A video of a woman criticising the government on a ‘news channel’ has gone viral with the claim that she’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece.
The women in the video is actually a social worker, Atiya Alvi who was speaking to the ‘HNP News’ channel at Jantar Mantar during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
CLAIM
The video is being shared with the claim that the woman in question is Vajpayee’s niece.
Congress politician and former actress Nagma Morarji shared the clip with the caption stating that ‘Atalji’s niece’ is speaking about BJP’s rule, where men are unemployed and women are unsafe.
Users had also shared the video in January 2020 with the claim in Hindi,
“ माननीय वाजपयी जी की भतीजी ने आखिरकार तोड़ी चुप्पी | जानिए क्या कहा”
(Translation: “Honorable Vajpayee's niece finally broke the silence. Find out what she said.”)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The woman in the video is Atiya Alviya and not Vajpayee’s niece as claimed.
A keyword search of ‘HNP News’ led us to a YouTube video uploaded on 3 January, from where the viral clip has been taken.
The woman has been identified as social worker Atiya Alvi, who was at a protest against CAA/NRC at Jantar Mantar.
The Quint also reached out to Alvi, who confirmed that it’s indeed her in the video and she’s not Vajpayee’s niece.
Futher, Vajpayee’s niece is Karuna Shukla, who’s now affiliated to the Congress party. Shukla is 68-years-old and the woman in the viral video is visibly younger.
Evidently, the woman criticising the Modi government has been misidentified as the former PM Vajpayee’s niece.
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