CLAIM
Various mainstream media houses such as News18, India Today and AajTak on Tuesday, 7 May, wrongly quoted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. They claimed that Mamata Banerjee wanted to ‘slap Modi when he comes to West Bengal.’
This remark was attributed to Mamata Banerjee while she was addressing a public rally at Santuri in Purulia. It was reportedly her response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘tolabaaz’ comment.
News organisations shared the alleged remark on Twitter and on their official YouTube channels.
The India Today video was first brought to our notice by our reader Dakshesh Vyas via our WhatsApp helpline.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Mamata Banerjee, at the public meet, did not threaten to slap Modi. She had actually said that she wanted to give him a “tight slap of democracy.” The word ‘democracy’ was missing from the reportage of some news organisations.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT?
In a Facebook Live on Mamata Banerjee’s official account, she can be heard saying, “Money doesn't matter to me. That is why when Narendra Modi came to Bengal and accused my party of being ‘Tolabaaz’ (Toll collector), I wanted to give him a tight slap of democracy.” The same was also tweeted by news agency ANI.
Further, the Facebook account of All India Trinamool Congress quoted Derek O’Brien saying, “ What’s new! Some 'Delhi media', masquerading as 'national media' have got it wrong again.”
Though News18’s tweet and India Today’s coverage on its YouTube channel mentioned that Mamata Banerjee wanted to slap Modi, the versions were different on their website. Both the organisations reported that Mamata Banerjee said that she wanted to give a “tight slap of democracy” to Modi.
NOT ALL NEWS OUTLETS GOT IT WRONG
However, there were other media houses who did not get it wrong. These outlets include The Indian Express, Times of India and NDTV, among others.
PM Modi had reportedly attacked Banerjee on Bengal's "Triple T " – Trinamool, Tolabaazi, Tax". In Bengali, “Tolabaazi” is used to explain organised extortion.
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