Controversial journalist Sagarika Ghose who had once spread falsehoods to whip up communal sentiments, routinely sees herself questioned on social media, with regards to her ‘unique viewpoints’.
Today was one such day when Sagarika while quoting a TOI blog claimed that oppressive jail sentences were meted out to fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad Yadav and that they were a violation of his fundamental human rights. She further questioned whether Lalu was being victimised for his anti-BJP stance:
https://twitter.com/sagarikaghose/status/979950365348106240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The article she quoted was incidentally co-written by senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. There he sought to drive home the point that Lalu could well have been provided with a “concurrent” jail sentence in place of the “consecutive” one which has seen him getting sentenced to 14 years in jail by a CBI court in Ranchi. This verdict saw the judge giving two seven-year jail sentences to Lalu which will be served consecutively.
Without much extrapolation, the article in its concluding lines claimed that Lalu’s human and fundamental rights were egregiously violated, which was picked up by Sagarika in her tweet. By going a step further she also floated a conspiracy theory in her tweet by subtly questioning whether the BJP was behind such a sentencing.
People were less than amused by Sagarika’s tweet thereby making their objection clear:
https://twitter.com/indiantweeter/status/979982035342282752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/c_aashish/status/979969004528918528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/rachittweet/status/979952661930766336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/runjhunmehrotra/status/979970107173756928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
One user calmly pointed out the obvious typo in her tweet while questioning her intentions:
https://twitter.com/ragarwal/status/979957829456027648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This incident raises the question whether a narrative has already started getting built with regards to a possible rehabilitation of Lalu ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections so that votes could be canvassed with regards to the “inhuman treatment” meted out to him?