PM Narendra Modi<\/a>‘s rally intended to show his popularity, there have been many instances of manufacturing fake news to whip up communal sentiments and disturb peace. Observing that the run up to Karnataka election “has witnessed a whirlwind of misinformation\/disinformation over the past few months”, AltNews said “disturbingly, much of the narrative has focused on communal division.”<\/p>\n“A sinister attempt is … underway by Hindutva forces to disturb the peace in the region. Incidents are given a communal colour and inflammatory statements are made with the intention of inciting prejudice and hate,” said AltNews, citing instances in some of which persons no less than Members of Parliament like Shobha Karandlaje have been behind such attempts.<\/p>\n
There is another fake news video which was posted even by PMOIndia: Report Card. AltNews carried it under the headline “Viral: Fake news about INC K\u2019taka candidate threatening \u2018unending bloodshed of Hindus\u2019 if voted to power”.<\/p>\n
The video came with the message “Bangalore Congress candidate (chamarajpet) Zameer Ahmed promises unending bloodshed of Hindus if Congress is voted to power and when he becomes minister”.<\/p>\n
The video is about Congress candidate for the Karnataka assembly election Zameer Ahmed Khan addressing citizens in Urdu on his campaign trail. The video along with this message was first posted on Twitter by a user Kamal Lochan Mahanta. Mahanta according to his Twitter profile is a self-proclaimed Hindu nationalist residing in Chicago who is \u2018blessed to be followed by PM @narendramodi\u2019.<\/p>\n
Although Mahanta later deleted the video, Alt News managed to retrieve a copy. In the video, Zameer Ahmed Khan is saying, \u201c\u0932\u093f\u0916\u0935\u093e \u0932\u0947\u0928\u093e, \u092e\u0947\u0930\u0947 \u0915\u094b \u092e\u093f\u0928\u093f\u0938\u094d\u091f\u0930 \u092c\u0928\u093e\u092f\u093e \u0924\u094b 5 \u0938\u093e\u0932 \u0915\u0947 \u0905\u0928\u094d\u0926\u0930 \u0910\u0938\u0947 \u0910\u0938\u0947 \u0915\u093e\u0930\u0928\u093e\u092e\u0947 \u0915\u0930\u0915\u0947 \u0926\u093f\u0916\u093e\u090a\u0902\u0917\u093e \u0917\u093f\u0928\u0940\u091c \u0930\u093f\u0915\u0949\u0930\u094d\u0921 \u092e\u0947\u0902 \u0928\u093e\u092e \u0906\u090f\u0917\u093e\u201d (Get it in writing, if I am made a minister, in five years I will do such work that my name will appear in the Guinness record). The false claim was that the Congress candidate is promising bloodshed of Hindus if Congress comes to power and he becomes a minister.<\/p>\n
This video with the accompanying false claim was widely shared by right-wing users on Twitter, facebook and Whatsapp. PMO India: Report Card which has a massive following of over 1.5 million users too had posted this video, which was later deleted, reported AltNews. The Twitter handle of PMO India: Report Card is followed by senior office bearers and BJP members like Piyush Goyal, Maheish Girri, Sambit Patra, Radha Mohan Singh, Giriraj Singh, Amit Malviya among others.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re posting two videos, especially for people of Karnataka. All of you must see and must share it.<\/p>\n
Video 1: Zameer Ahmed promises unending bloodshed of Hindus in Karnataka if Congress is voted to power\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/LQ0gBi3MDX<\/p>\n
\u2014 PMOIndia-ReportCard (@PMOIndia_RC) May 2, 2018<\/p>\n
Social media users pointed out that the information is fake and tagged the police commissioner of Bengaluru and Bengaluru City police seeking action.<\/p>\n
Then there was the fake tweet about Twitter being paid to trend #GoBackModi, saying “@Twitter has accepted in a statement given to @news7tamil that they were paid 2.2 crore rupees by DMK to trend #GoBackModi”.<\/p>\n
A screenshot of News7 Tamil with this text did the rounds on social media, said AltNews. The screenshot was originally tweeted by an unknown handle @narayananansree \u200fthat has a total of 20 followers.<\/p>\n
AltNews said: “In case you are thinking who would believe such a screenshot tweeted by an unknown account, you are in for a surprise. From S. Gurumurthy to Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, many have tweeted it.”<\/p>\n
Gurumurthy has repeatedly fallen for hoaxes in the past as well. Recently, he had shared a tweet from a notorious parody handle of Republic TV. The parody handle had tweeted, “#Breaking : Jawahar Lal Nehru was great lover and taught us how to make love and have extra martial affairs : Sagarika Ghose #ThanksToNehru”. The same was shared by Gurumurthy with the comment, “What a certificate for Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s chosen disciple.”<\/p>\n
Nelson Vijay, Joint Editor of News7 Tamil clarified in response to Gurumurthy\u2019s tweet that the screenshot was fake. Gurumurthy then not only deleted his tweet but also tweeted that the news was fake.<\/p>\n
