Founding member of Aam Aadmi Party and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan was again caught lying and spreading fake news to ridicule PM Modi. On Monday he took to Twitter to share a video clip and claimed how PM Modi’s popularity is dwindling in Gujarat. He did so by sarcastically sharing video of empty chairs and said how it is a symbol of his ‘increasing’ popularity.
प्रधानमंत्री की गुजरात में विशाल चुनावी रैली। उनकी बढ़ती लोकप्रियता का प्रतीक! pic.twitter.com/61XzWo9lEb
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) October 10, 2022
Similar tweet with similar text was shared by Congress leader Jignesh Mevani.
गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री जी की बढ़ती लोकप्रियता। pic.twitter.com/Jv76A6vtiJ
— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) October 10, 2022
Jignesh Mevani, before foraying into active politics, was associated with Mukul Sinha, father of Pratik Sinha, one of the cofounders of propaganda website Alt News which masquerades as ‘fact-checking’ website.
Similar tweets were shared by other anti-Modi Twitter users with similar language making one wonder whether they all got the video and suggested text in WhatsApp forward to be shared on social media by same source.
प्रधानमंत्री की गुजरात में विशाल चुनावी रैली। उनकी बढ़ती लोकप्रियता का प्रतीक! pic.twitter.com/3LlOgmR76f
— मनीष हिंदुस्तानी 🇮🇳 #BanEVM (@iamhindustaniii) October 10, 2022
Most such videos were shared by Congress workers and supporters.
गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री जी की बढ़ती लोकप्रियता। pic.twitter.com/X7KO4qP2OJ
— Abhilash Pati (@Abhilash_INC) October 10, 2022
The keyword was ‘लोकप्रियता’ (popularity).
प्रधानमंत्री माननीय @narendramodi @PMOIndia की गुजरात में विशाल चुनावी रैली। उनकी बढ़ती लोकप्रियता का प्रतीक! #कुर्सियां है पर जनता गायब pic.twitter.com/A5hDEcGDeh
— Sharwan Ram Patel (@sharwanrampate2) October 10, 2022
Clearly, Congress had activated its toolkit.
अपने गृह राज्य गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जी की बढ़ती लोकप्रियता। pic.twitter.com/mFzNz6TBPR
— Bajrang bharti (@BajrangBharti10) October 10, 2022
Except, the video is taken after the event was over when most of the people had left.
Here is the live streaming of PM Modi’s speech in Modhera, Gujarat. One can hear the part of Modi’s speech in the below clip at around 33 minute onward.
PM Modi is talking about the prospects of tourism in northern Gujarat. “Friends, along with Sun Temple at Modhera, the teerth at Bahucharaji, Umiya Mata, Ran Ki Vaav (stepwell), Taranga Hill, Rudra Mahalay, Vadnagar toran… Someone can take a bus and for two days keep visiting these places,” he said to a cheering crowd.
Towards the end of PM Modi’s speech, when the camera pans towards the crowd, one can see the entire hall full of people. There is no way the people just disappeared the way shown in the video shared by Congress leaders and sympathisers. It is likely the video shared by Congress leaders, supporters and sympathisers was taken after the rally got over when the speech was replayed while Modi supporters left the venue.
This, obviously, is not the first time Mevani and Bhushan are caught spreading lies. The anti-vaxxer Bhushan had regularly indulged in spreading vaccine hesitancy and misinformation related to the vaccines. Mevani, along with Kejriwal, whom he once supported, too indulged in spreading dangerous lies that could have led to law and order situation.
