her brothers, father & mother were mercilessly killed, her sister was raped by Indian Army now begging on street of Srinagar. Where is Humanity?” Kashmiri girl who became blind after she was hit by pellet gun, her brothers, father & mother were mercilessly killed, her sister was raped by Indian Army now begging on street of Srinagar. Where is Humanity?#KashmirUnderThreat #OperationKashmir#IndiaUsingClusterBombs pic.twitter.com/Pcc94cQ7zC — Fan of Zaidu🇵🇰 (@TheZaiduLeaks) August 3, 2019 With its screen flashing “Pak’s fakery caught out” and “Pak’s ISI propaganda exposed”, Times Now anchor said that “Pakistan is peddling lies”, referring to the Twitter handle which had tweeted the ‘Game of Thrones’ image. It was in fact a parody Twitter handle promoted by an Indian associated with the right-wing portal rightlog.in, which was claimed to be run by Pakistanis and ISI by Times Now. Not just Times Now, but India TV too had declared that a Pakistani handle is making pictures from ‘Game of Thrones’ viral as those from Kashmir. A broadcast by Pakistani News channel 92 News HD went viral with the claim that RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP and Shiv Sena goons, disguised as Indian army men, are in J&K to abuse Kashmiri women. Three lakh such “Hindu fanatics” were sent by PM Modi, the message claimed, adding that 170 of them were killed and their bodies were found. फौजी वर्दी मे बजरंग दल और आर ऐस ऐस के भघवा गुन्‍डे जो कशमीर की बेटियो की ईज्‍जत लुटने गये थे आज मारे गये 170 भघवा गुन्‍डो की लासे मीली है । 3 लाख भघवा गुण्डो को नरेन्द्र मोदी ने कशमीर भेजा है जिसमे शिव सेना । बजरंग दल । आर ऐस ऐस । वी ऐच पी । के गुण्डे शामील है Posted by Farhan Owaisi on Sunday, August 25, 2019 Alt News’s fact-check found that the video pertained to the killing of CRPF personnel in a Maoist attack at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh in 2010. 76 CRPF jawans were slain in the ambush. Media outlet One India Malayalam published a story on August 11 claiming that three petrol pumps in Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad, Kerala were seized by the army after they were refused petrol and diesel for rescue operations in flood-hit areas. The same story was reported by Malayalam media outlet Thejas News the day before. Subsequently, it travelled to social media where several users made posts alleging that army men were denied petrol in Kerala. Alt News found that this was fake news propagated by a few local media outlets, which was subsequently picked up by social media users and shared widely. “I don’t want to see any tweet hating on Muslims for slaughtering animals, about 1 million animals killed each day by KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King etc. too feed the rich & make hella money out of it. During Eid Muslims sacrifice them to feed the poor for Free & Y’all lose ur mind.”, reads a screenshot of a purported tweet by billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Twitter user Enver Baig posted the screenshot with a message praising Gates for his tweet. Your tweet is highly appreciated hope people around the world understand ISLAM, which is a religion of peace n harmony.@BillGates @realDonaldTrump @narendramodi @ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/uHesj0PP1B — Enver Baig (@SenatorEB17) August 14, 2019 With a keyword search on Bill Gates’ Twitter timeline, we found that he has never tweeted anything related to Eid or slaughtering. Furthermore, Alt News found that Twitter handle @WolfieBabiee was one of the earliest to post this message on August 10, 2019. The tweet has garnered over 48,000 retweets so far. The tweet was then falsely attributed to Bill Gates. A caricature of Rahul Gandhi has been shared on social media claiming that it was published on a cover page of The New York Times. “ये न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स अमेरिका की प्रतिष्ठित मैगजीन में कवरपेज पर कार्टून छपा है। इसी से पता चलता है कि विदेशी मिडिया भी कांग्रेस के बारे में कैसी सोच रखता है। (This cartoon was published on a cover page of the reputed American magazine New York Times. This shows what international media thinks of Congress.)” – read the accompanying caption. The cartoon attempts to show Congress as terror-sympathisers. It went viral on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. No such cartoon was published by The New York Times. The viral caricature is a photoshopped version of the original cartoon that was published by the LA Times in a 2012 article – “Republican Party suckles at the breast of Big Business.” A different photoshopped version of this cartoon was earlier viral, targeting PM Narendra Modi. A letter claimed to be written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was doing the rounds on social media in August. The ‘letter’ urges citizens of India to buy only India-made products this Diwali, and it has a signature of the Prime Minister. A Yandex search of the image led Alt News to a 2016 tweet by the official handle of Prime Minister’s office. This is an old fake letter circulating with the PM’s ‘signature’. PMO clarified that such documents floating on social media are not authentic. This letter was earlier debunked by ABP News in October 2016. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th September 2019 / 7:01 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/august-2019-misinformation-centered-around-jk-child-abduction-rumours/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
324	August round-up: Deluge of misinformation over Kerala floods - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 4th September 2018 / 11:09 am In the month of August, Kerala bore the brunt of the heaviest rainfall in nearly a century, which led to indundation that resulted in the death of hundreds, displacement of millions and massive damage to property. The enormity and tragedy of the event was ironically reflected in the manner in which misinformation related to Kerala flooded the social media ecosystem, with a number of false and/or misleading claims and counter-claims. Mainstream media was not immune either- there were numerous instances of misreporting in the coverage of the Kerala floods. The death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee too became an occasion for the spread of false information. 1. RSS uses old photographs to showcase relief work A set of images along with a donation appeal was shared by the official Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Facebook page with the claim that the individuals in the images were Seva Bharati workers aiding Kerala flood victims. One of the images shared as part of this set showed a reporter with many people standing in the background including a few wearing khakhi shorts resembling the old RSS uniform. It turned out that the photograph of this reporter was taken in 2012 when floods had hit the state. The reporter seen in the photograph had shared this image in 2012 itself. The RSS Facebook page later updated their post and clarified that the photograph was indeed of 2012. 2. Postcard News, Koena Mitra share old images to stress RSS’ effort Fake news website Postcard News and actor Koena Mitra shared a photograph which purportedly showed RSS cadres actively engaged in relief work in Kerala. The objective was to applaud the work of the RSS and simultaneously mock those who questioned the commitment and dedication of the RSS. Bravo Sanghis 👏👏👏👏👏 https://t.co/cfmxfT1PW1 — Koena Mitra (@koenamitra) August 13, 2018 Ironically, it turned out that Postcard News itself had used the same image in 2016, when it was clicked, claiming that RSS volunteers were actively engaged in social service when floods had hit Bihar. Others on social media claimed that the image is from West Bengal. While Alt News could not conclusively establish where the photograph was from, it was clear that it did not pertain to the recent floods in Kerala. Postcard News was it again a few days later when it published another set of images to embellish the RSS’ supposed relief work in Kerala. These too had nothing to do with the Kerala floods and were taken in 2016. 