Beware of the messages you get in WhatsApp groups and other social media sites. Majority of them are fake news
A blitzkrieg has been launched by social media sites and even WhatsApp groups to spread all kinds of falsehoods about the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. In this era of 24X7 news channels, internet and mobile phones, what a common man/woman faces is an avalanche of information.
Though the information beamed by social media is not regulated or authenticated by any agencies, there is no guarantee about the truth behind such news. Immediately after the demise of Jayalalithaa, a Malayalam news channel by name Mathrubhumi News aired the news that film star Ajith(aka Thala) would be the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu. It was projected as “breaking news” and the reporter said that the information was provided by highly placed sources in the AIADMK.
The channel interviewed K A Johny, the Chennai Bureau Chief of Mathrubhumi, who washed his hands off the news telling that he does not have any information about Ajith being appointed as the chief minister. Later on it was found that one of the news portals in Malayalam (there are more than two dozens of them) had put out a news telling that Ajith would be the next chief minister and the TV reporter just poached this information from the website.
Mathrubhumi News was the one and only Television news which claimed that the terrorist attack on Pathankot base of the Indian Air Force was the handiwork of Indian Army
The channel began an immediate discussion on the scenario emerging in Tamil Nadu in the event of Ajith being sworn in as chief minister!. Since Mathrubhumi News was the one and only Television news which claimed that the terrorist attack on Pathankot base of the Indian Air Force was the handiwork of Indian Army, many people took the news about Ajith becoming the chief minister with a pinch of salt.
The quality of falsehoods being spread through social media have reached an alarming level. Earlier this year, a retired IAS officer in Tamil Nadu posted the video of a mob setting a woman ablaze in his WhatsApp group. He claimed that a Hindu mob was setting a Hindu girl on fire for participating in a Church prayer meeting held somewhere in Madhya Pradesh. Those who received the shocking video were kind enough to check the authenticity of the news and found that it was something which took place in a Latin American country!
Of late, there are many videos being circulated in the social media about lakhs of crores of rupees being seized by the Income Tax department from vehicles owned by the leaders of the BJP. “The seized currency notes and vehicles were released following intervention by the top leadership of the BJP,” is the standard caption of these pictures. Interestingly, these videos are all a fall out of the demonetisation declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016.
Recently, a doctor sent a WhatsApp message to one of the members of Team PGurus who shared it with the editorial team. It read like this:
Qualification of India’s 14 Prime Ministers:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru: MA (Cambridge), Law (London)
2. Lal Bahadur Sastri: BA (Banaras)
3. Indira Gandhi: History and Politics (Oxford)
4. Morarji Desai: BA, ICS
5. Charan Singh: MA and Law (Agra)
6. Rajiv Gandhi: BA (Cambridge) Pilot Course (Delhi)
7. V P Singh: BA, B Sc, LLB,
8. Chandrasekhar: BA (Allahabad)
9. PV Narasimha Rao:(BA, MA)
10. H D Deve Gowda: Civil Engineering (Bangalore)
11. I K Gujral: MA
12. A B Vajpayee: MA
13. Manmohan Singh: BA, MA PhD
14. Narendra Modi: LKG, UKG, Masters Degree in Tours and Travels
This is a crude attempt by the rivals of Prime Minister Modi to discredit and lampoon him. The shocking news is that the message was sent to Team PGurus by a medical doctor with all postgraduate degrees and diplomas from the UK, USA and Australia. Since he has no love lost for Prime Minister Modi, we took the trouble of finding out the qualifications of Nehru, Indira, Lal Bahadur Sasthri, Rajiv Gandhi, Gowda, and Modi.
Nehru graduated (gentleman pass) in natural science from Trinity College in the UK. He studied law at Inner Temple. He was not at all a post graduate.
PM Modi has a BA in political science from University of Delhi, Masters in political science from Gujarat University.
Shastri was a graduate of Kasi Vidyapeeth. There is no proof of Indira Gandhi becoming a graduate though she was put in all kinds of schools and universities by her parents. Deve Gowda has a diploma in civil engineering. The world remained fortunate because he did not practice engineering!
Rajiv Gandhi had no degree to boast about. He was a qualified pilot and had studied at the Doon Public School.
Chandrasekhar, who succeeded VP Singh, was a post graduate in Political Science from Allahabad University. Morarji Desai did not belong to the ICS. He joined the civil service in Gujarat and not the ICS as portrayed by the WhatsApp group people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a BA degree in political science from School of Open Learning, the University of Delhi in 1978. He did his Masters in political science from Gujarat University in 1982.
These details prove how ill-informed and ignorant the perpetrators of this fake posting are.
Even educated, enlightened and well-informed people fall prey to the shenanigans of such people. A widely respected journalist in Chennai told one of the members of Team PGurus that the Prime Minister was degrading the President of the country all the time. “Didn’t you see the video of the Prime Minister attending the marriage of an IAS officer’s daughter in Chennai? The President too was there. But he was ignored by the Prime Minister as well as the bride’s family members. Modi was the star attraction while the President stood like an orphan,” said the journalist who has no love lost for Modi.
When we pointed out to him that it was not the President but the Governor of Tamil Nadu who had accompanied the Prime Minister to the marriage, the response of the journalist was a sheepish smile. This video posted through the WhatsApp group is allegedly the handiwork of the CPI-M and Congis who have declared Modi as their number one enemy. Another respected lady journalist was also fooled by the people who posted this video to her.
Beware of the messages you get in WhatsApp groups and other social media sites. Majority of them are fake news.
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
To me this government too is playing for the crooks,nothing much has changed,Not a single major joker has been caught so far,,in fact they have allowed one by one all the jokers to run away or escape any kind of investigation,some even got honorariums.Beyond DrSwamy,I don’t think any politician in India can be trusted to be straight and honest