From Union Minister Kiren Rijiju sharing a dilapidated MCD school's video to target the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to misinformation around Samajwadi Party, here are some of the most viral pieces of misinformation from this week.
1. Kiren Rijiju Shares Dilapidated MCD School's Video to Target AAP Government
Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju shared a clip on his Twitter handle showing Delhi's Education Minister Atishi Marlena visiting a dilapidated school and enquiring about its condition.
Rijiju targeted the state's former Education Minister Manish Sisodia and said that Marlena has exposed the condition of Delhi's "world class" school models.
However, we found that the school came under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Bharatiya Janata Party had been responsible for schools under the MCD until December 2022.
AAP won the 2022 MCD elections and the party elected the new Mayor Shelly Oberoi in March 2023.
To know how we found the truth, watch our video below.
You can read the full story here.
2. Photo of Congress Members Falsely Shared as ‘Accused in Atiq Ahmed’s Killing'
A picture of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav standing with a group of people gathered around him was going viral on the internet. It also showed two people highlighted in a circle.
Those sharing the image claimed that it showed two of the three accused who killed Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj in front of media and police personnel.
People also took a dig at Yadav and said that his party was behind the killing.
However, the claim is false.
The people in question were identified as Sehore Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Rajkumar Yadav and former Dewas councillor Vikram Patel.
Both of them are associated with the Congress party in Madhya Pradesh.
Full details of the story can be seen in the video below.
You can read our fact-check here.
3. Text on Claims About ‘Transfer of Power Agreement’ and Queen Elizabeth Is False!
A viral message is being shared with users claiming that it shows the conditions of India's Independence from the British and the transfer of power in that period.
It said:
The Parliament, the Prime Minister, or the President of India cannot amend the said agreement as per Articles 366, 371, 372, and 395 of the Indian Constitution.
India has been paying "10 billion rupees" as pension to Queen Elizabeth since 1947.
Under the agreement, India is bound to give Britain 30 thousand tonnes of beef annually.
However, we found all these claims in the viral message were false.
The Quint did not find any document related to such an agreement.
The Indian government did not pay any pension amount to the British monarch.
Further, we found that India has produced 25.4 million metric tonnes of beef and veal since 2019, which is lesser than what is being claimed to be given to the British in the viral message.
You can read our fact-check here.
4. News Organisations Falsely Claim Atiq Ahmed’s Vote ‘Saved' the UPA Govt in 2008
News agency PTI and several media outlets such as India Today, Firstpost, NDTV and English Jagran claimed that mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's vote "saved" the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during a vote of confidence in 2008.
PTI published the report on 16 April.
(Source: PTI/Screenshot)
However, the claim is false. We accessed a document available in the Parliament Digital Library and found that Ahmed was one of the six Samajwadi Party leaders who voted against the UPA government in the vote of confidence.
You can read our story here.
5. Fact-Check: This Twitter Account of Former J&K Governor Satyapal Malik is Fake
After the former governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Satyapal Malik said he was "told to keep quiet" about security lapses surrounding the Pulwama attack in 2019 in a recent interview, an account impersonating Malik was found active on the platform.
The account had the username '@Satyapalmalik_' and had around 28,000 followers.
We found that the account earlier went by the handle '@Deepakpunia_' and Malik's actual Twitter handle was '@SatyapalMalik6'.
The former governor had also posted a video on his Twitter account on 25 March mentioning that several accounts were impersonating him on the platform.
Read our fact-check here.
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