3. Misleading information on BJP ministers and MPs donating Rs.25 crore A photograph of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan accepting a cheque of Rs.25 crore in the presence of BJP ministers and MPs was circulated on social media with the claim that members of the ruling party and union ministers had donated Rs.25 crore to the Kerala government. The post was shared widely. The claim was patently false as the money was donated to Kerala by public sector oil companies and NOT by BJP ministers and MPs. Since the cheque was presented to the Kerala CM by BJP MPs, they have been photographed together. This assisted the narrative floating on social media that it was BJP MPs who had donated this sum to the flood-ravaged state. 4. Image of Iraqi army personnel shared as Indian army “No words 🙏 True Indian can never ignore this pic. This is our army… They will do anything for us🙏.” This text accompanied a picture of a soldier bending down so a woman can use his back to step out of a truck. It was shared by Facebook pages that routinely use themes of nationalism and Indian Army to strike an emotional chord with their readers. Post Card Fans, India against Paid Media, My India and Narendra Modi – True Indian are some of the pages that posted this image, which was shared thousands of times. A simple Google reverse search revealed that the photograph is of a member of the Iraqi PMU (Popular Mobilization Units) helping a civilian after the city of Fallujah was freed from ISIS in June 2016. The image had in fact been at the center of an international fake news controversy. In December 2016, the Syrian envoy to the United Nations was widely criticized for using it to show how pro-government forces were ‘liberating’ city of Aleppo. Alt News observed that a concerted effort played out on social media to project the RSS as being at the forefront of relief efforts in Kerala. This may not be problematic in itself, except for the fact that this effort was centered on misleading social media users through the use of unrelated photographs. 1. The Telegraph falls for unofficial FB account of UAE President Amidst the controversy on whether or not United Arab Emirates had extended Rs 700 crore to flood-hit Kerala, The Telegraph reported that the Facebook page of UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has featured a news report under the headline “UAE Pledges Rs-700-crore Kerala relief and rehabilitation”. The article went on to state that “sources familiar with the UAE said that it would be inconceivable that the official site of the President would post a canard and continue to keep it there for days. Some sources went to the extent of describing the post as “a virtual endorsement”. Even a cursory glance at the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan page that posted the news report would reveal that this is not an official page of the President of the United Arab Emirates. The number of followers and the absence of the verified blue tick on the page point to the fact that this cannot be the official page of a Head of State. Yet, The Telegraph construed it to be an official account and reported accordingly. 2. Republic TV, NY Times shared video of Karnataka landslide as that of Kerala “On Kerala and even as the rescue operation are underway my colleague Snehesh is joining us live from Trivandrum”, said Republic TV news anchor introducing a report on Kerala floods. The on-ground reporting was accompanied by parallel representative visuals of the flood devastation in Kerala. Starting 3:28, the Republic TV video showed visuals of a two storey house falling down a hill. According to the text on the screen, these visuals are of August 17, 2018. The same visuals were used in a video posted by The New York Times. The incident of two storey house sliding down a slope due to a landslide is from Kodagu, Karnataka and not from Kerala. This was reported by The News Minute, apart from multiple mainstream media outlets including Scroll, The Times of India and NDTV which attributed the location of the video to Kodagu, Karnataka. 3. Dainik Bhaskar publishes old photo of baby elephant’s rescue An article published by Dainik Bhaskar New Delhi Edition on August 23, 2018 carried a photo of a baby elephant with a caption “सेना केरल में बाढ़ में फंसे लोगों के साथ जानवरों की भी मदद कर रही है। जवान ने हाथी के बच्चे को रेस्क्यू किया।” (Army is helping animals along with the people stranded in the floods in Kerala. A jawan rescued an elephant’s baby -translated). The caption stated that a baby elephant was rescued by the army during Kerala floods. The photograph had been clicked in December 2017 near Mettupalayam, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Palanichamy Sarathkumar, 28, a forest guard stationed near Mettupalayam received a call on December 12, 2017 when he was heading home after a night shift. An article published by the BBC on December 29, 2017 quoted Sarathkumar saying, “The caller informed me that a female elephant was blocking the road near the Vanabhadra Kaliamman temple.” 4. Times Now shares footage of West Bengal house collapse Times Now editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar started off a primetime debate on Kerala floods stating, “Viewers, we begin with a story of devastation, the pictures that you are going to see on your screens in just about 30 seconds are pictures of deluged districts of Kerala.” The video that accompanied the address showed a two-storey house being washed away by floods. The video was claimed to be from Kushal Nagar, Kerala. Bankura district was hit by the floods in West Bengal this year. An article published by The Hindu on August 7, 2018, stated, “Two people died and at least 2,500 were affected as several areas of Bankura district were flooded due to heavy rain on Monday. Many houses were also damaged.” The visuals of a two storey house in Bankura washed away by the floods were widely broadcasted by several media organizations. This is the same video that was broadcasted as Kushal Nagar, Kerala by Times Now. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee breathed his last on August 16, 2018. The hours leading to his death witnessed misinformation on social media and misreporting by media organisations. Misreporting by media 1. Media outlets announce death prematurely Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s condition worsened in the last 36 hours. He was put on life support. However, mainstream news organisations, in a rush to break news declared him dead before an official announcement was made. DD News was the first to prematurely announce former PM’s death and Times Now, ABP News, Sudarshan News, India TV, Huffington Post and The Statesman were among those who followed DD and prematurely reported Vajpayee’s death. 