From fake news surrounding the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput to false claims around the violent clash that took place between the Indian and Chinese armies at Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, here’s a quick round-up of the misinformation that misled the public this week.
1. Times Now Airs Fake WhatsApp Forward on Death of 30 Chinese Troops
A WhatsApp forward which apparently names at least 30 Chinese PLA soldiers killed during the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, found its way to Times Now’s bulletin and is now being circulated widely.
According to the viral message, a Global Times article revealing the names of these 30 PLA soldiers was published on Wednesday at 0:57:25.
“A spokesperson for the Western Theatre Command that oversees defences of China's border with India has released the names of 30 Chinese troops killed by Indian action,” the message adds.
However, we searched on Google using relevant keywords and found that no such information has been shared by Global Times, on either its website or Twitter account.
While it is true that the Global Times’ editor-in-chief did confirm casualties on the Chinese side, names and the number of casualties have not been released officially. It is clear that the message was falsely attributed to Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times and there is no evidence to support its authenticity.
Read the full story here.
2. Aaj Tak Shares Fake Tweets as Sushant Singh’s ‘Last Message’
Several screenshots of tweets are circulating on social media as actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s last message. The tweets which were allegedly posted a few hours before his death, and subsequently deleted, talk about his mental health and why he is ending his life.
Hindi News channel Aaj Tak also carried a story on these tweets. However, the story has now been taken down.
However, there are a number of red flags in the tweets which make it evident that the screenshots are fake.
For example, in one of the tweets, there are different fonts being used as far as the dateline, name of the Twitter user and text of the tweet are concerned. The second red flag was the dateline itself. The date mentioned in one of the tweets reads ‘14 jun 20’ which is not the format used by Twitter.
Also, as per Sushant Singh Rajput’s Twitter profile, his last tweet was on 27 December 2019. While it can be argued that the tweets might have been deleted, it is clear that these screenshots are manipulated and don’t show the late actor’s last tweet.
Read the full story here.
3. Did Nehru Give India’s Permanent Seat at UNSC to China in 1950?
A day after the “violent face-off” between Indian and Chinese troops at the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh, claims started abounding on social media that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had given India’s seat in the United Nations Security Council to China.
In a subsequent tweet he said that Nehru “gifted” the seat which was first offered to India and called it an “American bait”. The same claim was shared by many others on the micro-blogging site.
Congress leader and former UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor had said in an interview in 2004 that Nehru “declined a US offer” to India to take a permanent seat at the UNSC in 1953, and said China be given the seat instead.
Even in his book ‘Nehru – The Invention of India’, Tharoor writes that Nehru suggested the seat, held by Taiwan till then, be offered to Beijing instead. Nehru was reportedly known to have said that “the seat was held with scant credibility by Taiwan.”
In an article, historian AG Noorani refers to the 1955 offer made by USSR to India for a permanent seat in the UN. According to Noorani, the Russian offer to India was merely a “feeler” to test India.
This is because while the 1950 offer made by the US was done with an intent to keep China – another Communist bloc – from entering the UNSC, the Russian offer was made at a time when the USSR and China’s alliance had reached a certain height.
Read the full story here.
4. Japan Boycotting US Goods Over 1945 Nuclear Bombings? Not at All
A viral post on social media claims that ever since the US dropped nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945, it has become impossible for the American nation to sell even a needle in the country, because Japanese citizens boycott goods made in the United States. The post then calls for Indians to do the same against China.
We found that this claim has been viral on social media since 2016, which is what 71 years added to 1945, as mentioned in the viral message, would come to.
We looked at the data available on the website of the United States Census Bureau, which showed that in 2016, trade was very much booming between the US and Japan.
We also checked the data of the subsequent years, ie, 2017-2020. In 2017, the value of US export of goods to Japan was $67,603.4 million, in 2018 it was $75,149.3 million, in 2019 it was $74,376.5 million and up till April 2020, it was $23,614.7 million.
Further, according to data from the website of the United States Trade Representative, as of 2019, Japan is USA’s fourth largest goods trading partner.
Therefore, there is clearly no data to back up the claim that Japanese citizens have been boycotting goods manufactured in the US.
Read the full story here.
5. No, Image Shared by Malviya Isn’t From Gandhis’ 2008 China Visit
Days after the “violent face-off” between Indian and Chinese troops at the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh, the head of the BJP IT cell, Amit Malviya, shared an image claiming that it was from Gandhi family’s visit to China in 2008.
While the Gandhis did reportedly visit Beijing in 2008 and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Communist Party of China (CPC) to enhance party-to-party ties, the photo being shared has no relation to that in any way.
A reverse image search using Yandex search engine helped us find the same image uploaded on the website of the Chinese Embassy on 21 April 2017.
According to the website, the Chinese Embassy had extended an invitation to several India politicians including Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi and her family to attend the China Diaoyutai Food Festival.
Among other politicians who attended the event were BJP’s Suresh Prabhu who was the then minister of Railways, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, JDU Chief General Secretary KC Tyagi and others.
Therefore, it is clear that an image from a 2017 event attended by representatives of several political parties is being used to insinuate that the Gandhi family had a “secret meeting” with the Chinese politicians.
Read the full story here.
6. Tharoor Uses 2017 Image from UP to Mock ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’
In an attempt to take a jibe at Modi’s government’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” (Mission Self-Reliant India), Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shared a photo insinuating that it shows the reality of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” . The photo shows a woman carrying a saline drip bottle in her hand. The drip is connected to a child.
Well-known Urdu poet Imran Pratapgarhi and advocate Dipika Rajawat also shared the image on Twitter with similar claims.
We noticed that several users had commented on Shashi Tharoor’s post, pointing out that the image is from 2017. Saurabh Dwivedi, editor at news website The Lallantop mentioned that image was clicked by his colleague Amitesh Kumar in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur.
The Quint also reached out to Amitesh who helped us verify the original image and its meta details.
Therefore, this is an old image being shared on social media as the ‘reality of Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
Read the full story here.
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