Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on an official visit to Palestine and UAE and Oman. This three-nation tour started yesterday when PM Modi reached Jordan. To reach Palestine, it is necessary to go through Jordan. In Amman, King Abdullah II of Jordan received PM Modi. PM had tweeted expressing his formal gratitude to King Abdullah II for allowing the transit.
The Palestine visit will begin on 10th February after transiting through Jordan. I am grateful to His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan for facilitating the transit and look forward to meeting him in Amman on 9th February.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 8, 2018
PM Modi had posted on facebook about his Palestine visit. In the Facebook post PM had mentioned that he would be the First Indian Prime Minister to make an official visit to Palestine.
PM Modi’s post sent some Congress twitter handles into a frenzy. Congress had always preached support for Palestine but in all these years not a single Congress Prime Minister had made an official visit. Gaurav Pandhi, Congress functionary tweeted calling PM Modi ‘a liar’. He claimed that it was Nehru who had first visited Palestine and not PM Modi.
Modi claims he is the first ever PM from India to visit Palestine.
Well, that’s just another lie! Here, pictures of Nehru in Gaza in 1960. pic.twitter.com/gCqEkHcwa3
— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) February 9, 2018
Gaurav Pandhi’s attempt at ‘fact checking’ was soon called out by twitterati as wrong and baseless. The fact is Jawaharlal Nehru had visited Gaza in 1960 and met General Inder Jit Rikhye who was stationed with the Indian troops along with UN forces in Gaza. But Gaza was under Egyptian control at that time. Palestine declared itself as an independent state only in November 1988.
Gaurav Pandhi’s massive gaffe was not taken kindly by twitter users. Many reacted to his false ‘fact checking’ and tweeted reacting to his attempt to malign the PM.
Idiot
Palestine declared Independence in 19 Nov 1988, when there is no Palestine State in 1960, how will Nehru be First PM to visit a bilateral?That pic is JLN on his way back from Common Wealth PM ‘s conference, London shaking hands with UN troops in Gaza. JNU product? https://t.co/Fogwz11CbR
— Sriram (@srirambjp) February 9, 2018
Fact Check:
Gaza was under Egyptian rule in 1960. Nehru was visiting Indian troops serving with UN at the time.India recognised State of Palestine in 1988. So technically, Modi is first Indian PM to visit a country we recognised 30 years ago i.e. when Rajiv Gandhi was PM. https://t.co/SROiqFwN31
— Jaskirat Singh Bawa (@JaskiratSB) February 9, 2018
This is not the first time Congress handles have circulated fake news. But social media is a brutal place and every time fake news peddlers get called out by alert users.
