

{"id":4700,"date":"2017-08-15T14:55:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T09:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2017-08-15T16:16:24","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T10:46:24","slug":"bjp-spokesperson-sambit-patra-defames-former-vice-president-hamid-ansari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/bjp-spokesperson-sambit-patra-defames-former-vice-president-hamid-ansari\/","title":{"rendered":"BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra defames former Vice President Hamid Ansari"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A huge storm of outrage erupted when former VP Hamid Ansari stated that there&#8217;s a sense of unease among Muslims in an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/india-news\/feeling-of-unease-among-muslims-questioning-of-indianness-disturbing-vice-president-hamid-ansari-1735770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a>. What followed was a virulent right-wing troll attack. A sample of attack can be seen in the image below, with both <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAshokSingh\/status\/895766313561403396\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ashok Singh<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GitaSKapoor\/status\/895821359787294720\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gita Kapoor<\/a> being followed by PM Modi on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4731\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-1024x426.jpg\" alt=\"ansari abused\" width=\"640\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-1024x426.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-768x319.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-696x289.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-1068x444.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-abuse-1010x420.jpg 1010w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Also, a misinformed attack that was launched against Hamid Ansari after 2015 Republic day was reiterated on social media. The account <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IndiaBTL\/status\/895670572272701440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">India BTL<\/a> is followed by PM Modi. Why wasn&#8217;t VP Ansari saluting while others were was the question that was asked back then and reiterated again after VP&#8217;s controversial interview.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4729\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-1024x562.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-1024x562.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-768x421.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-696x382.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-1068x586.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-766x420.jpg 766w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/vicepresident-does-not-salute-when-national-anthem-is-played\/article6824585.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">protocol<\/a> states that a Vice President is not supposed to salute when the President is present as President is the Principal dignitary. Since President is the first citizen of the country, he is considered as the Principal dignitary in any function he attends. Which is why, in the following picture of 2003 Republic day celebrations, when Mr Vajpayee was the PM, he&#8217;s not saluting while former President Abdul Kalam is. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4730\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-420x420.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-32x32.jpg 32w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-64x64.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-96x96.jpg 96w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/ansari-salute-vajpayee-128x128.jpg 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While it is imaginable that Internet trolls may not know the official protocol, it comes as quite a shocker when BJP&#8217;s National spokesperson attacks the outgoing VP Hamid Ansari on the same basis. Sambit Patra who is BJP&#8217;s National Spokesperson <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sambitswaraj\/status\/896594718087184384\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a> the following poster on August 13th. In the poster, among other things, the outgoing VP was faulted for not saluting and it was claimed that it was a &#8216;Fortuitous aberration&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4732\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-766x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"856\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-766x1024.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-768x1026.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-696x930.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-1068x1427.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001-314x420.jpg 314w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_13_08_2017_001.jpg 1214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That was not the only bit of misinformation propagated by Sambit Patra. The poster also contained the headline of a <a href=\"https:\/\/scroll.in\/article\/735849\/hamid-ansaris-absence-from-yoga-day-events-sparks-a-twitter-war\" target=\"_blank\">scroll.in article<\/a> titled &#8220;Hamid Ansari&#8217;s absence from Yoga Day events sparks a Twitter war&#8221;. This controversy arose in 2015 when Hamid Ansari was not present in the International Yoga Day celebrations and BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav had raised this issue on Twitter when he had <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShivAroor\/status\/612609446779326464\" target=\"_blank\">tweeted<\/a>, &#8220;<em>While the President participated d VP gave a miss<\/em>&#8220;. This attack was then <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/malviyamit\/status\/612481000107413508\" target=\"_blank\">carried forward<\/a> by BJP&#8217;s National IT Cell head Amit Malviya.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006-1024x312.jpg\" alt=\"Amit Malviya Hamid Ansari obviously thinks that as VP he has no obligation to be part of India&#039;s global efforts #InternationalYogaDay\" width=\"640\" height=\"195\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006-1024x312.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006-300x91.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006-768x234.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006-696x212.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006-1068x325.