A screengrab of ABP News, attributing a quote to Union Minister Smriti Irani, was shared by a Facebook page India Resists. Irani is quoted saying, “अगर प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जी हारे तो में आत्महत्या कर लुंगी (If PM Modiji loses I will commit suicide -translated)”. The viral post attempts to inject credibility to the claim by providing a corresponding screenshot of a news report purportedly telecasted by the said channel.
Journalist turned filmmaker Avinash Das also posted the image urging social media users to confirm the authenticity of the screenshot.
ये सच्ची ख़बर है या फोटोशॉप है? कोई कंफर्म करे, प्लीज! pic.twitter.com/j2UdYUKeUy
— Avinash Das (@avinashonly) April 22, 2019
Fact-check
A keyword search on Google with respect to the statement ascribed to Irani yields no results. The remotest reference to such a statement made by Irani states, “The day ‘pradhan sevak’ Narendra Modi ji decides to retire, I will also leave Indian politics”.
Alt News contacted ABP News Senior Editor Pankaj Jha. He confirmed, “Yes it’s a morphed screenshot”.
Moreover, we found a video of the press conference telecasted by ABP News from where the screengrab was possibly taken. Addressing a presser, Irani raised allegation against Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra, accusing them of being involved in a land scam.
On several occasion in the past, (1, 2, 3) screenshots of leading news channels have been morphed to mislead social media users. These morphed screenshots attempt to give a sense of make-believe that a said statement was also reported by the media.