2. Fake image circulated by DNA, Zee News “A photograph of the doctors paying their last respect to the veteran political stalwart has been accessed by Zee News”, declared an article by Zee News following the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “All the doctors stood in queue and observed silence as they bowed their heads as a mark of respect to the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee“, said a DNAarticle, describing a picture which showed doctors standing in a row with bowed heads around a dead body on a hospital bed. Both Zee News and DNA also tweeted this “Photo of AIIMS doctors paying their last respects to Atal Bihari Vajpayee”. A closer look at the photograph would suggest that it is not from India. It is a picture from 2012 of a group of Chinese doctors paying tribute to a woman whose organs were donated after her death. Medical workers were bowing to 17-year-old Wu Huajing who had donated her organs after her death in Guangdong on Nov 22, 2012. Misinformation on social media 1. Kejriwal celebrated birthday after Vajpayee’s death Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was heavily criticised on social media for celebrating his birthday on August 16, the day Vajpayee died. “Right after Atal ji’s death in the evening, Kejriwal celebrated his birthday,” read a post by Facebook page Yogi Adityanath – True Indian, following the death of former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The text, accompanied by a photograph of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cutting a cake, was posted at 8:30 PM on August 16 and was shared by over 10,000 people. Several comments on the page targeted Kejriwal for his ‘insensitivity’. It emerged that Kejriwal had celebrated his birthday on the morning of August 16 , before Atal Bihari Vajpayee had succumbed. However, it was claimed that the celebration had been held in the evening. The intention was to portray him as insensitive. Those who had circulated this falsehood had also photoshopped the image to hide the wall clock in the background which revealed that the cake-cutting ceremony had been held at 11 am. 2. False image of Modi paying homage to Vajpayee After Vajpayee breathed his last on August 16, a photograph began to circulate on social media which claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is paying homage to the mortal remains of Vajpayee. It was shared by numerous pages and individual users on Facebook. Alt News did a Google reverse image search and found a post titled, “Hon’ble CM condoles death of veteran scribe Bhupat Vadodaria” on the official website of Narendra Modi which had the same image attached with it. The photograph was not of PM Modi paying tribute to Vajpayee as claimed on social media. August was no stranger to consistent attempts to polarise social media users. The month witnessed predictable and sinister efforts to vitiate communal amity. 1. UP Muslim leader assaulted woman who tied him rakhi Two pictures were circulated on social media. One showed a woman tying a rakhi to a man and the other was purportedly of the same woman who seemed injured. कोमल(@komal44337466), a Twitter user had tweeted these images stating, “In Gonda (UP), a Hindu woman Niru Gautam considered Congress leader Ghafoor Khan as her brother and had also tied a rakhi. On 27th August Monday, Ghafoor called Niru home for some work and then he ran away after beating and raping Niru -translated. The tweet has now been deleted. This information was malicious and false. Navbharat Times had earlier fact-checked the claim. A Google reverse image search of the image where a woman is tying a rakhi shows that it is an old image. An image posted by a Twitter user on August 7, 2018 was one of the earliest instances we could find. The tweet in fact promoted communal harmony stating, “some relations are beyond religion and Love and Hate have no religion (translated).” 2. Mischievous video of boy tearing up flag and saying “Pakka musalmaan hoon” A video of a boy tearing the Indian flag and saying, “Pakka Musalman hoon” was circulated widely on social media. A Twitter handle, @AnuMishraBJP , posted the video stating, “Tearing and throwing away the national flag of India, this boy is saying that … “I am a true Muslim” where is this mentality being born?” (translated). Among those who shared this video was Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News. पक्का मुसलमान हूँ इसलिए तिरंगा फाड़ के फेंकने वाला “स्वामी अग्निवेश” संस्कार होते ही #भारत_माता_की_जय बोल कर नारे देने लगा। लातों के भूत बातों से नहीं मानते। अब कोई कहेगा कि ये तो #Lynching है पर कोई यह भी बताए कि संविधान इस को कैसे रोक सकता है? क़ानून तो इनको रोकने में विफल है ! pic.twitter.com/MvVgV3UcSL — Suresh Chavhanke STV (@SureshChavhanke) August 21, 2018 This incident is from Surat, Gujarat. An article published by The Times of India on August 20, 2018, stated, “A young boy, who claimed to be from minority community, is seen tearing a paper tricolor in the video. Police traced the boy and another teenager from Amroli and called them to police station along with their family members.” In a statement given to Alt News, G.A. Patel, Police Inspector, Amroli police station(Surat) clarified, “Both the teenagers are friends and belong to the Hindu community. The boys have also apologised for acting childishly.” 3. Pakistan’s independence day to be celebrated in West Bengal “Please look into this matter. Shame politics by T.M.C in W.B what is the meaning of “JASHN-E-AZADI” & also date mentioned 14th Aug. Are they Pakistanis. Need to step regarding this matter.”, tweeted Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of the fake news website Postcard News, claiming that Pakistan’s independence day is to be celebrated in West Bengal with the blessings of the TMC government. Please look into this matter. Shame politics by T.M.C in W.B what is the meaning of “JASHN-E-AZADI” & also date mentioned 14th Aug. Are they Pakistanis. Need to step regarding this matter. pic.twitter.com/bT2OQmCJdF — Mahesh Vikram Hegde (@mvmeet) August 10, 2018 Hegde either seemed unaware or was deliberately oblivious to that fact that Mushairas and Kavi Sammelans are routinely organized on August 14, which is the eve of Independence Day. ‘Jashn-e-Azadi’ which means celebration of independence was a programme that was organised as a gathering of poets. 4. Hindu procession attacked by Muslims in Bhagalpur In Bhagalpur, Bihar, Muslim pelted stones at the Shobha Yatra and had set fire to it. Hindus you just keep sleeping. If you are a child of Hindu, then share it to 1, 2, 3 whatever groups you have -translated) A Facebook user, रायल संजय सिंह राजपूत (Royal Sanjay Singh Rajput) posted two images and videos with the aforementioned text in a Facebook group, नरेन्द्र मोदी 2019 (साथ हैं तो जुडे़). The post was shared several thousand times. It turned out that one of the videos which was being shared as Hindu procession attacked by Muslims in Bhagalpur was actually from Asansol, West Bengal. Also, an image which had been used in this post was of a domestic dispute and had nothing to do with communal aggression. 5. Muslims perpetrating violence in the garb of Kanwar Yatra pilgrims “Arrested Kanwariyas turned out to be Muslim guys who dressed up as Kanwar and tried to malign Hindus by committing violence“. A message was shared on social media claiming that Muslim men dressed up as Kanwar Yatris and perpetrated violence during the Kanwar yatra which took place recently. The basis of the claim was a Dainik Jagran article titled “Two Muslim youth dressed as Kanwariyas caught by police”. If one reads past the title of the Dainik Jagran article, it says that the two Muslim youths told the police had they had gone to Bhagwanpur to meet their friend Shivam. While returning, they bought two saffron coloured scarves and wrapped it around themselves to resemble the other pilgrims. They claimed to do so to avoid being stopped by the police on the way back. However, their motorcycle hit a constable hence, they were detained. The one riding the bike was arrested by the police. The incident occurred in Saharanpur area of Uttar Pradesh. 1. Sports minister served food to athletes at Asian Games A photograph of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore went viral with the claim that the Sports Minister was serving food to Indian athletes in Jakarta at the Asian Games. In the picture, Rathore can be seen holding a tray and interacting with players. Supporters of the ruling party went ballistic on social media, hailing Rathore for his act. Many media outlets too reported the same. Alt News contacted a person who was present at the scene but did not wish to be named. He said that the picture is misleading as the minister was not serving food, snacks or tea but only greeting the players he met on his way to the table. However, the PR exercise turned out to be hugely successful. 