BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma created quite a storm on Twitter after she shared a photo from the 2002 Gujarat riots to call people for a protest in Jantar Mantar against the recent communal violence in the Basirhat area of West Bengal.
This, on the same day that Kolkata police arrested a Class 11 student for posting fake images on his Facebook post that triggered the violence in West Bengal.
This is the tweet Sharma posted on Saturday, using an evocative image to protest against the “falling value of human life”. She even used the hashtag #SaveHindus, giving the post a communal tone.
Online fact checker Boom was quick to point out that the image in the tweet is out of context, and from the 2002 riots.
Nupur, instead of acknowledging this, gave a weak defence saying that the flyer used is not hers.
Expectedly, reactions like this followed:
This is not the first time a BJP leader has courted controversy for sharing news or photos online without cross-checking. BJP MP Paresh Rawal has also been criticised for it in the past. Recently, the party’s Haryana leader Vijeta Malik also shared a still from a Bhojpuri film claiming it to be a photo from the violence in Basirhat, West Bengal.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)