Anarkali of Arrah director caught spreading fake image of Sambit Patra, brazens it out

courtesy: IMDB

Avinash Das, director of the movie Anarkali of Arrah, which released in 2017 with Swara Bhaskar in the lead role shared a fake image from his verified Twitter handle on 3rd October. The photoshopped image quotes Sambit Patra saying in a press conference aired by ABP News, that farmers protesting on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border are all being ‘Gadar’ or ‘traitor.’

https://twitter.com/avinashonly/status/1047443549925650433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The attached image seems manipulated at the first glance. Against the headline, ‘BJP’s press conference’ image of Rahul Gandhi is pasted. The text also seems to have been imposed superficially.

The farmers protesting near the national capital recently belonged to Bharatiya Kisan Union, who have been on Padyatra since 23rd September. They were stopped from entering Delhi.

BKU had called off the protest after the government allowed them to visit Kisan Ghat and later stated that the central government has agreed to meet most of their demands.

Sambit Patra, the national spokesperson of BJP, debunked the fake image and said that no such press conference was ever held. He also asked Twitter India, to take ‘stringent action’ against the director.

https://twitter.com/sambitswaraj/status/1047748894120169472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Surprisingly, even though he was caught spreading fake news, director Avinash Das, instead of apologising for posting fake news and imagery, chose to justify it by giving it a political twist.

https://twitter.com/avinashonly/status/1047789964354760704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Social media is a powerful platform for communication but many people with vested interests use it to manipulate public sentiments and score political goals. Recently, prominent leftist leader Kavita Krishnan was also caught sharing an old image from 2013 as being that of the recent farmers’ protest.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia