Leftist propaganda website Scroll.in falsely quoted BJP President Amit Shah as saying in his speech today at Kannur, Kerala that the BJP will dissolve the Left government in the state if it arrests more devotees.
Shah had actually warned the state government that if it does not stop its atrocities against devotees, then the karyakartas of the BJP will uproot the party in the state. Shah, in his speech, accused the Left government in Kerala of using the Supreme Court verdict to inflict atrocities on the devotees of Lord Ayyappa. He also asserted that the Courts should give directives which can be implemented and not which infringes upon the faith of a community.
Amit Shah- “मैं मुख्यमंत्री विजयन को चेतावनी देने आया हूँ…… तो BJP के कार्यकर्ता आपके सरकार की ईंट से ईंट बजा देंगे”
Paid Media- Amit Shah says he will dissolve Kerala Assembly
Liberals- Democracy in Danger pic.twitter.com/v7qTltFSE0
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) October 27, 2018
The Scroll has since then apologized for spreading agenda driven Fake News.
A previous version of the article erroneously quoted BJP President Amit Shah as saying that the Centre will dissolve the Kerala government if devotees are arrested. The error has been corrected. https://t.co/AuTnay1DYg
— scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 27, 2018
But it wasn’t before peddlers of Fake News had caught on the lie to spread their own malicious agenda against the NDA government.
Even co-founder of Altnews.in, which is a ‘fact-checking’ website was caught furthering this lie.
“Govt Being Run by One-and-three-quarter Men” : Arun Shourie https://t.co/A1U590Z92A
— Zoo Bear (@zoo_bear) October 27, 2018
Then there were other journalists who jumped in without doing basic due diligence.
BJP used to lament article 356 when in opposition. Now they shamelessly use it as a threat. https://t.co/fVohyFPOTO
— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) October 27, 2018
Has India ever had a PM like Modi & a prez like Shah who have thuggish palpable contempt for all democratic institutions? Serious Q https://t.co/dzVvc2Xr2e
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) October 27, 2018
This statement is proof of the fact that the BJP President has no respect for the constitution or the law… https://t.co/oBvVfUOlhA
— Abhisar Sharma (@abhisar_sharma) October 27, 2018
does amit shah ever stop? now he wants to murder a government https://t.co/BztqD5MBO8
— Hartosh Singh Bal (@HartoshSinghBal) October 27, 2018
Some even questioned the basis on which the BJP could dissolve the Left government in Kerala without caring to verify whether the party president had said any such thing at all.
This is sheer intimidation @AmitShah .On what basis can you dissolve a government which has a stable majority in the Assembly and is behaving according to the law? Protestors indulging in violence going up against SC judgement. State has a right and duty to enforce the judgement. https://t.co/YRiSoo0zDv
— Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) October 27, 2018
The initial tweet spreading fake news has been deleted by scroll and the apology has been tweeted. But it appears that none of those who spread the fake news has bothered to retweet the apology. It reveals how fake news has become such a menace and why journalists and ‘fact checkers’ have lost so much credibility. The lie is tweeted and shared but the apology is conveniently ignored by an agenda driven coterie.