“The screenshot was also tweeted by Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Like Gurumurthy, he also found it entirely believable that Twitter has confirmed it received payment to trend the hashtag. But unlike Gurumurthy, he has not bothered to delete his tweet after learning that it is fake news,” said AltNews.<\/p>\n
In December 2017, provocative messages erupted on social media following the death of a 21-year-old, Paresh Mehta in Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka. Mesta\u2019s decomposed body was found in a lake in Honnavar town, days after he had gone missing following communal clashes in the region. A picture of his body was used to claim torture and mutilation, and the mob which had gathered to protest his alleged murder turned violent, destroying vehicles and resorting to stone pelting. The vehicle of IGP Western Range Hemant Nimbalkar was set on fire in Kumta.<\/p>\n
Karnataka BJP issued a press release on its website wherein it quoted BJP MP from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje who reportedly said, “Hot oil has been poured on his body resulting in his body turning completely black. This is a heinous murder carried out by jehadi elements.”<\/p>\n
The press release added that Karandlaje had said that Mesta\u2019s hands on which he had inscribed \u2018Jayarama\u2019 had been chopped off.<\/p>\n
The allegation of brutality spread like wild fire, egged on by prominent BJP leaders who parroted that Mesta had been tortured and killed by ‘jehadi’ elements active in the coastal Karnataka region, reported AltNews, which also showed a tweet from Shobha Karandlaje saying: “Hindu boy 21 yr old Paresh Mesta goes missing.when he was found, he was mutilated,castrated.burnt by boiling oil poured over his head & his head split dastardly with a weapon.”<\/p>\n
Fake news websites and communal rabble rousers like Postcard.news put up inflammatory posts. The \u2018report\u2019 was carried prominently by the India Today channel which reiterated the allegation that Mesta had been subjected to torture and his body flung in a lake. The channel described the graphic details of the \u2018assault\u2019, claiming he was castrated and his head was split open.<\/p>\n
This overdrive by top BJP functionaries, fake news websites and sections of mainstream media had the cumulative effect of spurring fresh violence in the volatile region, noted AltNews.<\/p>\n
The forensic report showed all the claims of brutalisation to be fake. By the time the falsehood was brought to light, the damage had been done.<\/p>\n
The AltNews report had noted: “There is a powerful vested interest which seeks to keep the communal pot boiling in the region, with assembly elections coming up in the state in 2018.”<\/p>\n
Similarly, Shobha Karandlaje on December 14 tweeted that ‘jehadis’ tried to rape and murder a minor girl in Honnavar and accused the Karnataka govt of silence and inaction.<\/p>\n
Investigation into the incident by police and forensic reports subsequently revealed that the girl had inflicted injuries on herself in order to escape her stalker, whose name is Ganesh Ishwar Naik.<\/p>\n
Despite the registration of the FIR and subsequent clarification by the police, Karandlaje was undeterred, repeating her lie that the girl had been attacked by ‘jehadis’.<\/p>\n
Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga joined the bandwagon, tweeting in support of Karandlaje and parroting her claim that ‘Jihadis tried to rape and murder a girl’.<\/p>\n
There is likely to more fake news on way. Karnataka goes to polls on May 12. Results will be out on May 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In its Karnataka election campaign, BJP has been propagating that 23 of their workers had been killed by \u2018jehadi\u2019 forces in the past five years. BJP MP from Udupi Shobha Karandlaje had written a letter to the Home Ministry last year listing the 23 names, with a man named Ashok Poojary at the top of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":42957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1497],"tags":[86,1953,45172,1399,13205],"yst_prominent_words":[48068,48074,48064,37854,5610,48075,48072,5963,20758,48069,48063,48065,48055,5605,48062,48070,4133,48073,48067,48061],"ppma_author":[140543],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/d2r2ijn7njrktv.cloudfront.net\/apnlive\/uploads\/2018\/05\/05191550\/Fake-News-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":140543,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"apnnewsdesk","display_name":"APN Live","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/478eacb893eda88aa6ed8d99b005bf58?s=96&r=g"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42953"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=42953"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=42953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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