The mainstream media these days is not tired of praising how Congress is witnessing a “resurgence” on social media, especially on Twitter. However, this resurgence appears to be based on manipulations and lies. Last month it was reported that bots could be behind the sudden increase in popularity of Rahul Gandhi on Twitter, while today, it became apparent, how Congress is using lies and defamatory content to push their propaganda.
The person helping in spreading this propaganda was no other than party’s spokesperson Sanjay Jha, better known as the person who was regularly bashed by Arnab Goswami on TV debates in run up to the 2014 general elections.
Earlier today, Jha circulated a picture on Twitter, which showed someone purported to be the DGP of Gujarat Police, kneeling down to senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The original picture was posted by a Congress supporting troll named Alamgir Rizvi and was further spread by Sanjay Jha with “is this true” type disclaimer, which was made popular by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as a potent tool to spread lies and propaganda.
The motive behind spreading the picture was to show that Gujarat police was compromised, and thus the upcoming assembly elections in the state might not be free and fair.
However, alert Twitter users pointed out that Jha was spreading a fake picture. In reality, Congress trolls had morphed Rajnath Singh’s face on a still image from a movie that showed a police officer kneeling down to a politician.
Congress spokesperson @JhaSanjay spreads Photoshopped Movie still picture to defame @rajnathsingh and Gujarat DGP. https://t.co/Zn0r7Iv0mg pic.twitter.com/9Gerj3G43m
— Raju Das | ৰাজু দাস (@rajudasonline) November 1, 2017
In fact, this particular morphed picture has not been spread by Congress supporters on social media for the first time. Last month too, a Congress troll named Farida Patel had shared the same morphed picture. The troll was exposed by social media users last month itself.
What’s more stunning beyond comprehension is you @JhaSanjay spokesperson of @INCIndia spreading lies already busted by @SMHoaxSlayer ! pic.twitter.com/q7GexWIkfb
— Yo Yo Funny Singh (@moronhumor) November 1, 2017
So essentially, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha spread a known lie, perhaps in a proverbial bid to repeat a lie thousand times till it becomes a truth. Jha deleted the tweet after over half an hour of bashing by various social media users for spreading lies, but despite knowing the truth, the other Congress troll had not deleted the tweet by the time this report was published.
Funnily, not only the lies of Sanjay Jha were exposed, his low intellect and awareness was also exposed by social media users, for the DGP of Gujarat is a woman while the morphed picture had a male police officer kneeling down, who Jha thought was the DGP of Gujarat.
National Spokesperson of Congress does not know that DGP of Gujarat looks nothing like that person in pic because its a woman, Geetha Johri, https://t.co/Zn0r7Iv0mg
— Raju Das | ৰাজু দাস (@rajudasonline) November 1, 2017
Apart from the lies and propaganda that Congress is indulging on a widespread level on social media – known as its “resurgence” in the mainstream media – this incident also betrays that perhaps Congress deep inside knows that they are going to lose the Gujarat elections. Because the original intent behind sharing this message was to pre-empt the loss by claiming that elections were not free and fair owing to a compromised police force.