2. Khalistan supporters participated at Rahul Gandhi’s UK event ABSOLUTE SHOCKER!!! At the Indian Overseas Congress meeting in London, anti-India, pro-Khalistani protesters are participating in the event. @RahulGandhi you owe a serious explanation for this dangerous, anti-national narrative being created against India. #RahulGandhiInLondon, tweeted Priti Gandhi on August 26, 2018. According to her Twitter account, Gandhi is ‘National In-charge of social media- BJP Mahila Morcha’ and a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who along with several top BJP leaders follows her on Twitter. ABSOLUTE SHOCKER!!! At the Indian Overseas Congress meeting in London, anti-India, pro-Khalistani protesters are participating in the event. @RahulGandhi you owe a serious explanation for this dangerous, anti-national narrative being created against India. #RahulGandhiInLondon pic.twitter.com/Te70fQrq8f — Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) August 26, 2018 Those who disrupted the event were gatecrashers and not participants. According to Naomi Canton who reports for Times of India in the UK, the event was interrupted by four protesters who had “managed to evade heavy security to enter Rahul Gandhi’s event…”. Speaking to TOI, Shamsher Singh, spokesperson for the National Sikh Youth Federation who had gatecrashed the event with three of his associates said, “We slipped in through a side door to the venue at 5.30pm as the security was lax. Once inside, security asked us a few questions but we confidently walked through and said we are here for the event. We got a table and sat down.” The cycle of misinformation and disinformation on social media continues unabated. In the month of August, Kerala was the focus of mischief as misinformation ranged from relatively benign use of false images and videos to systematic political targeting of the state. As the flood waters recede, so has the deluge of misinformation. However, this may be little cause for comfort as misinformation/disinformation displays a remarkable ability for being versatile and relentless, adapting to varied situations, circumstances and events. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th September 2018 / 11:09 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/august-round-up-deluge-of-misinformation-over-kerala-floods/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
326	Author's Wikipedia page vandalised after TIME's critical cover story on PM Modi - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 10th May 2019 / 7:16 pm So this guys Aatish Taseer works as PR manager for Indian National Congress. No doubt Time magzine has lost their credibilty and has become mouthpiece of Leftist. The above message was tweeted by a pro-BJP social media user, Chowkidar Shashank Singh (@pokershash), alluding to the author of the recent article in TIME magazine critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chowkidar Shashank Singh is followed on Twitter by union minister Chowkidar Smriti Irani. The cover story of TIME featuring PM Modi with the words ‘India’s divider-in-chief’ has been a major talking point, with extensive coverage by mainstream media and animated discussions among social media users. So this guys Aatish Taseer works as PR manager for Indian National Congress. No doubt Time magzine has lost their credibilty and has become mouthpiece of Leftist. pic.twitter.com/ZIUWUuB9TZ — Chowkidar Shashank Singh (@pokershash) May 10, 2019 This tweet has been retweeted over 500 times. The user has attached a screenshot of the Wikipedia write-up on Aatish Taseer. Taseer is a British-born journalist and writer. The screenshot shows that according to the description on Wikipedia, Taseer “is working as PR manger for Indian National Congress.” The implication here is that Taseer’s article is motivated and not sincere because he works with the Congress party as its PR manager. Interestingly, the word manager has been spelt as ‘manger’, in the above screenshot. The text seen in the screenshot shared on Twitter has been edited. This is because Wikipedia allows users to edit pages and articles. The page on editing states, “Wikipedia is a wiki, meaning that anyone can edit any unprotected page and improve articles immediately for all readers. You do not need to register to do this. Anyone who has edited is known as a “Wikipedian” (commonly referred to as, simply, editors) and, no matter how trivial the edit may seem, can be proud that they have helped make Wikipedia what it is.” Alt News found that the Wikipedia page of Aatish Taseer was edited repeatedly on May 10. The first edit was at 7:59 am, when the bit about Taseer being “the PR manger for the Congress” was added to the ‘Career’ section of the page. Moreover, Taseer’s page is now ‘protected’, due to ‘persistent disruptive editing’, which means that the contents of the page have now been protected from further malicious alteration due to excessive activity on the page, since the TIME magazine article came out. The video posted below illustrates the changes which have been effected on the page. These alterations can be viewed in the ‘View History’ tab of the page. Aatish Taseer’s Wikipedia page was vandalised- the contents of the page were mischievously edited, and a screenshot of the same was shared on Twitter. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th May 2019 / 7:16 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/authors-wikipedia-page-vandalised-after-times-critical-cover-story-on-pm-modi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
327	Awareness video believed to be true incident of child kidnapping - Alt News Archit 16th December 2021 / 7:53 pm A video that allegedly shows a woman kidnapping a boy has been shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Passers-by stop the woman dragging the boy who claims that her sister was also taken away. The video flashes a disclaimer for a split second, warning people of child kidnappers. Twitter users @chotubana007 and @P39467125Pandey shared the video and warned people to take care of their children at parks. It gained over 5,000 views. आप सभी से विनती है पार्को में बच्चों का ध्यान रखें , कहि भी बच्चों को अपने सम्पर्क में ही रखे ।। pic.twitter.com/ytEKZrDmd0 — चौकीदार चन्द्र विजय सिंह चौहान (छोटू बना) (@chotubana007) December 14, 2021 आप सभी से विनती है पार्को में बच्चों का ध्यान रखें , कहि भी बच्चों को अपने सम्पर्क में ही रखे ।। pic.twitter.com/d4h2cJ1uxa — Sanjay Pandey (2nd New)🚩#Prashashak_samiti🚩 (@P39467125Pandey) December 16, 2021 Twitter user @UshaPanwar5 posted this video with an anti-Muslim claim. Some social media users (1, 2) have also claimed that the woman is a “Jihadi”, a derogatory term used for Muslims. सभी से निवेदन है इस वीडियो को ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करें देखिए यह जिहादी औरत कैसे पार्क में से बच्चे को चुरा कर भीख मंगवाने के लिए ले जाती है जितने भी माता-पिता हैं अपने बच्चो का ख्याल रखें कभी पार्क में अकेले खेलने मत जाने दे नहीं तो देखें यह एक औरत चार पांच बच्चे को कैसे चुरा pic.twitter.com/fdJaEx44B3 — उषा पवार (@UshaPanwar5) December 16, 2021 Alt News has received several requests to fact-check the video on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). Alt News performed a keyword search and found a 5-minute long version of the video on Facebook. आप सभी से विनती है पार्को में बच्चों का ध्यान रखें , कहि भी बच्चों को अपने सम्पर्क में ही रखे ।। Posted by Sourabh On Wheels on Tuesday, 14 December 2021 At the 7-second mark, we see a disclaimer that states the video is for “entertainment purposes”. A staged video was, therefore, shared on social media with a message claiming children are being kidnapped from parks. Some users also added a false anti-Muslim spin. The reader should note that in the past, Alt News has debunked several such staged videos and child kidnapping claims on social media. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th December 2021 / 7:53 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/awareness-video-believed-to-be-true-incident-of-child-kidnapping/", "author": "Archit" }
