CLAIM
A newspaper clipping has been doing the rounds on social media to highlight the number of terrorists killed by security forces under Narendra Modi’s regime, juxtaposed with the combined numbers from the UPA-1 and UPA-2 era.
The clipping claims that under Modi’s four-and-a-half-year regime so far, the forces have successfully eliminated 1,701 terrorists as opposed to the significantly smaller number of 241 during 10 years of UPA rule under Dr Manmohan Singh.
The clipping reads: “The UPA government, that is Manmohan Singh’s tenure as prime minister, lasted from May 2004 to May 2014. As per the numbers from 2004 to 2013, 1,788 civilians, 1,177 jawans and 241 terrorists were killed.”
Whereas, “BJP’s majority government under Narendra Modi has been in effect since May 2014. In this duration, till 17 June 2018, 61 civilians, 303 jawans and 1,701 terrorists were killed.” (translation)
Neither the source of this clipping nor of the information cited, is mentioned.
Similar data was also quoted in a tweet by actor Paresh Rawal recently:
THE TRUTH
A reverse search of the newspaper clipping revealed that the image in question had been photoshopped to portray the figures of the Modi regime favourably compared to the Manmohan Singh regime.
The original, unedited image shows that the numbers have been manipulated.
A side-by-side analysis of the two clippings shows how 701 has been changed to 1,701 by adding another ‘1’, and 4,241 has been changed to 241 by erasing ‘4’.
SOURCE OF DATA?
A deep dive into the source of the clipping led to a Dainik Bhaskar report dated 24 June 2018, which reported the terror-related deaths in the country year-on-year, citing these very numbers.
The newspaper clipping is supposedly a screenshot of the e-paper version of this report.
The report, however, did not cite the source behind these figures either.
However, on comparing the numbers in the newspaper clipping to those compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a data repository on terrorism in the Indian subcontinent, it is revealed that the number of terrorists killed in the said 2004-2013 period under the UPA regime is 4,239 which is almost as much as the figure quoted by the Dainik Bhaskar report (4,241).
The data from 2014 to 2018, as per SATP, shows that 876 terrorists were killed under the Narendra Modi government (data till 31 December 2018).
The Dainik Bhaskar report had quoted 701 terrorists killed till June 2018.
(Not convinced of a story you came across on social media and want it verified? Send us the details at WebQoof@TheQuint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)