Misleading Infograph on Petrol Prices in Various States Goes Viral

Among other things, it doesn’t mention states such as MP and Karnataka, ruled by BJP, and had price above Rs 90.

A viral infograph shows a misleading picture of petrol prices in different states in the country as on 17 February.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A viral infograph that shows petrol prices of different states in the country as on 17 February depicts that the highest petrol prices are in non-Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) governed states.

However, the infograph projects a misleading picture as it does not mention some of the states such as Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh that are governed by the BJP and had prices above Rs 90 per litre on the said date.

Further, it mentions some of the states like Bihar, where the BJP is in an alliance with Janata Dal (United), under non-BJP states. What’s also missing from the list is some of the non-BJP states that had prices below Rs 90 per litre on 17 February.

CLAIM

BJP Tamil Nadu Spokesperson SG Suryah shared a list of petrol prices for different states as on 17 February.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

The list is divided into two parts with one showing states that are BJP governed and have prices below Rs 90 per litre. The other section shows non-BJP states with prices over Rs 90 per litre.

An infograph created on similar lines is viral on Facebook and Twitter with the claim: “Know thy state! Know thy petrol price! Those whining with high pitch should look within first! (sic)”

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Since the infograph takes into consideration the petrol prices of different states as on 17 February, we compared the data for all the states for the specific date.

As per the daily numbers compiled by NDTV, we noticed that the viral infograph projects a misleading picture as it does not mention the petrol prices of some of the BJP governed states,that have prices over Rs 90 per litre.

For instance, petrol prices of states such as Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh were at Rs 92.7 per litre and Rs 98.48 per litre respectively on 17 February.

(Source: NDTV/ Screenshot)

(Source: NDTV/ Screenshot)

News outlet Economic Times also maintains a database of petrol prices and according to their numbers, on 17 February, prices in Madhya Pradesh stood above Rs 96 per litre.

As per an Indian Express report published on 17 February, that sourced the data from Indian Oil Corporation, mentioned that the petrol price in Bengaluru stood at Rs 92.54 per litre.

It is pertinent to note that the petrol prices change on a daily basis and differ from region to region within a particular state.

Further, as per the NDTV tracker, petrol prices in the state of Manipur, which again, is a BJP-governed state, stood at Rs 93.36 per litre on 17 February. However, there is no mention of Manipur in the viral infograph.

MENTIONS BJP ALLIANCE-GOVERNED STATES IN NON-BJP LIST

We also noticed that the infograph mentions some of the states that are being governed by non-BJP parties in alliance with the BJP, as a part of the non-BJP states, which again makes the comparison misleading.

For instance, in case of Maharashtra, the infograph mentions that the political parties governing the state are Shiv Sena, Indian National Congress (INC) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) but in case of Bihar, it only mentions ‘Janata Dal’ and puts it under the non-BJP states list.

The Janata Dal (United)-led NDA, on 10 November 2020, returned to power after winning more than 122 seats.

Speaking of alliances, in the state of Nagaland, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is in alliance with BJP, and as per the NDTV tracker, the petrol prices stood at Rs 91.96.

The viral infograph only states ‘National Democratic’ as the ruling party and does not mention its alliance with BJP. It quotes the Nagaland figure as Rs 93.79 per litre on 17 February which is coming from a website called Drive Spark.

Similarly, in case of Sikkim, the petrol prices on 17 February stood at Rs 90.55 per litre which is governed by Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) that is in alliance with BJP.

The infographic lists Meghalaya under non-BJP states but fails to mention that the state is governed by National People's Party in alliance with BJP. As per the NDTV tracker, the petrol price in the state on the said date stood at Rs 86.04 per litre.

It must be noted that some of the non-BJP states like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, which had petrol price in the range of Rs 90 per litre on 17 February, don’t feature in the list.

It is also pertinent that some state governments have been slashing petrol prices and the figures talked about in this article are only from 17 February as the viral infograph quotes prices from the said date. The fuel prices change on a daily basis from region to region.

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