Last night, a controversial tweet from the official handle of the Press Information Bureau that had called for support for the rioting hooligans of Jamia and condemned the Delhi Police’s retaliatory action had created a buzz on social media.
The official handle of Government of India’s Press Information Bureau, the nodal agency for communicating with media on behalf of the government of India, was seen sharing a tweet in support of the Jamia rioters with hashtags like #SOSJamia, #RejectCAB and #StopViolenceAgainstStudents.
It was shocking for many to see such a tweet from the official PIB handle. Netizens soon figured it out that an identical tweet had been shared from the handle of one Khurshid Zenia, who claimed to be an ex-student of Jamia.
https://twitter.com/Manesha76/status/1206263807758094342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Netizens also reported that the particular person had also tweeted frequently against the government of India. She had even asked from UN help against the government of India’s decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act. In one of the tweets, she was seen asking for sanctions against Home Minister Amit Shah.
https://twitter.com/surnell/status/1206290604390375424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
After the tweets created a buzz on the social media amidst the news of Delhi Police’s crackdown on the Jamia rioters, PIB soon shared a tweet saying that the tweet in support of the Jamia rioters was ‘inadvertently’ done by one of the members of their social media team. They stated that the person had shared ‘her’ personal comments on the Jamia matter and they ‘deeply regret’ the error.
The person Khurshid Zenia has since deleted her Twitter account after screenshots of her tweets went viral.
https://twitter.com/kochattil/status/1206297464849846272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Dev_Jurix/status/1206274330717384705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The fact that a person who has a clear anti-India agenda and asks for UN action against a democratically elected government is running the official social media handle of the PIB, has created much outrage on the social media. Users are wondering how the PIB had hired people without a basic check of their social media profiles.