Convenience is king when it comes to political parties and their supporters. This can be seen from an infographic that is doing the rounds on the social media and creating a lot of interest. It compares the numbers of civilian deaths caused by terrorist attacks under the Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi regimes.
The image lists the number of people killed in Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Varanasi and Gujarat under the UPA and claims that there have been no casualties under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule.
The widely circulated graphic is being used by BJP supporters to boast of the success of Modi’s counter-terrorism initiatives. But here’s why these infographics must not be taken at face value.
First of all, comparing cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur to an entire state like Gujarat shows shoddy research and execution. These are not comparable with each other. And if terror attacks took place in Gujarat when UPA was in power at the Centre, shouldn’t part of the blame go to the state government that was then headed by Narendra Modi?
Jammu And Kashmir Does Not Find Mention
This particular graphic fails to mention Jammu and Kashmir, which has suffered the most due to terror attacks. According to data compiled by Indiaspend in 2017, there has been a 42 percent increase in terrorism-related deaths under Modi compared to the last three years of UPA’s rule. It must be remembered that the BJP has been in power at the state level as well since 2015.
What about Assam, where in August 2016, a dozen people were killed after two terrorists in army uniform opened fire at a crowded market in Kokrajhar?
In 2016, India witnessed the third-highest number of terror attacks in the world, according to data released by the US State Department in September this year. It is ahead of even Pakistan.
The state department report also says that more than half of the terror attacks in India in 2016 took place in four states: Jammu and Kashmir (19 percent), Chhattisgarh (18 per cent), Manipur (12 percent), and Jharkhand (10 per cent). Why did the graphic fail to mention any of these states?
It seems to have become common for political parties to cherry-pick figures that suit their narrative, instead of showing the complete picture.
For instance, an image on the official Twitter handle of Indian National Congress shows that the number of terror incidents in Kashmir has gone up considerably under the BJP rule. While this might be true, it is strange that the Congress has failed to even mention civilians who were killed in Kashmir. Perhaps that could be because then the party will have to face questions about the high number of civilian deaths in Kashmir during the 2010 unrest.
Why No Data From Northeast And Maoist-Affected Areas?
Neither of the two parties seem to be talking about the Northeast. The 765 deaths from terrorism-related activities in the first three years of the NDA government were a decline of 12 percent from the last three years of UPA, which saw 874 deaths. This is according to a report by IndiaSpend in May 2017.
However, the report also said that the Northeast has become more unsafe for India’s security forces under NDA rule. Armed forces casualties increased by 62 percent – from 55 under the UPA to 89 under the NDA. These numbers are seldom discussed on social media.
Casualties caused by Maoist attacks have also been conveniently forgotten. The overall deaths from Maoist violence, according to the IndiaSpend report, increased by 60 percent, from 259 in 2014-15 to 414 in 2016-17. Very little or no data is available on lynchings and mob violence too.
So, before you like, retweet and share data, take a minute to think: isn’t lying by omission still lying?
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