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/Selection_15_08_2017_006.jpg 1198w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Government had to issue an official apology on behalf of Ram Madhav as the reason why the VP didn&#8217;t attend the event was because he wasn&#8217;t invited. Huffington post <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.in\/2015\/06\/22\/ram-madhav-hamid-ansari-y_n_7637050.html?utm_hp_ref=in-modi-government\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> that Union minister Shripad Naik cited protocol to say that the Vice-President can&#8217;t be invited to an event where the Prime Minister is chief guest amid reports that the government is upset with the needless controversy triggered by Madhav&#8217;s tweets. Mr Naik further stated, &#8220;<em>Unknowingly something happens, we apologise for that. It should have been avoided. It&#8217;s a mistake, he (Madhav) agrees, he apologized. He withdrew his statement<\/em>,&#8221; when he was asked to comment on Madhav&#8217;s controversial tweet.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, 2 years later, BJP&#8217;s National Spokesperson Sambit Patra is carrying on the same line of attack for which Union Government has already apologized. <\/p>\n<p>This wasn&#8217;t the first time Sambit Patra propagated fake news\/false information. He had once showed a photoshopped version of Iwo Jima on Times Now.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-1024x961.jpg\" alt=\"Sambit patra shows a photoshopped image of Rsenthal&#039;s iconic IWO JIMA pic, says &quot;Look at our Indian soliders!&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"601\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-1024x961.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-300x282.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-768x721.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-696x654.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-1068x1003.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014-447x420.jpg 447w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/Selection_20_04_2017_014.jpg 1196w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>He had also tweeted a link from a fake news site called Times of Islamabad. Read more about it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/nirmala-sitharaman-vs-sambit-patra-respond-one-falls-prey-fake-news\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-1014x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Sambit Patra tweeting Times of Islamabad article\" width=\"640\" height=\"646\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-3114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-1014x1024.jpg 1014w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-297x300.jpg 297w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-768x776.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-696x703.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-1068x1079.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-416x420.jpg 416w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-32x32.jpg 32w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-64x64.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-96x96.jpg 96w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001-128x128.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Selection_12_06_2017_001.jpg 1091w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In a panel discussion on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aajtak\/status\/842727662661525505\" target=\"_blank\">Aaj Tak<\/a> on March 17 2017, Sambit Patra had claimed that Congress VP Rahul Gandhi had raped a woman called Sukanya Devi. Supreme Court of India had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/india-news\/rape-allegations-defamed-rahul-gandhi-says-supreme-court-cbi-may-explore-foreign-angle-502158\" target=\"_blank\">dismissed<\/a> this allegation back in 2012 and had stated, &#8220;<em>The allegation is without substance and without an iota of evidence<\/em>&#8220;. Supreme Court had also fined the petitioners 10 lakhs for the false case. A clipping of the same Aaj Tak discussion can be seen below.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-video tw-align-center\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"hi\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Hallabol?src=hash\">#Hallabol<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sambitswaraj\">@sambitswaraj<\/a>&#8211; 70 \u0938\u093e\u0932 \u0915\u0940 \u0936\u0939\u092c\u093e\u0928\u094b\u0902 \u0915\u094b \u0938\u0921\u093c\u0915 \u092a\u0930 \u091b\u094b\u0921\u093c \u0926\u093f\u092f\u093e \u0914\u0930 \u0938\u093e\u0930\u0947 \u0924\u0940\u0928 \u0924\u0932\u093e\u0915 \u0915\u0947 \u092e\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0926\u0947 \u092a\u0930 \u0928\u0947\u0924\u093e \u090f\u0915 \u0939\u094b \u0917\u090f <br \/>Live: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fOz5QPkk43\">https:\/\/t.co\/fOz5QPkk43<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZJSSBXopCd\">pic.twitter.com\/ZJSSBXopCd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u0906\u091c \u0924\u0915 (@aajtak) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aajtak\/status\/842727662661525505\">March 17, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A slip here and there is alright. In this day and age of social media, everyone falls for fake news. However, when a National Spokesperson consistently propagates falsity, it is definitely a concern. Is it intentional? Is it an issue with Mr Patra&#8217;s work ethic? Only Mr Patra can answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A huge storm of outrage erupted when former VP Hamid Ansari stated that there&#8217;s a sense of unease among Muslims in an interview. What followed was a virulent right-wing troll attack. A sample of attack can be seen in the image below, with both Ashok Singh and Gita Kapoor being followed by PM Modi on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"an_content_type":[],"coauthors":[21],"class_list":["post-4700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra defames former Vice President Hamid Ansari - Alt News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra defames former Vice President Hamid Ansari - Alt News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A huge storm of outrage erupted when former VP Hamid Ansari stated that there&#8217;s a sense of unease among Muslims in an interview. What followed was a virulent right-wing troll attack. A sample of attack can be seen in the image below, with both Ashok Singh and Gita Kapoor being followed by PM Modi on [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/bjp-spokesperson-sambit-patra-defames-former-vice-president-hamid-ansari\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alt News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/altnews.in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/freethinker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-15T09:25:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-15T10:46:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/08\/sambit-fi.jpg?resize=1200%2C630&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" 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