There seemed to be an investment in irony in the form of an unstarred question in Rajya Sabha last month.
It was when BJP MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, along with 10 other BJP legislators, asked about the steps the Narendra Modi government had taken to counter the menace of fake news on social media, and whether stringent laws are available under the new penal code to tackle the problem and punish those who peddle fake news. The government responded, not with numbers, but with the familiar references to statutory provisions it often lists out in response to such questions session after session.
A ubiquitous response for a ubiquitous question. For a word so ubiquitous that it was termed as the word of the year in 2017 by Collins dictionary, which had defined it as “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting” – aimed to deceive for political or financial gains.
But what’s also ubiquitous is Trivedi himself not exactly being true to facts. Let’s recall some instances where we could’ve told Trivedi “fake-na mana hai”.
Hindenburg
In a debate on Aaj Tak, Trivedi was asked about the Adani-Hindenburg controversy and why the government was not forming a parliamentary panel to probe the same. In response, Trivedi claimed that the short seller was barred by an American court from publishing any other report.
But there was no such order. In fact, after that controversial report on the Adani Group, it has published at least 17 other reports on various companies.
In February last year, a viral message on social media had made a similar claim that Hindenburg had been banned from publishing reports on US-based firms. However, a fact-check by Boomlive found the claim to be false. “While the short seller was subpoenaed by the Department of Justice in early 2022 as part of a broader investigation into potential trading abuse, there is no evidence to show that this matter led to legal action or to an outright ban on its trading activities or on publishing research,” the article read.
Bangladeshi migrants
In a debate on the controversial citizenship law on News18 India on March 21, Trivedi quoted UPA-era minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal as telling parliament that there were two crore Bangladeshi migrants in India. “This is official data of the UPA government. MoS Sriprakash Jaiswal had said that there were two crore illegal Bangladeshi Muslims and a lot of them are in Delhi,” Trivedi had said.
But Jaiswal had mentioned 1.2 crore. The minister had also said that Assam alone accounted for 50 lakh Bangladeshi squatters, while their number in West Bengal was estimated to be the highest at 57 lakh. But Jaiswal later withdrew the statement as a political storm brewed in Assam.
The figure of two crore Bangladeshi migrants in India was actually provided by the Modi government in the Rajya Sabha in 2016 in a written reply to a question posed by Rajya Sabha MP Jharna Das Baidya.
Prime minister
On January 30, Trivedi told the media that none of the Congress prime ministers, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, were elected by the people.
“The first PM of the Congress party, Jawaharlal Nehru, became prime minister with zero votes. In April 1946, at the Congress working committee meeting, out of the 16 Congress state committees, one voted for Pattabhi Sitaramayya and another voted for Kriplani-ji. The rest had voted for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Jawaharlal Nehru got zero votes,” he said.
Terming Manmohan Singh an “accidental PM”, he said, “Was Indira Gandhi elected to become prime minister for the first time? No, she became prime minister because of the internal infighting within the Congress…Was the late Rajiv Gandhi elected? No, it was because of the situation that emerged out of the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi…We all know how PV Narasimha Rao and Maunmohan Singh became PM of this country.”
“There are only two prime ministers who have been chosen by people to become prime minister: one is Atal Bihari Vajpayee and another is Narendra Modi.”
But India doesn’t follow a presidential election process where citizens directly vote for the candidate. According to the Indian constitution, elected members of parliament choose one among them as the prime minister of the country.
In 1946, India was yet to get independence from the British and the Congress working committee of 1946 was not meant to elect or select a prime minister.
Muslim quota
On May 23, during a discussion on Muslim reservation, Trivedi equated the Indian Union Muslim League with the Muslim League that led the movement for Pakistan before Independence. He accused the Congress of being in an alliance with “the same Muslim League”.
The regional party in Kerala was founded after independence in 1948 and registered with Kerala’s State Election Commission.
Congress ‘role’ in 26/11
During the Lok Sabha poll campaign, Trivedi referred to former US president Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land to claim that the Manmohan Singh government had ignored the army’s demand to act after the 26/11 attacks.
“I want to challenge the role the Congress had in the 26/11 attack…former US President Barack Obama had written in his book…based on his conversation with the then PM Manmohan Singh…that the Indian Army was keen to take strong action following the attack. But the then Congress government did not allow that to happen as they were worried that the political situation of that time might benefit BJP,” Trivedi said on May 5.
But Obama’s book had no mention of the Congress stopping the army from taking action over worries that it may politically benefit the BJP. Singh had instead told Obama that his restraint in response cost him politically.
“Singh resisted calls to retaliate against Pakistan after the attacks, which cost him politically. He also feared that the rising anti-Muslim sentiment in India had strengthened the influence of the main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP),” the book read. It also talked about Singh expressing his concerns about Pakistan’s failure to cooperate with India in investigating the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which had increased tensions between the two countries.
Vegetarian India and beauty pageant conspiracy
At a conference by right-wing platform Jaipur Dialogues, held offline and uploaded online, Trivedi claimed that India is the only country where 50 percent of the population is vegetarian. “Even today, India is the only country where 50 percent people are vegetarian. Even those who are non-vegetarian, they just taste meat. They don’t eat meat. Taste means eating meat once in a week,” Trivedi claimed.
Several surveys have pegged the number at anywhere from 23 to 39 percent. A Pew Research Center survey had earlier in 2021 said only 39 percent of Indian adults describe themselves as “vegetarian.” A recent report from World Atlas pegged the same at 38 percent. A study by US-based anthropologist Balmurli Natrajan and India-based economist Suraj Jacob has also claimed only about 20 percent of Indians are actually vegetarian.
In the same conference, Trivedi also claimed that India winning a number of Miss Worlds between 1994 to 2003 could possibly be an attempt to weaken the family institution and push women towards market consumerism.
Some of these claims were made on television. In 2018, Newslaundry had spoken to Trivedi about MS Golwalkar, RSS, Lord Ram and TV debates. “In recent years, this habit of shouting and speaking over each other has become more and more. I think because of that the quality of discussion is not up to the mark.”
He missed mentioning half-truths. But that could’ve been too much truth for television.
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