328	Awareness video falsely viral as "Muslim baba" rendering a couple unconscious to rob them - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 12th November 2021 / 7:30 pm A purported CCTV video that shows a man robbing a couple has been shared on social media. Before the robbery, a man passes by the couple and drugs them with smoke. The couple drops unconscious on the floor and is robbed. Twitter user @yogeshDharmSena shared the video claiming this is a new tactic employed by Muslims and warns people of “those who wear skull caps”. शांतिदूतो का नया कारनामा… आपकी गली में ऐसे टोपी वाले फ़क़ीर घूमते है तो … उसकी गली में घुसने न दे… pic.twitter.com/Wd7FSRYMjP — योगी योगेश अग्रवाल (धर्मसेना) (@yogeshDharmSena) November 12, 2021 The video has also been shared on Facebook. आपकी गली में ऐसे टोपी वाले फ़क़ीर घूमते है तो उसकी गली में घुसने न दे देश हित के लिए यह वीडियो अपने सभी दोस्तों सभी दोस्तों को भेजिए कितनी चालाकी से डकैती कर लेता है यह लोग Posted by Ajay Sharma on Thursday, 11 November 2021 Alt News has also received verification requests for the footage. Alt News found a longer video of the same footage and a “disclaimer” can be spotted for a few seconds towards the end. The “disclaimer” is barely visible but upon closer look we could see that it reads, “This real life video footage is published only for the purpose of educating the public by making them understand how the real world situations will be…” The footage, therefore, doesn’t show a real incident. A Facebook page shared the video and clearly mentioned this was a “scripted drama” for educational purposes. Recently, another awareness video (on the right in the collage below) was shared with the false claim that a Muslim man spiked the drink of a Hindu woman. This has the same format as the one currently being shared. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th November 2021 / 7:30 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/awareness-video-falsely-viral-as-muslim-baba-rendering-a-couple-unconscious-to-rob-them/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
329	Awareness video falsely viral as woman pepper sprays at Muslim harassers at bus stop - Alt News Archit 24th November 2021 / 6:10 pm A video that appears to be CCTV footage shows three men harassing a woman at a bus stop. The two-minute clip ends with another woman pepper spraying the men. Several social media users have shared this video and claimed that the harassers were ‘jihadis’. Twitter users @yogeshDharmSena, @RaakeshDhawan and @KANHAIYA_PRCK were among those who shared the video. यह जिहादी गुन्डे इन लड़कियो को द्देड़ २हे थे ,इन लड़कियो ने तीनों की ऑखें फोड़ दी अव यह तीनों जिहादी जमीन पर लोट रहे है। हिन्दुओ अपनी लड़की को ऐसी शिक्षा दो जो उनकी तरफ ऑख उठाये वह उसकी ऑख निकाल ले। . 🚩जय श्री राम🚩 pic.twitter.com/tVAUWD7ptA — योगी योगेश अग्रवाल (धर्मसेना) (@yogeshDharmSena) November 22, 2021 Facebook user Raj Hindu also posted this video. ये जिहादी गुन्डे इन लड़कियो को छेड़ रहे थे इन लड़कियो ने तीनों की ऑखें फोड़ दी अब यह तीनों जिहादी जमीन पर लोट रहे है हिन्दुओ अपनी लड़की को ऐसी शिक्षा दो जो उनकी तरफ ऑख उठाये वह उसकी ऑख निकाल ले पर्स में सिर्फ जरुरत के सामान ही नहीं बल्की पेपर स्प्रे या तेजाब भी रखना चाहिए….. Posted by Raj Hindu on Tuesday, 23 November 2021 It has been shared by a few other Facebook users. Using InVID, a video verification tool, Alt News performed a reverse image search on Google and found that Facebook page LOBO 619’s post gives key context about the video. LOBO 619 posted the video on Novermber 11. As per the video’s description, “These short films are for educational purposes only!” Thus, an awareness video was shared with a false claim targetting Muslims. Recently, Alt News has debunked other such awareness videos (1, 2) shared with an anti-Muslim spin. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th November 2021 / 6:10 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/awareness-video-falsely-viral-as-woman-pepper-sprays-at-muslim-harassers-at-bus-stop/", "author": "Archit" }
330	Awareness video showing woman's abduction believed to be true - Alt News Priyanka Jha 2nd December 2021 / 7:09 pm A CCTV video of a group of men kidnapping a woman has been circulating widely on social media. In the clip, the woman can be seen waiting on the side of a road, when a man standing behind her talking on his phone signals a group of men some distance away to start approaching her. Suddenly, the men arrive in a vehicle while the man forces her into the car and they hastily drive away. ये बहुत ही भयावह घटना है , शेयर करना जरूरी समझा। सभी बहन बेटियों से निवेदन है कि सतर्क रहें। आसपास हो रही गतिविधियों पर नज़र रखें। 😐😐 pic.twitter.com/N7fyUw7iu0 — अर्चना सिंह (आर्ची) (@archiepie11) November 28, 2021 Several users shared the footage. Among them was Congress leader Alka Lamba who also quote-tweeted it. मेरे देश की बेटियाँ… :(.#WomenSafety #India #MeriDelhi https://t.co/mYXnpzwwUN — Alka Lamba (@LambaAlka) November 29, 2021 देशवासियों से निवेदन है अपनी बहन – बेटियों को बताएं रोड पर मोबाइल पर ज्यादा बिजी ना रहें और चारों तरफ नजर रखें, एक तरफ चेहरा करके फोन पर बिजी न रहें। अगर कुछ गलत दिखे तो जोर से चिल्लाए । आपकी सतर्कता ही आप को बचा सकती है। आपके आसपास मंडराने वालों पर कड़ी नजर रखें, pic.twitter.com/RPrSZAwrQ7 — सुधीर श्रीवास्तव (सोनू) (@sudhirshiv567) November 27, 2021 Alt News performed a reverse image search of the video frames, which did not yield anything substantial. However, taking a closer look at the clip, we realised this is a recording of a video posted on Facebook. In the screenshot below, the name of the page that posted the clip can be partially seen. Alt News tracked down the Facebook page called Sanjjanaa Galrani. Its ‘Intro’ section mentions that the page shares videos and scripted dramas to create awareness. Although we could not locate the video in question, we found many such public service announcement videos. Like the viral clip, these videos also explained the sequence of events to the viewer through captions, and the person of interest was identified with a red circle in the thumbnails. We compared an old video posted by the page to the footage currently circulating online. As shown below, there were numerous similarities, like the camera name CM2, the date, and the time-stamp. Even the font and style of the captions used to explain the events are identical. We tried contacting the page and will update this article should we receive a response. Alt News has earlier debunked many such scripted videos which were mistakenly shared as real. Links to a few of these are given below: She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd December 2021 / 7:09 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/awareness-video-of-kidnapping-a-women-falsely-shared-as-real-incident/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
331	AYUSH Kwath or Kadha cannot ‘boost’ immunity to fight against COVID-19 - Alt News Dr Sharfaroz Satani & Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh 10th August 2020 / 8:48 pm / Last updated: 27th September 2020 On April 24 2020, the Ministry of AYUSH promoted a herbal formulation called AYUSH Kwath for ‘immunity boosting’ of the masses for the COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry requested the State/UT governments to “direct the AYUSH Licensing Authorities to consider granting license/approval for manufacturing of AYUSH Kwath formulation to the interested licensed Ayurveda/Siddha/Unani drug manufacturers.” The Ministry of AYUSH presents ‘AYUSH KWATH’ formulation as an immunity-enhancing measure for the public. Ayush Kwath is a combination of four medicinal herbs commonly used in the Indian kitchen. The formulation has been standardized for commercial manufacturing and pic.twitter.com/46KgH4saUV — Ministry of AYUSH (@moayush) April 25, 2020 The recommended formulation of the AYUSH Kwath (also known as kadha) comprises of: Subsequently, on July 4, 2020, Shripad Naik, Minister of AYUSH, Government of India, launched two immunity boosters against the novel coronavirus infection, namely AYUSH Kwath and Giloi Tea manufactured by Vibha Natural Products Ltd, a Mumbai-based company. As many people started concocting their own versions of this kadha, the herbal market produced and sold various generic products of AYUSH Kwath. A drug manufacturer Nutriley