Swapan Dasgupta, Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP, has called out the media for distorting his comment on Deepika Padukone. The Bollywood actress had recently found herself in the midst of controversy after visiting JNU to show her support for protesting leftists as part of a PR drive ahead of the release of her upcoming movie.
The headline of the report by the Free Press Journal was deliberately distorted to completely alter the meaning of Dasgupta’s remarks.
In the FPJ article, the headline read “Have great respect for Deepika Padukone’: BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta”. The headline essentially insinuated that a BJP MP has praised Deepika for her stand in the JNU issue where she stood with Communists accused of vandalism.
The comment when read in full elucidates the actual intent of Swapan Dasgupta’s words. He had said, “I have great respect for Deepika Padukone, but she is not an inspiration for my voting intentions.” Thus, amidst the controversy, the relevant portion of the comment is that Deepika Padukone’s political stance does not represent the political opinion of Indian citizens as a whole.
Even the FPJ report mentions the full comment in its report but fails to highlight it in its headline which gives its readers completely false information. Swapan Dasgupta, thus, called out FPJ for its shoddy headline on Twitter, following which, the tweet was with the actual headline was deleted by the handle of the media outlet.
A deliberate campaign of distortion and misrepresentation has been launched by the media in wake of the protests that have gripped the nation. The FPJ’s headline appears to have been concocted with the mala fide intention of putting the BJP in a false position where one of its prominent leaders could be seen supporting Deepika Padukone’s stance on the matter.
On Wednesday, Swapan Dasgupta was attacked by goons at the Visva Bharati University in West Bengal. Quite shamefully, Congress leaders had come out to defend the said attack.