On August 9, Yashwant Sinha, the former BJP member, who recently joined Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress Party, hit a new low by sharing a morphed image of a poster put up during an event conducted by former Sports minister Kiren Rijuji to felicitate silver medalist, Mirabai Chanu after she returned to Delhi from her successful campaign at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The shared image of the poster, placed behind the weightlifter, thanked PM Narendra Modi for helping Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medalist, Mirabai Chanu to get a medal for India.
Sinha, a vehement anti-Modi critic, in his efforts to malign the Prime Minister, highlighted the text thanking PM Modi printed on the poster he had shared through his official Twitter account. He captioned his Tweet: “Pl see this photo and what is written in the background if anyone has any objection to my last tweet on Olympics”.
Pl see this photo and what is written in the background if anyone has any objection to my last tweet on Olympics. pic.twitter.com/tFmWuqtXS6
— Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) August 9, 2021
The ‘last Tweet’ which Sinha referred to in the above Tweet was also aimed at poking fun at the Prime Minister. He had thanked Modi for winning 7 medals at the Tokyo Olympics for India.
Fact Check
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) had shared the actual photograph where it is clearly visible that the ‘Dhanyavad Modi ji’ lines are absent on the poster. The photograph was shared on the 27th of July.
The PIB had shared a video of the event as well where the poster is clearly visible.
A historic decision taken to establish National Sports University in Manipur was another big achievement for the northeast region.
— PIB India (@PIB_India) July 26, 2021
I congratulate @mirabai_chanu on behalf of 135 crore Indians and the Parliament, for her achievement – Union Minister @ianuragthakur pic.twitter.com/r8fGNbheE5
Interestingly, on July 26, after the event to facilitate had taken place, India Today had also covered the news. Incidentally, the media house had used the same poster felicitating Mirabai Chanu for Tokyo Olympics as its featured image.
If one looks carefully at the featured image of the report published by India Today on July 26, no message ‘thanking PM Modi’ can be seen printed on the background poster. This makes it sufficiently clear that the TMC leader, in his hate for PM Modi, jumped at the opportunity and viciously used the morphed photo to defame the Prime Minister.
The same morphed image was also shared by Jayant Chaudhary, National President, Rashtriya Lok Dal, who opined while sharing the edited image: “Do not insult the player in devotion, flattery and propaganda.
पदक विजेता का अभिनंदन तो ठीक है लेकिन, ‘#धन्यवाद_मोदी_जी मेडल दिलाने के लिए’ कुछ ज़्यादा नहीं हो गया? 🤔
— Jayant Chaudhary (@jayantrld) July 30, 2021
भक्ति, चापलूसी और अधिप्रचार में खिलाड़ी का अपमान तो मत करो! pic.twitter.com/aNZuLg1C59
However, the difference is that he tendered an apology for inadvertently sharing the morphed image as soon as he realised it. But, Yashwant Sinha, has not bothered to issue an apology.
