Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 27-km long roadshow in Surat city of Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders took to social media on Monday (November 28) to peddle disinformation.
They falsely claimed that chants hailing AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal were raised by people, who in fact had gathered to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pankaj Singh wrote, “This is the second video where chants of ‘Kejriwal’ were heard during PM Modi’s roadshow. Gujarat is ready for change.”
The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here. Pankaj is the President of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Aam Aadmi Party.
गुजरात में मोदी जी के रोड-शो में केजरीवाल जी के नारे लगने वाला दूसरा वीडियो भी सामने आया है।
— Pankaj Singh (@PankajSinghAAP) November 28, 2022
बदलाव के लिए गुजरात तैयार है।
इंकलाब जिंदाबाद।।
pic.twitter.com/rLUK30Ns2V
Similar claims were made by the two-time Delhi AAP MLA, Gulab Singh Yadav. “Chants of Kejriwal raised in the Surat road show of the saheb (referring to PM Modi). Wow, what a spectacle.” The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.
केजरीवाल केजरवाल केजरीवाल सूरत में साहेब के रोड़ शो मे लगे केजरीवाल के नारे – वाह क्या नजारा हैं। pic.twitter.com/3XQzXsoQQj
— Gulab Singh yadav (@GulabMatiala) November 29, 2022
AAP’s student wing leader, Vashraj Dubey, wrote, “Roadshow was organised for Modi but chants were being raised of Arvind Kejriwal. Zindabad Gujarat, Jai Ho!” The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.
लो भाई गुजरात के सूरत का दूसरा वीडियो भी आ गया…….रोड शो मोदी का, नारे केजरीवाल जी के।।
— VANSHRAJ DUBEY (@VanshrajDubey) November 27, 2022
जिंदाबाद गुजरात…… जय हो👍 pic.twitter.com/rIL6VMPVN7
The truth about the claims by AAP leader
The said video was first uploaded on Twitter by the popular user, Nandita Thakur on Sunday (November 27). In the video, it could be clearly heard that the people who gathered to watch PM Modi were chanting his name in unison and not that of Arvind Kejriwal.
PM Modi’s road show in Surat … Modi .. Modi .. Modi … pic.twitter.com/XXd1Fgu0Ek
— नंदिता ठाकुर 🇮🇳 (@nanditathhakur) November 27, 2022
A similar video posted by veteran journalist, Kanchan Gupta, on the same day also contained no chants hailing Arvind Kejriwal, as claimed by AAP leaders.
Prime Minister @narendramodi in Surat.
— Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 (@KanchanGupta) November 27, 2022
Migratory election birds just don’t get the connect Modi Ji has with the masses, more so in #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/396F0iFQsA
A longer version of the video, posted on the Youtube channel of PM Modi, also makes it evident that chants of ‘Kejriwal, Kejriwal’ were superficially to claim mass support for the AAP supremo before the 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls.
The disinformation peddled by the Aam Aadmi Party leaders was also debunked by the likes of Boom and SM Hoax Slayer.
AAP IT cell spreads fake video to mock BJP
Earlier on November 12 this year, one Praatik Innamdar of Aam Aadmi Party’s IT cell in Gujarat tweeted an old video from West Bengal. He falsely claimed that the disturbing video was from Gujarat and that BJP workers were being thrashed by an angry mob.
He added the “Morbi Bridge Collapse” hashtag to his tweet to insinuate that the assailants were miffed with BJP workers because of the Morbi tragedy, which claimed over a hundred lives.
However, the video turned out to be from West Bengal and not remotely connected to the Morbi tragedy. Opindia found that the video was initially shared by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on August 6 this year.
In his tweet, Adhikari has written, “Yesterday Asit Mazumdar; TMC MLA from Chinsurah; Hooghly, thrashed a BJP Karyakarta for campaigning democratically. Those who questioned the NHRC, India’s post-poll violence report, citing ‘Law of the ruler, not Rule of law’ in WB haven’t seen Mamata Banerjee’s GOONDA Raaj.”
Yesterday Asit Mazumdar; TMC MLA from Chinsurah; Hooghly, thrashed a BJP Karyakarta for campaigning democratically.
— Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) August 6, 2022
Those who questioned @India_NHRC‘s post poll violence report, citing ‘Law of ruler, not Rule of law’ in WB haven’t seen @MamataOfficial‘s GOONDA Raaj.@narendramodi pic.twitter.com/MI0iElQWdO
Praatik Innamdar, who shared this video claiming that it is from Gujarat, is a member of the Gujarat IT cell of Arvind Kejriwal. He has also shared his photographs with the party chief Arvind Kejriwal from his Twitter handle in the past.
