Fake Facebook profile of NCC cadet interviewed by ANI viral on social media

by Arjun Sidharth

“Surprised he doesn’t have details of NCC. It isnt ‘other stuff’. Its 2nd line of defence. Hope Rahul Gandhi learns about it. Its important for leader to know about it”. These are the words of NCC cadet Sanjana Singh on the Congress President’s statement that he does not know the details of training under the National Cadet Corps (NCC).

Gandhi was responding to a question by a student at an interaction at a college in Mysuru, Karnataka. Asked about the benefits he would like extended to NCC cadets who have cleared the ‘C’ certificate examination, he said, “I don’t know the details of NCC training and that type of stuff, so I won’t be able to answer that question…. But, as a young Indian person I’d like to give you an opportunity where you can have opportunities, a successful education and a future where you can thrive in this country”.

The NCC cadet’s response to the Congress President became a talking point on social media, and it was a trending issue all day with many views and counter-views on her statement.

Soon enough, information started circulating on social media that this Sanjana Singh is a member of the ABVP, the student organisation of the sangh parivar. The Twitter account History of India with the handle @RealHistoryPic has over 137,000 followers on Twitter and mostly deals with political and historical satire. On March 25, it uploaded an image of a Facebook profile, claiming that it belongs to Sanjana Singh whom ANI interviewed. The tweet was later deleted.

@RealHistoryPic later deleted the tweet and issued an apology.

@RoflRepublic is a Twitter account with more than 10,000 followers. It too shared this information which was retweeted over 250 times.

The information was shared on Facebook as well. Fakendra Modi page which has over 450,000 followers posted it.

Hahahaha She is NCC Cadet but she Herself Don’t know about NCC and Criticising Rahul Gandhi, NCC is “NOT” 2nd Line of…

Posted by Fakendra Modi on Sunday, March 25, 2018

Beef Janata Party with over 220,000 followers posted it before deleting and acknowledging the error.

The previous post we had shared on NCC cadet Sanjana Singh being an ABVP member has been deleted. That was fake news. We…

Posted by Beef Janata Party on Sunday, March 25, 2018

Journalist Saikat Datta too fell for it. However, he deleted his tweet and apologised for the error when it was brought to his notice.

Alt News found the Facebook profile of the individual whose screenshot was being circulated as that of NCC cadet Sanjana Singh. We compared the photograph of the NCC cadet interviewed by ANI and the pictures of the person in that profile. Alt News usually provides conclusive, verifiable evidence for every issue that is scrutinised for factual correctness. In this case, we respect the privacy of the individual concerned and will not share the link to her profile or her photographs. However, a detailed comparison has revealed that the profile claimed to belong to the NCC cadet interviewed by ANI is actually the profile of some other person by the same name. This sameness in name was enough for rumour mongers to spread mischievous information on the NCC cadet.

About the Author

Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.