labelled its AYUSH Kwath upfront with ‘COVID-19’ on its bottle. Baidyanath’s advertisement claimed that the individual components of AYUSH Kwath like tulsi and cinnamon increase immunity. Kudos Ayurveda’s advertisement for AYUSH Kwath claimed ‘no side effects of prolonged use’ and ‘no infections’. The advertisement by Naturoveda Organics asks people to “start AYUSH Kwath at the first sign of sore throat or cold-cough”. Acharya Manish, an Ayurvedic practitioner also claimed that “AYUSH Kwath works against all symptoms of COVID-19.” The product page of AYUSH Kwath on Shuddhi Ayurveda clinic recommended by the Ministry of AYUSH claims that “AYUSH Kwath is the only approved and possible remedy for COVID-19.” False Our immune system has two broad components, innate and adaptive immunity, which were explained in our previous Alt News Science article. What does it mean to ‘boost’ our immune system against infections? ‘Immunity booster’ is not a medical term. It is often used in common parlance for foods that have antioxidant properties. But these are a part of a balanced diet which maintain our immune system and general health and do not enhance it beyond what our body innately has to justify the term ‘immunity booster.’ A healthy immune system can only be achieved with adequate sleep, a balanced diet, exercise and adequate sunlight or vitamin D, unless the patient is suffering from an immune system disease such as AIDS, bone marrow cancer or is undergoing other immune-modulatory treatments like chemotherapy or steroids Allergies and autoimmune diseases are caused by a hyperactive immune system The blanket call for ‘boosting’ the immune system stems from a myopic view of the immune system as a defence system that always protects us from infections. But an otherwise well functioning immune system capable of fighting off infections can also cause a variety of disorders grouped under the term ‘hypersensitivity’. In hypersensitivity disorders, our immune system is over-activated which harms our own body. Examples of these disorders are allergic reactions which are immediate hypersensitivity reactions against substances that are not supposed to cause reactions in healthy patients like nuts, pollens, dust particles and a variety of autoimmune disorders like psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc. Suppression of the immune system, not ‘boosting’ is required for certain severe COVID-19 cases In some patients with severe COVID-19 infection, there is a ‘cytokine storm’ which has been the cause of death in many young and healthy people with no comorbidities like high blood pressure and diabetes. Cytokines are protein signalling molecules that mediate and regulate immunity and inflammation. But in various infectious and non-infectious diseases, there is a ‘storm’ of excessive cytokines released in the blood circulation. In COVID-19, this cytokine storm is followed by the immune system attacking the body, which causes ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) and multiple organ failure. In such severe cases, the treatment is geared towards suppressing this overactive immune system to save the patient. Thus, the use of steroids like Dexamethasone to suppress the immune system is recommended at the right time to save the patient from death due to COVID-19. Most COVID-19 patients recover on their own and no amount of immunity-boosting can prevent the death of those who succumb While most of the COVID-19 patients recover on their own and would not benefit from formulations claiming to be ‘immunity boosters,’ many severe cases of COVID-19 need suppression (instead of a boost) of the immune system through established drugs like dexamethasone. While there is no clinical proof of efficacy of Kadha/AYUSH Kwath, it is not desirable to boost the immune system of severe COVID-19 patients, many of whom die of an overactive immune system. Only the adaptive immune system can be specific towards a pathogen. Therefore, the immune system can be theoretically enhanced against COVID-19 only from an active method like a vaccine against COVID-19 or a passive method like plasma with antibodies of seropositive patients, i.e. blood component of previously infected and recovered from COVID-19 who have demonstrated COVID-19 antibodies in their blood. Thus natural foods/herbs, or even synthetic antiviral drugs, do not equip our immune system with the ability to prevent COVID-19 disease. A preprint computer simulation study (i.e, a study that is not tested in humans or animals and the results are not peer-reviewed by other scientists) by Khanal, P. et al. (2020) aims to validate the kadha recommended by the Ministry of AYUSH as an ‘immunity booster’ against severe COVID-19 infection. They identified phytoconstituents from six herbs, including the four herbs that are used in AYUSH Kwath that regulate different pathways of the immune system. It is a study conducted through computer simulation and not one done on any living organism or cells. Thus, this study does not give proof of efficacy for AYUSH Kwath or kadha against COVID-19. There are no research studies on the AYUSH Kwath formulation. Therefore, there is no empirical proof, i.e. based on a scientifically validated observation, and not mere theory, of its efficacy against COVID-19. Let us look at any available evidence from previous clinical trials related to these herbs for their efficacy in immunomodulation (boosting or suppression) against viral infections. Immunomodulation refers to any process in which an immune response is altered to the desired level, and this may involve suppression of an overactive immune response or vice versa. Holy basil A double-blinded randomized controlled trial by Mondal S et al. (2011) on 22 healthy volunteers found that there was a statistically significant increase in the levels of various IFN-, IL-4 (which are cytokines) and T-helper cells and NK-cells (which are types of white blood cells) after four weeks in the group that received Tulsi extract in contrast to the placebo group. Given the easier availability of healthy volunteers, a sample size of 22 is too small and further studies would be needed to see if the findings are replicable. And as we have seen, it would actually be harmful if the Tulsi extracts could increase the cytokine levels in severe COVID-19 patients. There have been two clinical studies of holy basil against viral infections and both have very poor methodological quality. The first study by Rajalakshmi et al. (1986) studied the effect of Tulsi on 20 viral hepatitis patients. It shows clinical improvement after taking Tulsi but this sample size is very small and there was no control group to compare with. The second study by Das et al. (1983) has a similar drawback of a very small sample size of 14 cases of viral encephalitis. We have explained the impact of small sample size and lack of control groups in clinical studies in our previous Alt News Science article. Cinnamon We have noted in a previous article at Alt News Science that despite some studies suggesting antibacterial activity of cinnamon against bacteria like Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus plantarum and inhibition of fungal infections such as candidiasis, the evidence needed more validation since it is based on flakey preliminary data (Ulbricht, C. et al. 2011). However, there are no clinical studies of cinnamon extracts that show the immunomodulatory effect on healthy individuals or any effects in viral infections. Black pepper There are no clinical trials that evaluate the efficacy of black pepper against any infection or any immunomodulatory effect. Also, WHO has debunked the claim of using pepper to prevent COVID-19 infection. (see infographic) Dry ginger There are no clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of dry ginger in viral infections. A pilot study by Stefano, D. et al. (2019) on 10 healthy individuals showed immunomodulatory effects of the combination of Echinacea angustifolia and Zingiber officinale in softgel capsules. They