The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, took to Twitter on Friday and accused the media of being party to the ‘dirty tricks’ played by ‘rattled commies’.
During the DUSU elections, the media had reported that ABVP had put up posters promising to ban non-vegetarian food and short skirts in JNU. ABVP took to Twitter and alleged that despite issuing a clarification, media has been propagating the same lie and attributing fake posters to ABVP. They said that ABVP had not put up any such posters.
Despite clarification from us, media is propagating the fake poster in the name of ABVP. We have already clarified that the said poster is not released by us. It is shameful to see media being party to rattled commies’ dirty tricks to malign ABVP. pic.twitter.com/k9028J1944
— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) September 15, 2018
One of the news outlets called out by ABVP, the Indian Express, has changed its headline to reflect reality accurately. The headline which previously read, “Purported ABVP posters promise to ban short dresses in JNU, close eateries serving non-veg food” now reads, “ABVP says poster promising ban on non-veg food, short skirts in JNU is fake”.
The Times of India, however, hasn’t changed its headline although the report does mention ABVP’s Saurabh Sharma’s clarification. He reportedly said, “Left parties are scared of us and hence, this is propaganda against us. We have not issued any such poster.”
Hindustan Times, which published a report on the matter as well, has a headline that does not reflect the clarification that Sharma issued.
Various other outlets have published reports on the matter as well which fail to reflect ABVP’s denial of putting up the said posters in their headline. The media is known to have a partisan political agenda and their actions often reveal that there’s some definite truth to those allegations.
