On Thursday (October 13) morning, the Congress party lauded its leader Rahul Gandhi for supposedly overtaking Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the people’s choice, based on an imaginary survey attributed to news outlet Aaj Tak.
The ‘photoshopped survey’ claimed that the Congress scion has an approval rating of 52% while PM Narendra Modi lags behind with just 46% approving him as a preferred leader.
While boasting about the ‘changing public perception’, the official handle of Delhi Congress tweeted, “The mood of the nation is changing. People have now decided to teach a lesson to those who make fake promises (hinting at the BJP and PM Modi).” The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.
However, the happiness of the Congress ecosystem was short-lived as Aaj Tak was forced to debunk the disinformation peddled in its name.
In a tweet, the news outlet made it clear that no such survey was conducted by its team and the image shared by Delhi Congress was morphed. It clarified, “Delhi Congresss, the information shared via your tweet is false. The image is photoshopped. Aaj Tak has not conducted any such survey and it is fake.”
“As a responsible political organisation, we expect you to promptly remove this misleading tweet that falsely attributes Aaj Tak,” it emphasised.
CLARIFICATION: @INCDelhi इस ट्वीट में शेयर की गई जानकारी पूरी तरह से गलत है. यह तस्वीर Photoshopped है. आजतक ने ऐसा कोई सर्वे नहीं कराया है, यह पूरी तरह Fake है. हम आशा करते हैं कि आपके जैसे जिम्मेदार राजनीतिक संगठन आजतक के नाम पर गलत ख़बर वाले इस ट्वीट को तुरंत हटा लेंगे
— AajTak (@aajtak) October 13, 2022
धन्यवाद https://t.co/lsC8YtHA6Z
Soon after, Delhi Congress deleted the tweet without citing any apology for peddling disinformation. By the time the tweet was deleted, it was liked by 1500 people and retweeted over 350 times.
Congress leader spreads fake letter attributed to Amit Shah
Earlier in June this year, Congress leader Nagma Morarji tweeted a fake letter attributed to India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The purported letter directed Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to provide Z security to former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on an urgent basis.
“In current scenario, I recommend you to evaluate emerging threats to the family house of Smt Nupur Sharma in Dehradun and provide Z security on urgent basis,” the letter said.
Furthermore, the alleged letter identified Nupur Sharma as an RSS ideologue who could help achieve the goal of a Hindu Rashtra. Journalist Swati Goel Sharma was quick to call out her bluff. On being pointed out that the letter is fake, Morarji quickly deleted her tweet without bothering to tender an apology.
