Day after Tanishq showroom in Gandhidham, Kutch in Gujarat apologised to Hindus for the controversial advertisement glorifying ‘love jihad’, the ecosystem has come together to build a narrative that the showroom was ‘attacked’ by a ‘mob’ and the owners ‘forced’ to put up apology. It all started when NDTV, the grand-daddy of narration building for Congress ecosystem published a ‘breaking news’ that the Gandhidham showroom was ‘attacked’.
In the article published few minutes after this ‘breaking news’, cited no one and had no details about the ‘attack’.
A few minutes later, NDTV put up a video wherein one of NDTV’s employees claimed that a ‘mob attack’ took place on 12th evening, the day social media users were angered with the advertisement.
NDTV claimed the manager was forced to write a written apology for the advertisement. All this while, NDTV does not name anyone but attributes all the allegations to ‘sources’.
However, minutes after the first tweet went viral, Twitter user Dr Neel shared an audio clip wherein he talked to the manager of the showroom that NDTV alleged was ‘attacked’ by a ‘mob’.
This is fake news. I just spoke to the store manager at Tanishq Gandhidham. I hope @TanishqJewelry too issues a clarification on this. Are they hand in gloves with NDTV in this victim playing? pic.twitter.com/Gp1LrZo6jg
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) October 14, 2020
Dr Neel talks to the Tanishq showroom manager who categorically denies being attacked by anyone. One can hear people in the background talking in Gujarati on how someone is videographing the showroom. The person handling the showroom himself was unaware of the alleged ‘mob attack’ on the showroom. He later denied how there was no attack and thanked Dr Neel.
OpIndia tried to call up Tanishq showroom in Gandhidham but could not get through. We shall update the story once we manage to get in touch with them.
Amusingly, soon after NDTV’s story was published, various propaganda outlets picked up the story. The Kashmirwalla cited NDTV’s dubious report to claim that a mob attacked the Tanishq showroom.
Various media houses picked up this report by NDTV.
An Indian Express report cites unknown Tanishq showroom employee and claims that a ‘mob’ of 120 people gathered near the showroom and some hurled abuses at the staff. “They said they were Hindus and wouldn’t tolerate such ads. We told them that the ad was just meant to promote our jewellery business and nothing else and that the Gandhidham showroom had not issued it but that it was a decision of the company. We told them that we, too, are Hindus. But they didn’t listen to us,” the Indian Express cites an unnamed ’employee’ of Tanishq showroom.
Clearly, Indian Express needs a masterclass in spreading misinformation from NDTV. See how they are not even trying to be subtle to make Hindus appear intolerant. “They said they were Hindus and wouldn’t tolerate such ads” and “we told them that we, too, are Hindus” is a conversation that clearly happened. <sarcasm>
However, as the conversation of Dr Neel shows, the Tanishq showroom employees at Kutch’s Gandhidham were absolutely clueless about the ‘mob attack’. Now, here is where things get interesting.
After the exposé by Dr Neel, NDTV has quietly watered down its mega claims of ‘mob attack’.
Here are three different headlines of NDTV in past two hours:
For story updated at 12:59, NDTV claimed that Tanishq store was ‘attacked’
An hour later, the ‘mob attack’ became ‘mob pastes apology note’.
And finally, in the third headline, the ‘mob attack’ was watered down to ‘threat call’.
Later, the Kutch Police has also clarified that there was no attack on the showroom.
.@SP_EastKutch के मुताबिक यह एक प्रोपोगेंडा के तहत चलाई गई ख़बर है जो फेक है। https://t.co/apgwWcCU8G pic.twitter.com/aMjP8EUmxn
— Janak Dave (@dave_janak) October 14, 2020
So first, NDTV created a narrative of showroom being attacked, which was widely picked up by media and social media users, screenshots shared, and people made to believe ‘Hindus intolerant of inter-faith marriage ads’. But when lies are exposed, they quietly go from ‘mob attack’ to ‘threat calls’.
A new low, even by NDTV standards.