measured the expression of genes in white blood cells (cells responsible for immune function in the blood) of the volunteers and found that after they consumed these softgel capsules, 500 genes were differentially expressed (the process through which the genes makes proteins) in these leukocytes. All these together shifted the leukocyte activity towards suppression of inflammation (which is a response of the immune system). So, contrary to the claims of boosting, the immunomodulation in this study can be similar to the one directed by hydrocortisone administration, a steroid drug used to suppress the immune system. Thus, there is no observational validity to deduce that any of these drug components even given as an independent dose will help the COVID-19 patients in any form. Moreover, the dosage of these herbs or the active ingredient concentration that achieves this modulation of immune proteins has not been studied thoroughly. Since there is no clinical study done for AYUSH Kwath formulation, the interactions possible among its various active ingredients are unknown. Let us look at a few examples of side effects associated with the individual herbs. Cinnamon Cinnamon supplements can cause acute hepatitis; cinnamon oil and cinnamon flavoured gum can cause allergic contact dermatitis and other allergic reactions (Hajimonfarednejad, M. et al. 2019). Dry ginger Preparations made from dry ginger can cause liver damage in certain patients (Suzuki, Y. et al. 2015) and therapeutic use of ginger for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy was associated with a shorter gestational age (duration of pregnancy) and in a smaller circumference of the newborn’s skull (Trabace, L. et al. 2015). Black pepper Piperine, the main constituent of black pepper, increases the blood levels of various rifampicin, sulphadiazine, tetracycline and phenytoin which may harm certain patients by increasing the side effects of these medications (Velpandian, T. et al. 2001). It also increases the gastric acid secretion, potassium loss, gastric cell exfoliation (erosion) (Srinivasan, K. 2007). Holy basil Animal studies show that holy basil can increase the bleeding time (the time taken for the blood to clot) (Singh, S. et al. 2001) and decrease blood sugar (Gholap, S. .et al. 2004). Therefore, these herbs can cause side effects and interact with synthetic/modern medicines, especially since the ministry recommends them for long-term use with no need for consultation with a doctor. While a healthy diet and lifestyle help in maintaining the immunity that we innately possess, there is no way to pop a pill or drink kadha and ‘boost’ the immune system. The term ‘immunity booster’ has no basis in medical science, and yet it remains widely used by the Ministry of AYUSH and the media alike. The market is flooded with ‘immunity boosters’ with everything from khakhra and bread to shirts and beddings claiming to boost our immunity against COVID-19. They divert attention from the harder but proven preventive measures such as social distancing and consistently using masks and washing hands. AYUSH ministry has encouraged mass production of formulations like AYUSH Kwath without testing it for efficacy or safety in humans. It seems to be unaware of the potential dangers of ‘boosting’ the immune system in diseases like COVID-19, where an overactive immune system kills patients. The long-term use of AYUAH Kwath could cause various side-effects in healthy individuals as well. Thus, there is a lack of clarity in immune-boosting or suppression achievable through the intake of these herbs. The research on individual drugs has not shown any proof that it will affect COVID-19 patients or protect healthy people from getting infected. Moreover, since ‘immune-boosting’ should not be achieved theoretically in patients of COVID-19, the claims of immune-boosting via AYUSH Kwath or kadha may harm infected patients. Since, there is no proof that the concoction will help the patients, kwath or kadha may serve as a ‘feel-good’ warm drink during a sore throat, which is better categorised as a placebo relief. References Ulbricht, C., Seamon, E., Windsor, R. C., Armbruester, N., Bryan, J. K., Costa, D., … & Grimes Serrano, J. M. (2011). An evidence-based systematic review of cinnamon (Cinnamomum spp.) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. Journal of dietary supplements, 8(4), 378-454. Trabace, L., Tucci, P., Ciuffreda, L., Matteo, M., Fortunato, F., Campolongo, P., … & Cuomo, V. (2015). “Natural” relief of pregnancy-related symptoms and neonatal outcomes: above all do no harm. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 174, 396-402. Suzuki, Y., Yamazaki, Y., Hashizume, H., Oyama, T., Horiguchi, N., Sato, K., … & Yamada, M. (2015). Drug-induced liver injury caused by a dietary supplement (Kin-toki Shoga (®)) made from ginger. Nihon Shokakibyo Gakkai zasshi= The Japanese journal of gastro-enterology, 112(1), 108-114. Velpandian, T., Jasuja, R., Bhardwaj, R. K., Jaiswal, J., & Gupta, S. K. (2001). Piperine in food: interference in the pharmacokinetics of phenytoin. European journal of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, 26(4), 241–247. Singh, S., Rehan, H. M. S., & Majumdar, D. K. (2001). Effect of Ocimum sanctum fixed oil on blood pressure, blood clotting time and pentobarbitone-induced sleeping time. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 78(2-3), 139-143. Gholap, S., & Kar, A. (2004). Hypoglycaemic effects of some plant extracts are possibly mediated through inhibition in corticosteroid concentration. Die Pharmazie, 59(11), 876–878. Hajimonfarednejad, M., Ostovar, M., Raee, M. J., Hashempur, M. H., Mayer, J. G., & Heydari, M. (2019). Cinnamon: a systematic review of adverse events. Clinical Nutrition, 38(2), 594-602. Mondal, S., Varma, S., Bamola, V. D., Naik, S. N., Mirdha, B. R., Padhi, M. M., … & Mahapatra, S. C. (2011). Double-blinded randomized controlled trial for immunomodulatory effects of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum Linn.) leaf extract on healthy volunteers. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 136(3), 452-456. Srinivasan, K. (2007). Black pepper and its pungent principle-piperine: a review of diverse physiological effects. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 47(8), 735-748 Stefano, D. A., Grabnar, I., Verardo, R., Enio, K., Marchionni, L. L., Eddie, L. I., … & Voinovich, D. (2019). Combined extracts of Echinacea angustifolia DC. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe softgel capsules: Pharmacokinetics and immunomodulatory effects assessed by gene expression profiling. Khanal, P., Duyu, T., Dey, Y. N., Patil, B. M., Pasha, I., & Wanjari, M. (2020). Network pharmacology of AYUSH recommended immune-boosting medicinal plants against COVID-19. Rajalakshmi, S., Sivanandam, G., & Veluchamy, G. (1986). Role of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum Linn.) in the management of Manjal Kamalai (viral hepatitis). Journal of Research in Ayurveda and Siddha, 9(3-4), 118-123. Das, S., Chandra, A., Agarwal, S., & Singh, N. (1983). Ocimum sanctum (tulsi) in the treatment of viral encephalitis (A preliminary clinical trial). Antiseptic, 80, 323-327. [Update: The article has been updated with a new featured image, i.e. the image that shows up on social media posts along with the article. The earlier featured image has been replaced after an objection was raised. However, we clarify that the earlier image was representative and had no connection with any organisation or company.] In a 2-minute video, a man recommends a “technique” to prevent infection from Omicron, the… A video of a set of iron nails that appear to melt after being placed… Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish… A 90-second video of a man dissecting a banana has been shared on the internet…. The Taliban has formed an all-male government after taking over control in Afghanistan. On September…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th August 2020 / 8:48 pm / Last updated: 27th September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ayush-kwath-or-kadha-cannot-boost-immunity-to-fight-against-covid-19/", "author": "Dr Sharfaroz Satani & Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh" }
