On 20th May, journalist-turned-YouTuber and propagandist Ravish Kumar shared disinformation on social media platform X where he asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to change the basis of reservation. The disinformation was based on an interview Union Minister Rajnath Singh gave to Amar Ujala.
In a post in Hindi, Ravish Kumar wrote, “Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has given an interview to Amar Ujala. Rajnath Ji is saying that the basis of reservation should be poverty. Are they talking about changing the basis of reservation? The opposition to reservation starts with this argument. Those who know the principles of reservation will surely shed light on this. They will say that a major basis is missing between religion and poverty and what that is. Rajnath Singh’s interview is printed on page ten. He is a senior politician. He has won elections many times. There is voting in Lucknow today.” Notably, his post came on the day of fifth phase of polling.
Rajnath Singh categorically said ‘no plan to change reservation’
The interview in question was published by Dainik Bhaskar on 20th May. It also appeared in the print version of the newspaper. During the interview, the reporter asked Singh about the claims opposition has made that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking 400 seats as the party wants to change basis of reservation or the Constitution of India.
Replying to the question, Rajnath Singh said, “These people [Congress party and other parties in opposition] amended the Constitution 80-90 times. In the year 1976, Indira Gandhi had changed the soul of the Constitution in its Preamble itself. Reservation should not be in the name of religion but on the basis of poverty and in India at present reservation is being given on the basis of poverty only. There is no question of ending it. The opposition says that we will give reservation in the name of religion. Does the Constitution allow this? I tell the opposition not to lie to the minorities.”
Ravish Kumar has a history of disinformation
This is not the first time Ravish Kumar has indulged in spreading disinformation. In May 2023, he used misleading news to call Gujarat “lab of Hindutva”, continued to create hysteria even after truth emerged. On 7th May 2023, he took to Facebook to fear-monger about ‘missing’ 40000 women from the Indian State of Gujarat. While sharing the screenshot of a misleading article by The New Indian Express, he wrote, “Ask Narendra Modi, where did the girls of Gujarat disappear? Can Modi, who talks about the pride of 6 crores Gujaratis, tell us about the whereabouts of 40000 missing girls?”
The propaganda artist then went on to dub Gujarat, the ‘laboratory of Hindu Rahstra.’ He inquired, “Which experiment is being run in this laboratory of Hindu Rahstra to disappear girls?” The half-baked information about 40000 ‘missing’ women was amplified by the left-liberal ecosystem in the hopes of deviating public discourse from ‘The Kerala Story’ to Gujarat. In a series of tweets, the Gujarat police informed that while 41,621 women had gone missing between 2016-2020, about 39,497 or approximately 95% of the women were traced and reunited with their families.
In February this year, Ravish Kumar whitewashed Islamist violence in Haldwani and suggested Opposition should milk it during election and dubbed courts as ‘communal’. A day after Islamists ran riots in Haldwani city in Nainital district of Uttarakhand, former NDTV ‘journalist’-turned-YouTuber Ravish Kumar gave a clean chit to the rioters and blamed the court and the State government for removing illegal encroachments.
In his long rant on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday (9th February), the left-wing propagandist conveniently ignored the stone-pelting and arson attacks executed by radical Islamists. Instead, he accused the Hindus of supposedly being ‘complicit in silence.’ “The existence of mosques was erased overnight in Delhi. The people of Delhi city ignored it. They are becoming involved in every atrocity with their silence,” Ravish Kumar alleged at the very outset.
