WebQoof Recap: Of Farmers’ Protest & Ujjain Stone-Pelting Incident

Here’s a round-up of all that misled the public this week. 

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

From misinformation around the farmers’ protests against the new farm reforms to a stone-pelting incident in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, here’s a round-up of all that misled you this week.

1. Did PM Modi Say Vajpayee Started the First Metro in the Country?

On Monday, 28 December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first driverless train operations on the Delhi Metro's Magenta Line. Soon after, a quote attributed to PM Modi, crediting former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee for inaugurating India’s first Metro train, went viral on social media.

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.

However, Modi was referring to the Delhi metro while social media users misquoted the prime minister to claim that Vajpayee was the force behind India’s first Metro train.

You can read the full story here.

2. Adani Takes Over Indian Railways? Viral Pune Ticket is Edited

A morphed image of a Pune Junction railway platform ticket saying ‘Adani Railway’ is being circulated on social media with the claim that the cost of the platform ticket was increased to Rs 50 due to privatisation.

The original image, tweeted by journalist Prashant Kanojia in August, has been edited to include ‘Adani Railway - Railway is now our private property’ over ‘Pune Junction.’ A senior public relations officer (PRO) of the Central Railways also confirmed to The Quint’s WebQoof team that the viral ticket was “bogus.”

Further, the price of the platform ticket was increased to Rs 50 purportedly to “maintain social distancing norms during the pandemic”.

You can read the full story here.

3. Old Video Shared as Hindus Outside Mosque in Ujjain After Clashes

A video showing a massive crowd holding saffron flags is being circulated with the claim that it shows Hindus standing in solidarity outside a mosque after clashes took place in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain on Friday, 25 December.

You can view the archived version here.

However, we were able to trace the viral visuals to April 2019 and found that they are from Karnataka’s Gulbarga when people were celebrating Ram Navami.

You can read the full story here.

4. Viral Images of Food Sacks Falsely Linked to Ambani’s Reliance Jio

Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest, a set of images are being circulated to claim that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio has ventured into the agriculture business.

You can view the archived version here.

However, we found that the images are not related to Reliance Jio and the branding has been done by local dealers as a way to lure customers to buy the products.

You can read the full story here.

5. Old Video From Dehradun Viral as Jio Tower Burning in Punjab

A video showing a burning mobile tower has gone viral with the false claim that it shows telecommunications company Reliance Jio’s mobile tower burning in Punjab.

This comes amid allegations by the protesting farmers that the new farm laws were made to favour business giants like Mukesh Ambani, which reportedly resulted in vandalism of mobile towers in Punjab.

You can view an archived version here.

The viral video, however, is three years old, of an incident that took place in Dehradun, where a mobile tower had caught fire due to a short-circuit.

You can read the full story here.