{"id":161988,"date":"2023-07-28T20:03:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T14:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=161988"},"modified":"2023-07-28T20:27:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T14:57:45","slug":"fact-check-did-former-pm-manmohan-singh-never-spoke-on-north-east-violence-shehzad-poonawalla-falsely-claimed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/fact-check-did-former-pm-manmohan-singh-never-spoke-on-north-east-violence-shehzad-poonawalla-falsely-claimed\/","title":{"rendered":"BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla lies about Manmohan Singh on TV; ex-PM spoke on NE violence several times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yBanhY7IxNI\">TV debate<\/a> uploaded to TV9 Bharatvarsh&#8217;s YouTube channel on July 22, BJP&#8217;s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that in the eight years before the NDA came to power under Narendra Modi, more than 8,000 people had died in the Northeast. There were incidents in which more than 2,000 people were killed. He alleged that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not speak a word on the violence or visit the state despite being a Rajya Sabha member from Assam. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla challenged Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and also remarked that if it could be proved that Singh had uttered even a word addressing the Northeast, he would change his own name.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/yBanhY7IxNI?t=1126\">18:48 mark<\/a> of the full-length TV debate video on YouTube, BJP&#8217;s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, <strong>&#8220;\u0907\u0938 9 \u0935\u0930\u094d\u0937 \u0915\u0947 \u0915\u093e\u0932\u0916\u0902\u0921 \u0938\u0947 \u092a\u0939\u0932\u0947, \u0928\u0949\u0930\u094d\u0925-\u0908\u0938\u094d\u091f \u092e\u0947\u0902 8 \u0935\u0930\u094d\u0937 \u0915\u0947 \u0915\u093e\u0932\u0916\u0902\u0921 \u092e\u0947\u0902 8.5 \u0939\u091c\u093e\u0930 \u0918\u091f\u0928\u093e\u090f\u0902 \u0939\u0941\u0908. \u090f\u0915 \u092c\u093e\u0930 \u092e\u0928\u092e\u094b\u0939\u0928 \u0938\u093f\u0902\u0939 \u091c\u0940 \u0928\u0947, \u091c\u094b \u0905\u0938\u092e \u0938\u0947 \u091a\u0941\u0928\u0947 \u0939\u0941\u090f \u0925\u0947 \u0930\u093e\u091c\u094d\u092f\u0938\u092d\u093e \u0938\u093e\u0902\u0938\u0926, \u0935\u0939\u093e\u0902 \u092a\u0930 \u091c\u093e\u0928\u093e \u0924\u094b \u0926\u0942\u0930, \u0915\u0941\u091b \u092c\u094b\u0932\u093e \u0924\u0915 \u0928\u0939\u0940\u0902.\u201d<\/strong> [<\/span>Before this nine-year period, 8,500 incidents (of violence) took place in the Northeast in a period of eight years. Manmohan Singh, who was elected Rajya Sabha member from Assam, did not even say anything once, let alone go there<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d At the 20:34 mark, while repeating the same claim, Poonawalla challenges Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, saying, <strong>\u201c\u0907\u0928\u0915\u0947 8 \u0935\u0930\u094d\u0937 \u0915\u0947 \u0915\u093e\u0930\u094d\u092f\u0915\u093e\u0932 \u092e\u0947\u0902 8 \u0939\u091c\u093e\u0930 \u0918\u091f\u0928\u093e\u090f\u0902 \u0939\u0941\u0908 \u091c\u093f\u0938\u092e\u0947\u0902 2 \u0939\u091c\u093e\u0930 \u0938\u0947 \u091c\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0926\u093e \u0932\u094b\u0917 \u0928\u0949\u0930\u094d\u0925-\u0908\u0938\u094d\u091f \u0915\u0947 \u092e\u093e\u0930\u0947 \u0917\u090f. \u090f\u0915 \u0936\u092c\u094d\u0926 \u092e\u0928\u092e\u094b\u0939\u0928 \u0938\u093f\u0902\u0939 \u0915\u0947 \u092e\u0941\u0902\u0939 \u0938\u0947 \u0928\u093f\u0915\u0932\u093e \u0939\u094b\u0917\u093e \u0924\u094b \u092e\u0948\u0902 \u0905\u092a\u0928\u093e \u0928\u093e\u092e \u092c\u0926\u0932 \u0926\u0942\u0902\u0917\u093e. \u092f\u0947 \u0905\u0938\u092e \u0938\u0947 \u091a\u0941\u0928\u0947 \u0939\u0941\u090f \u0925\u0947, \u0905\u0938\u092e \u0928\u0939\u0940\u0902 \u091c\u093e\u0924\u0947 \u0925\u0947.\u201d <\/strong>[<\/span>\u201cDuring his tenure of eight years, there were 8,000 incidents in the Northeast in which more than 2,000 people were killed. . . If he really uttered even one word, I am willing to change my name. He was elected from Assam, but he did not go there.\u201d]<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe style=\"width:100%; height:auto; aspect-ratio:16\/9;\" title=\"Shehzad Poonawalla \u0914\u0930 Supriya Shrinate \u0915\u0947 \u092c\u0940\u091a \u0939\u094b \u0917\u0908 \u0938\u092c\u0938\u0947 \u0927\u092e\u093e\u0915\u0947\u0926\u093e\u0930 \u092c\u0939\u0938 ! | Manipur | BJP | Congress\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yBanhY7IxNI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<h4><b>Fact Check<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alt News fact-checked the claim made by BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla in a TV debate and found it to be false. We searched the archives of the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) for speeches and press releases made by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. We discovered he had made several statements on the incidents in the Northeast. In addition, as a Rajya Sabha member from Assam, he also visited the state several times. Details of these visits can be found in the following article.