CLAIM
The official page of Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, 16 April, shared a letter on alleged Lingayat and Veerashaiva community division, claiming it was written by Congress leader MB Patil to former party president Sonia Gandhi.
The post said:
“Congress exposed
The entire Lingayat & Veerashaiva community division was planted under direct instruction of Sonia Gandhi
The letter written to Sonia Gandhi by Congress leader MB Patil exposes shocking details of how Sonia Gandhi wanted to divide Hindu communities in Karnataka”
“The unanimous opinion is that in order to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it is essential to curb the RSS growth in Karnataka and defeat BJP in the 2018 Assembly elections. This can be achieved by uniting the Muslims and Christians on the basis of their faith: divide the Hindus on the basis of caste/sub-caste and sect and sub/sect.
“To achieve this objective, it was decided that we use the differences prevailing in the Veerashaiva-Lingayat Community and announce sops for the Muslims and Christians in our budget and later in the election manifesto,” the letter shared by the ruling party said.
The post had over 1,600 retweets at the time this article was written.
FACT
The letter shared by the official page of BJP is fake and the Karnataka Congress was quick to respond.
In a video shared by the party’s official Twitter handle, MB Patil himself said that the letter is fake and legal action will be taken against those who initiated it.
“The letter is FAKE
Initiating legal action for forgery against those who produced and published it
Will pursue this matter to it's logical legal conclusion, even to the Supreme court if need be, against all those who are involved": @MBPatil, Home Minister, Karnataka”
Not the First Time
The letter was shared earlier as well in 2018 by Postcard news and was debunked by AltNews.
It was the same letter alleging that Patil held talks with Global Christian Organisation and World Islamic Organisation to formulate the strategy for the upcoming Karnataka and the 2019 general elections.
“MASSIVE EXPOSE! Karnataka minister MB Patil's letter to Sonia Gandhi reveals that Global Christian Council and World Islamic organisation masterminded the division of Lingayars in Karnataka!” the website had claimed which it later took down after doubts were raised on the veracity of the letter.
Mahesh Hegde, the man behind Postcard News, is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter.
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