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On Wednesday, hundreds of Twitter users seemingly tweeted the same thing on the ongoing Udta Punjab row. And the hashtag of their choice was #UdtaKejriFundsUdtaPunjab.
It started with Pahlaj Nihalani, the controversial chief of the Central Board of Film Certification, alleging that the film – based on Punjab’s drug mess – was funded by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, Buzzfeed reported.
Kejriwal – who has a reputation of expressing his angst against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Twitter – alleged that the heavy-duty censoring of the film was BJP’s handiwork.
Soon after, multiple users started trolling Kejriwal for inviting “new trouble” for himself – making #UdtaKejriFundsUdtaPunjab among the top trends for the better part of the day.
But what’s suspicious is that all their tweets were absolutely identical. And most of the Twitter accounts that launched the attack against the Delhi Chief Minister were recently created.
A Twitter user, Rohit Singh Raikwar, posted screenshots of an alleged email from BuzzOne – an influencer marketing platform – containing the tweets that were trending.
The trend seemed at best manufactured – and probably paid for. At the same time, it only deepened suspicions against the BJP’s clout in censoring the film.
Kejriwal reacted again. This time, he targeted both Narendra Modi and the RSS.
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