Zee News, News18 Misquote Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad

The media houses misquoted him saying he wanted to ‘burn’ the country, when he said “we can run the country.”

Two media houses falsely claimed that Aazad said “Hum Bharat bandh karna jaante hain, toh jalana bhi jaante hain” (If we know how to shut down India, we also know how to burn it too).

(Photo: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad, on Sunday, 3 February, posted a video blaming Zee News and News18 for misquoting him and spreading fake news.

This comes after the Hindi platform of both the media houses carried a story with Aazad saying “Hum Bharat bandh karna jaante hain, toh jalana bhi jaante hain” (If we know how to shut down India, we also know how to burn it too) at an event in Muzaffarnagar on 2 February.

The above article has been updated by Zee News.

भीम आर्मी के चंद्रशेखर का विवादित बयान, 'हम भारत बंद कराना जानते हैं, तो जलाना भी जानते हैं'https://t.co/4OXj2lW4aT

— Zee News Hindi (@ZeeNewsHindi) February 2, 2019

(The above tweet has been removed now)

Anger sparked on social media against Aazad’s alleged statement after both Zee News and News18 mentioned it in there articles.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Both Zee News and News18 had misquoted the Bhim Army chief in their stories. In the video of the event, Aazad is heard saying “Hum Bharat bandh karna jaante hain, toh chalana bhi jaante hain" (If we know how to shut down India, we also know how to run it too).

He can be heard saying the same comment around 19 minutes into the video.

Instead of “chalaana” by which he meant running the country, they quoted him as saying “jalaana”, indicating he’s threatening to burn the country.

Zee News Hindi and News18India removed the tweets carrying Aazad’s false “burning” comment and even updated their articles, which now don't mention any related statement to the claim.

Bhim Army’s official Facebook page in a post on Sunday posted screenshots of the articles carried by both the media houses, accusing them of trying to trap Aazad in a conspiracy.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Bhim Army)

Chandra Shekhar Aazad himself posted a video on Twitter and said that he would sue the media organisations over the fake news. He also demanded an apology from them else, barring which he said he would file a case. He also accused them of attempting to ruin his image.

He had also issued a clarification in a tweet on Saturday as well with News18’s story which has now been updated.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Chandra Shekhar Aazad)

However, in the updated articles no apology or note has been mentioned by either media houses. Neither their updated articles, nor their headlines reflect the previous claims made by them.

The earlier version of the article said that Aazad has created controversy by giving an objectionable comment. Both in their headline and first paragraph they claimed he made the ‘jalaana’ (burning) comment.

This is not the first time Aazad has used this statement in his speech, he has used it in other speeches at different events as well.

This claim was first debunked by AltNews.

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