Saurabh Dwivedi, the editor of left-leaning digital news media ‘Lallantop’, on Wednesday committed a gaffe after he inadvertently exposed his prejudice against the ruling BJP by mocking and abusing the party supporters.
On Thursday, Saurabh Dwivedi, the disciple of ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai – arguably one of the greatest fake news peddlers that India has ever produced, took to Twitter to express his hatred for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In a hurry to abuse and mock BJP, Dwivedi posted an edited infographic of the advertisement of British condom brand Durex on micro-blogging site Twitter and mocked that BJP supporters should use a condom to stop procreation of more supporters.
In a tweet, Dwivedi asked his followers whether he should trend the edited infographic or not. The edited infographic of the Durex advertisement read, “For those people who are still supporting BJP. Please use this we don’t want any more like you in the world”.
It is pertinent to note that Hindi news and opinion website ‘Lallantop’ is owned by the India Today group.
Following his tweet, the social media users exposed the bias and hatred of Saurabh Dwivedi towards the BJP. They also questioned the India Today group for providing space to ‘journalist’ like Dwivedi to express his hatred and accused him of being a ‘middleman’.
Request @IndiaToday & @aroonpurie to declare ‘Lallan Top’ as a political propaganda website. This is language of a mere troll, not of an editor. Day in and Day out, India Today group is losing their credibility because of many such incidences. pic.twitter.com/QCKQ2NgRBK
— Bhaiyyaji (@bhaiyyajispeaks) January 9, 2020
So @aajtak owned @TheLallantop‘s editor has this view for @narendramodi & @BJP4India supporters.
I am sure @aroonpurie approve of this.
Cc @AmitShah @JPNadda pic.twitter.com/qukRuMrk93
— Vikrant ~ विक्रांत (@vikrantkumar) January 8, 2020
Presenting you So called Journalist Saurabh Dwivedi ! Editor of Lallantop with His own https://t.co/5iDATBlMTi this tweet has been deleted by Him.#FattuLallantop pic.twitter.com/nYmMq3DyOL
— Vipul Kumar singh (@ThinkingVipul) January 9, 2020
As social media users lashed out at Dwivedi, the Lallantop editor soon deleted the tweet and issued an unconditional apology to what he referred as “sarcastic message about one political party”. He claimed that it was done in humour which misfired and was against the editorial policy of Lallantop to take any political side.
It was done in humor which misfired. It is against the editorial policy of LT to take any side. We are a young site and team. We made a mistake. My unconditional apology to all.
— Saurabh Dwivedi (@saurabhtop) January 9, 2020
Recently, Lallantop editor Saurabh Dwivedi and his master Rajdeep Sardesai had also resorted to similar propaganda against the Modi government regarding the implementation of NRC in Assam. In September, India Today group’s The Lallantop had telecasted a talk show on Assam’s NRC with controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and Saurabh Dwivedi. However, the discussion was full of misinformation and completely fake data.
In May this year, ‘Lallantop’ which asserts to be a fake-news buster, had also fact-checked a 9-month-old satirical article and passed off the claim as ‘authentic’.
