{"id":21950,"date":"2018-11-05T19:09:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T13:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=21950"},"modified":"2018-11-05T19:09:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T13:39:07","slug":"october-round-up-sabarimala-becomes-focus-of-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/october-round-up-sabarimala-becomes-focus-of-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"October round-up: Sabarimala becomes focus of misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

October was a busy month at Alt News, with a flurry of misinformation and disinformation permeating the social media ecosystem.<\/p>\n

SABARIMALA BECOMES SOCIAL MEDIA FLASHPOINT\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Supreme Court verdict allowing women entry into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala resulted in a tense stand-off between Lord Ayappa devotees, claimed to have been propped up by Hindutva forces, and the state government. Concomitantly, social media witnessed a systematic attempt to tilt public opinion through the use of misinformation.<\/p>\n

1. BJP\u2019s K Surendran falsely claimed woman injured due to police brutality<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cKerala CM Mr. @vijayanpinarayi, just remember you are an elected CM. You have the responsibility to take everyone into account and act accordingly. In Sabarimala issue, you are ignoring the majority feelings, brutally attacking our mothers using your power @cpimspeak\u00a0@CMOKerala.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0This message is by K. Surendran, General Secretary of Kerala BJP, who targeted Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan over the manner in which the state police handled the protests over the Sabarimala issue. Along with the message, Surendran tweeted a photograph of a woman lying injured on the ground.<\/p>\n

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Kerala CM Mr. @vijayanpinarayi<\/a>, just remember you are an elected CM. You have the responsibility to take everyone into account and act accordingly. In Sabarimala issue, you are ignoring the majority feelings, brutally attacking our mothers using your power @cpimspeak<\/a> @CMOKerala<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Srho66krj2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 K Surendran (@surendranbjp) October 17, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alt News had reported<\/a> that Surendran’s claim was false. The woman seen injured in the photograph had not been assaulted by police personnel but was hit by a stone. This became clear once the video footage of the incident was accessed and analysed.<\/p>\n

2. Use of old, unrelated images to allege police excesses<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On October 7, thousands of people\u00a0rallied in protest<\/a>\u00a0against the Supreme Court verdict on the Sabarimala temple entry issue. On social media, this event was politicised with the claim that Kerala police had resorted to the use of force at these protests in a brazen display of heavy-handedness.\u00a0A set of photographs was shared by several users on Twitter who claimed the Kerala police attacked\u00a0\u201cHindus peacefully chanting Swamiye Ayyapa in protest of the SC #SabarimalaVerdict\u201d\u00a0<\/em>and did not even spare women and children.<\/p>\n

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Shame on you who went to USA for cancer treatment @vijayanpinarayi<\/a> how did you treat women and senior citizens protesting reg #SabrimalaVerdict<\/a>? Are you a human being????? @narendramodi<\/a> Throw him out.. Keralite women and men join hands and do the impossible! pic.twitter.com\/4RegyId9Ye<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 meena das narayan (@MeenaDasNarayan) October 9, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The photographs shared on social media did not pertain<\/a> to the recent Sabarimala protests. They were clicked earlier in July 2018 when the Kerala police had cracked down on a \u2018KSU Secretariat march\u2019 that was led by the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party. These photos had been tweeted from the official account of NSUI on July 4. Another photograph used on social media too was unrelated, dating back to 2015.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Kerala cop falsely claimed to be CPM worker inciting violence at Sabarimala<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cMeet this active CPM cadre Vallabh Das from Trivandrum. He\u2019s not even recruited in Kerala Police, still this goon was in Police uniform trying to attack innocent #Ayyappa devotees at #Shabarimalai protest during the past five days..\ud83d\ude21 @rsprasad<\/em>\u201d A photograph of a person in a police uniform was circulated on social media, with the claim that the person is a CPI(M) party member masquerading as a cop, who had assaulted devotees of lord Ayappa who had gathered during the Sabarimala protests.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The person seen in the photograph claimed to be a CPM worker dressed as a policeman, was indeed a policeman<\/a> and not a political worker. This was confirmed by the Kerala police via a Facebook post clarifying that the person in question is a policeman with the KAP fifth battalion stationed at Sabarimala. Kerala police had also appealed to social media users to beware of fake propaganda.<\/p>\n

NO END TO COMMUNAL HATE MONGERING<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Disinformation has been weaponised most effectively to spread prejudice, fear and hate. October was merely a continuation of a trend observed over the past several months.<\/p>\n

1. Rumour of ‘Imtiaz Ali’ as driver of train in Amritsar tragedy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

More than 60 people lost their lives in a tragic accident where an Amritsar-bound train mowed down Dusshera revellers watching the burning of Ravan effigy from railway tracks. Soon after,\u00a0viral claims<\/a>\u00a0on social media began to suggest that the name of the driver was Imtiaz Ali.<\/p>\n