A screenshot is being shared on social media about the Opposition's presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha claiming that he is planning to pass an order to arrest the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Nupur Sharma, as soon as he takes the oath as the president.
Former Union minister Sinha was announced as the presidential candidate by 13 Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, and the Samajwadi Party.
However, the claim is false. We did not find any news report which highlighted that Sinha made remarks about arresting Nupur Sharma over her statements against the Prophet.
CLAIM
The claim along the with a picture of Sinha said, "ब्रेकिंग : भारत के राष्ट्रपति पद की शपथ लेने के तुरंत बाद नूपुर शर्मा को गिरफ़्तार करने का आदेश पारित करूंगा : यशवंत सिन्हा"
[Translation: BREAKING: As soon as I take an oath as President of India, I will pass an order to arrest Nupur Sharma: Yashwant Sinha]
An archived version can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We looked through Sinha's social media handles and news reports to see how has he reacted to Sharma's statement and the controversy that ensued.
After the party suspended Nupur Sharma on 5 June, Sinha took to Twitter to call the former BJP spokesperson a "fringe element" while also accussing the centre about the same.
Sinha also expressed his views on Twitter about BJP not directly acknowledging Sharma's remarks. He took a dig at PM Modi by questioning whether he is supporting such statements.
This was tweeted on 5 June 2022.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
In another tweet on 6 June, Sinha again took to Twitter to question PM Modi.
This was tweeted on 6 June 2022.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
We also found an interview on a Hindi news channel named Satya Hindi posted on 7 June 2022, where Sinha points out that PM Modi has not spoken anything about Nupur Sharma.
In an opinion piece published in The Indian Express on 11 June, Sinha wrote about how India had won respect globally but the statements passed by Sharma has damaged India's status.
More recently, Sinha posted a video on Twitter and compared the the situation of Alt News' co-founder Mohammed Zubair with that of Sharma and said how the latter hasn't faced any legal actions about her statements.
Zubair was arrested in connection with a four-year-old tweet on 27 June and has been in custody since then. Several more FIRs have been filed against him.
According to a report posted on 8 July 2022 by English news magazine India Today, Sinha visited Vidhan Sabha in Gujarat and spoke about the murders that took place in Udaipur and Amravati over alleged social media posts which were done in support of Sharma.
Sinha said that Sharma's remarks and these killings created communal tension in the nation and it is BJP's way to gain votes.
Clearly, there is no evidence which proves that Sinha made this statement.
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