In hindsight, there are hardly any cases in the history of Indian politics where such a massive amount of misinformation and sensationalisation has taken place as is in the case of the Citizenship Amendment Act. The misinformation campaign against the CAA is spearheaded by journalists who have devoted their entire professional career to hound Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah, albeit with little success. One such journalist happens to be Rana Ayyub who tried to spread fake news over the anti-CAA protests as she claimed that there have been unprecedented levels of police brutality in Muzaffarnagar and Kanpur, UP. Unfortunately for Ayyub, her claims were quickly busted as UP Police took to Twitter to deny Ayyub’s hollow claims.
Rana Ayyub has been a rabid anti-Modi ever since Narendra Modi became a politically significant name in Indian politics. She has no morals or limits she isn’t willing to cross in her anti-Modi agenda even if it meant going against the best interests of the country. Ayyub who is a habitual hatemonger took to Twitter to paint a grim picture in Uttar Pradesh.
Heartbreaking calls from Muzaffarnagar and Kanpur. Locals are saying RSS members alongwith cops and local leaders are attacking Muslim localities. Families are leaving for safer places. Cars and houses are being burnt. Remember the initial days of Gujarat 2002.
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) December 22, 2019
There are some journalists who are yet to get over the 2002 riots and make it a point to bring it up at the first chance of asking. Ayyub who has written a propaganda book on the 2002 riots, tried to insinuate that the events taking place in UP mirror those of the initial days of 2002. She claimed that RSS members are teaming up with the local police to hound out the Muslims. A credible journalist would of course back such a tall claim by sharing credible sources, but that wasn’t the case with Ayyub. UP Police moved swiftly and hit back at Ayyub as they tweeted:
UP Police denies such allegations. Responsible reporting would require that you share verifiable evidence that we can look into.
— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) December 22, 2019
As usual Ayyub’s shoot and scoot politics found no takers as she tried to claim that evidence is present on her timeline as she tried to claim that only denial can be expected from the UP Police in her tweet:
Only a denial could be expected of UP police. Evidence on my timeline. More to be published soon. https://t.co/264XMjHu8S
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) December 22, 2019
The UP Police this time around shed all the niceties and absolutely destroyed Ayyub and her claims as they hit back at her as they asked Ayyub to share specific proof rather than metaphors as they tweeted:
Your timeline shows nothing but police action for enforcing order. Instead of metaphors, specific proof would be appreciated.
Meanwhile, as per your timeline, a police chowki and several police vehicles were torched by the mob.https://t.co/bldj7vWsXl https://t.co/PSxkNZNcQL— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) December 22, 2019
The UP Police was in no mood to take any prisoners as they showed Ayyub the mirror and how her timeline clearly showed a police chowki and several police vehicles were torched by the mob.
Unsurprisingly, Ayyub has not spoken even once against the widespread mob violence that took place last week. Her book on the 2002 Gujarat riots is full of lies and propaganda and official SIT reports acquitted Narendra Modi even before he became the PM which counters her ‘caged parrot’ narrative. In fact, even the Supreme court trashed her book which was filled factual inaccuracies as the SC observed that the book is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions.
Recently, Ayyub again resorted to spreading fake news as she claimed that Democratic Presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard has declined the invitation to attend the Howdy Modi event in Houston. The article shared by Ayyub on Twitter claimed that The article quotes anonymous sources and explains how Tulsi Gabbard has now started distancing herself from PM Modi, RSS and Hindutva cause after being associated with them for a long time. The article goes on to claim, “Gabbard’s decision to drop out of the event, dubbed “Howdy Modi,” follows on the heels of Congressman Ro Khanna’s statement, issued last month, that “it’s the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians.”
However, lies have a very limited shelf life, and Rana’s lies were punctured by none other than Tulsi Gabbard herself. Tulsi Gabbard categorically stated: “This article is misinformed. I’m not attending the Houston event due to previously scheduled presidential campaign events. However, I’m hoping to meet PM Modi on his visit to discuss the importance of maintaining the strong partnership of the world’s oldest & largest democracies.”
Ayyub recently has started writing anti-India articles on Washington Post. The publication has a history of following the left narrative and its coverage of the killing of Baghdadi was condemned across the world. It seems both are a perfect match for each other. However, Ayyub has no right to peddle falsehoods on Twitter especially when the situation is delicate in many parts of the country. Necessary steps must be taken by the UP Police to curb such fake news peddlers.