On Sunday, January 9, Dr Param Navdeep Singh, a leader of the Indian National Congress, took to her official Twitter handle to share the same manipulated video which Pakistanis and their Indian agents shared on January 7 to claim that the Indian government is planning to remove Sikhs from the Indian army.
Despite the Indian government rubbishing the fake video on the very same day, the Congress leader continued to peddle the fake news in her deliberate attempt to berate the Modi government.
In a fresh new effort to portray PM Modi as anti-Sikh, the Congress leader Tweeted the fallacious claim, two days later, with the hashtag #ModihatesPunjabis.
In her now-deleted Tweet, Dr Param Navdeep Singh wrote: “During 6 January Meeting of Modi’s Cabinet Committee on security BJP Minister Calls For Removal of Sikhs From Indian Army #ModihatesPunjabis” while sharing a screenshot from the same ‘fake’ video that went viral, showing anti-Sikh views being expressed during a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi.
Dr Param Navdeep Singh who identifies herself as a social activist and doctor is a former Congress MLA of the Sangaria assembly constituency in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district.
It may be noted that after being called out for sharing the erroneous claim that too, two days after it was fact-checked by the government of India itself, the Congress leader deleted her Tweet saying, “No harm/ ill-will was intended by hashtagging it”.
A fake video of a meeting showing Hon’ HM of India Sh. Amit Shah appeared in the media…about Panjabis/ Sikhs. No harm/ ill-will was intended by hashtagging it..Deleted and Regretted.
— Dr. Param Navdeep Singh (@NavdeepParamINC) January 10, 2022
Congress toes Pakistan’s line to berate Modi government
Congress, which is infamous for always toeing Pakistan’s line when it comes to demonising the Modi government, did so again this time, parroting the false assertions made by an Inter-Services Public Relations propaganda Twitter handle (ISPR). In her eagerness to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the Congress leader likely overlooked the fact that the falsehood she was pushing had already been debunked by the Indian government two days prior.
On Saturday (January 8), several accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram were reportedly blocked by the Ministry of Information and Technology (MeitY) for disseminating modified recordings of a cabinet briefing and promoting inappropriate or hostile content.
In a tweet, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar revealed that 73 Twitter accounts had been suspended, four YouTube videos had been deleted, and one Instagram game had been taken down. The proprietors of these accounts are being identified and will face legal action, and these social media networks’ due diligence will be examined, he added.
Propaganda to divert from PM Modi’s security breach
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) propaganda Twitter handle released a doctored video on Friday (January 7) claiming that the Indian government is intending to remove Sikhs from the Indian army. The news comes amid a standoff between the central government and the Punjab government over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security lapse on January 5 of this year.
“Cabinet Committee on Security Meeting Minister Anurag Thakur, S Jaishankar calls for removal of Sikhs from the Indian army,” according to Anjali Kaur’s Twitter profile (@heyanjaliii). The aforementioned account was established in October of last year and currently has 987 followers. Someone was heard in the video arguing for the removal of all Punjabis from the Indian Army.
The propaganda handle used visuals from a Union Cabinet meeting and superimposed an audio transcript from a Clubhouse discussion. It was pointed out by several social media users on Twitter.
The false account’s allegations were also refuted by the Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) official handle.