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Statement of former PM Manmohan Singh on violence in the Northeast:<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">May 3, 2014 \u2013 Statement on violence in Assam:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-181449.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">February 4, 2014 \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/hqwZU\">Statement<\/a> on the attack on a student in Arunachal Pradesh:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-181547.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">August 17, 2012 \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/yfAYD\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on the security of citizens of Northeast in Rajya Sabha:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-181638.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The speech given by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Rajya Sabha on August 17, 2012, is available on YouTube.<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe style=\"width:100%; height:auto; aspect-ratio:16\/9;\" title=\"Prime Minister statement on panic created among people of North-Eastern region : 17 Aug, 2012\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LFn-EsiZmao?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">July 28, 2012 \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/31PzL\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on violence in Kokrajhar, Assam:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-181732.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">August 18, 2004 \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/75Lh0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on the death of several people in a bomb blast in Dhemaji, Assam:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-181849.png\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><b>Manmohan Singh&#8217;s visit to Assam as Rajya Sabha member and PM:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">April 20, 2012 &#8211; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/VpzSX\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inaugurated<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Assam legislative assembly in Guwahati.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-181959.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">November 21, 2004 &#8211; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/uzlcb\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inaugurated<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the new capital complex of Assam at Dispur.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-182100.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">February 19, 2011 \u2013 Laid <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/TBdsP\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Foundation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> stone of National Institute of Design at Jorhat campus in Assam<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-182151.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">July 28, 2012 \u2013 Visited Assam after violence in Kokrajhar, Assam<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/Screenshot-2023-07-27-182259.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To sum it up, while speaking in a TV9 Bharatvarsh debate, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla falsely claimed former that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh never publicly addressed incidents in the Northeast during his prime ministership and never visited Assam while he had been elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a TV debate uploaded to TV9 Bharatvarsh&#8217;s YouTube channel on July 22, BJP&#8217;s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that in the eight years before the NDA came to power under Narendra Modi, more than 8,000 people had died in the Northeast. There were incidents in which more than 2,000 people were killed. He alleged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":162016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[693],"an_content_type":[739],"coauthors":[701],"class_list":["post-161988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-featured","fact_checks_claim_type-politics","an_content_type-fact-check"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/07\/poona.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161988"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162031,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161988\/revisions\/162031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161988"},{"taxonomy":"an_content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/an_content_type?post=161988"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=161988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}