332	AYUSH ministry's claim that Unani practices can prevent coronavirus infection is false - Alt News Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh 5th February 2020 / 9:38 pm Coronavirus (CoV) is the latest pandemic that has emerged from Wuhan, China and has spread to over 24 countries including India. New research has estimated that over 371 people have died, exceeding the count of the previous SARS outbreak, while more than 75,000 people have been infected just in Wuhan. Recently, three cases of CoV infection were confirmed in Kerala and three suspected cases were reported in Delhi. Countries such as Russia have closed borders from China to prevent the spread of this infection. The infection from CoV resembles other respiratory tract infections, hence can be hard to isolate from the common flu. It spreads from respiratory fluids such as coughs and sneezes, similar to influenza and other respiratory tracts’ infections. The extent of the infection has ranged from a mild cough to severely sick and dying due to the infection. Common symptoms include cough, fever, shortness of breath (dyspnea), and occasional diarrhoea. Currently, there are no vaccines for this infection and preventative measures are best to contain the spread of the infection. The Government of India released an advisory via PIB on January 29, 2020. Advisory to recess the symptoms of respiratory tract in possible Corona virus infected cases Read the detailed advisory:https://t.co/hApX41NPx7 — PIB India (@PIB_India) January 29, 2020 “As per the Unani Practices the following Preventive Management Steps are suggested. Prepare decoction by boiling Behidana (Cydonia Oblonga) 3gm, Unnab Zizyphus (Jujube Linn) 5nos, Sapistan (Cordia Myxa Linn) 7nos in 1 litre water until it reduces to half. Store it in a bottle and take sips as and when required. For prophylactic measures immune system need to be strengthened for this purpose Khamira Marwareed 3-5 gm once a day may be taken,” advises the Ministry of AYUSH. False Alt News sci-checked each of the components in the claim within the Unani papers to evaluate if the claims of prophylactic, preventative measures for CoV, or any other respiratory infections, hold true. While no research data was found in human studies that could determine the efficacy of ‘Behidana’ either preventatively, or as a symptomatic treatment for CoV/flu-like infections. There were several general pre-clinical and review papers of Behidana (Cydonia Oblonga). The most prominent one was a review article from Pakistan by Ashraf and colleagues in 2016, that suggested the uses of ‘Behidana’ (Cydonia Oblonga) or Quince. We specifically searched for any research conducted on respiratory problems within this review paper. It claimed that Quince can treat respiratory tract disorders including cold sores, rhinitis and cough as per Nadkarni, 1976 and Duke et al., 2002, amongst many other diseases. Nadkarni, 1976 is the ‘Indian Materia Medica book for Ayurvedic, Unani, allopathic, homeopathic, naturopathic and home remedies’ that listed Quince, once, as a ‘popular remedy’ on page 1038, section 2079, under ‘Pyrus Cydonia’. Similarly, Duke et al 2002, is another ‘handbook of medicinal herbs’ by the American botanist James Duke, again devoid of any research data. Thus, there is no research for Behidana as an asymptomatic or preventative treatment for flu-like symptoms, only reviews with opinions that suggest it is a ‘popular remedy’. We found one Unani review article in the ‘World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research’ that detailed the benefits of ‘Unnab’ (red date) in a concoction. The article was published by Talib and colleagues by Jamia Hamdard, School of Unani Medicine in 2017, and listed the benefits (or “Mawaq-e-Istemal”) related to respiratory problems as below: “Constipation, Dry cough, Sore throat, Busoor (skin eruptions).[39, 40]” When we checked the references, 39 and 40 quoted in the review papers, they did not turn out to be published research articles or book chapters based on Unani research. Thus, again, no research evidence was found that studied Unnab (red dates) for flu-like symptoms. We found a prominent review article that discussed the role of ‘Sapistan’ in symptomatic treatments for respiratory diseases by Al-Snafi (2016) from Thi Qar University, Iraq. Studying the section on respiratory benefits, they claimed that Cordia Myxa relaxed the smooth muscles of the trachea in sheep and cited the Al-Bayaty (2008) paper. Neither the review (2016) nor the 2008 paper referred to any human studies with symptoms of the respiratory tract, thus giving no researched evidence to support Sapistan as an effective symptomatic treatment for respiratory diseases. No studies were found assessing the role of ‘Khamira Marwareed’ for immune or respiratory function as claimed by the AYUSH advisory. However, some reviews suggested it could be cardio-protective, the evidence for which was not studied due to lack of relevance. Again, no evidence was found to suggest the efficacy of Khamira Marwareed in changing immune or respiratory functions. Thus, no scientific evidence as research data was found corresponding to the Unani herbs advised by the AYUSH Ministry that would help to back their claim on Unani formulations for preventative or symptomatic treatments for Coronavirus. We also checked the corresponding scientific names of these herbs in fruitless efforts for obtaining data in the evidence-based literature. Unlike the information provided in the advisory by the Government of India, Unani can provide neither symptomatic nor preventative treatment for CoV infections or any other respiratory tract diseases. Ashraf, M. U., Muhammad, G., Hussain, M. A., & Bukhari, S. N. (2016). Cydonia oblonga M., a medicinal plant rich in phytonutrients for pharmaceuticals. Frontiers in pharmacology, 7, 163. Nadkarni, K. M. (Ed.). (1996). [Indian materia medica]; Dr. KM Nadkarni’s Indian materia medica: with Ayurvedic, Unani-Tibbi, Siddha, allopathic, homeopathic, naturopathic & home remedies, appendices & indexes. 1 (Vol. 1). Popular Prakashan. Duke, J. A., Bogenschutz-Godwin, M. J., Ducelliar, J., and Duke, P. A. K. (2002). Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, 2nd Edn. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Talib, M., Aslam, M., Ahmad, A., Asif, M., Qamar, W., & Chaudhary, S. (2017). An overview of a honeyed Unani blood purifier: Sharbat Unnab. Al-Snafi, A. E. (2016). The Pharmacological and therapeutic importance of Cordia myxa-A review. IOSR Journal of Pharmacy, 6(6), 47-57. AlBayaty, M. A., & AlTahan, F. J. A. F. J. (2008). Mechanism of the tracheal smooth muscle relaxant activity of the Cordia myxa plant extract in sheep. The Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 32(2), 214-226. Alt News Science is no longer edited by Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh From 2017-2021, Dr. Shaikh was the Founding-Editor for Alt News Science. Her main role is as a neuroscientist researching violent extremism and psychiatry. Follow @Neurophsyik In a 2-minute video, a man recommends a “technique” to prevent infection from Omicron, the… A video of a set of iron nails that appear to melt after being placed… Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish… A 90-second video of a man dissecting a banana has been shared on the internet…. The Taliban has formed an all-male government after taking over control in Afghanistan. On September…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th February 2020 / 9:38 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ayush-ministrys-claim-that-unani-practices-can-prevent-coronavirus-infection-is-false/", "author": "Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh" }

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