BJP’s controversial spokesperson Sambit Patra and a right-wing propaganda outlet are facing public ridicule after they were caught spreading fake news about Samajwadi leader Azam Khan on the Ram Temple.
This was after a self-proclaimed ‘Ram Bhakt’ Azam Khan claimed that he will take jal samadhi if he was not invited for the foundation laying function of Ram Temple, scheduled for 5 August. Khan, according to Aaj Tak TV channel, said that he will end his life by jumping into the Saryu river if the administration did not invite him to the function, to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, Patra and Swarajya website went to town claiming that the Azam Khan in question was the veteran Samajwadi Party leader simply because both of them shared the same name. Patra took to Twitter to share a link of a nondescript website and wrote, “Azam Khan is saying that he will take a jal samadhi if he wasn’t invited to Ayodhya. You can do so in a palm-full of water.”
Known Hindutva fake news factory Swarajya too published a news item claiming that the man in question was the former minister in the UP government. The propaganda website did not care to carry out any research to authenticate the news. Had they done so, they would have learned that the veteran Samajwadi Party leader has been in jail since February along with his son Abdullah Azam and wife Tanzeen Fatima.
Meanwhile, Twitterati have been targeting Patra, who’s also known for peddling fake news, on the microblogging site.
Here are some examples;
Fake news spreader @sambitswaraj
This is not MP Azam Khan this is a different Azam khan of Muslim Karsevak Much
Hey @AltNews we found another fake news by Sambit Patra.@zoo_bear @free_thinker pic.twitter.com/J9fxq8q9aX
— Shaikh Adnan عدنان (@IamAdnanSk) July 26, 2020
It is not that Azam Khan!!! He is from Rashtriya Muslim Munch.
— Dr. Ashutosh Kumar (@Ashutosh_hind) July 26, 2020
I think it’s a fake news
Reality is it’s not mp azam khan who is in jail is saying this
Its muslim kar sevak adhyaksh azam khan who is saying this— apoorv rao (@apoorvrao1) July 26, 2020
Right-wing website Swarajya and its editorial director R Jagannathan were singled out by the BBC for peddling fake news.
