Fake tweet portrays President requesting Kangana Ranaut's Padma Shri be withdrawn - Alt News
Kinjal
23rd November 2021 / 3:50 pm
An image of an alleged tweet by President Ram Nath Kovind is viral. The Hindi tweet reads, “Kangana Ranaut’s remarks have hurt the sentiments of the entire nation. I myself feel ashamed to have given her the Padma award! My government requests @narendramodi to allow me to withdraw the award.”
The alleged tweet has gone viral against the backdrop of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s controversial statements on India’s independence at a Times Now event. She claimed that India’s independence in 1947 was a handout and the country got true freedom only in 2014. Her remarks sparked a wave of public outcry, with some individuals also filing complaints against the actress.
A Facebook page named ‘Now Mahfooz Khan’ shared the image with the same claim. It had amassed over 700 shares at the time of writing. (Archive link)
मेरे खयाल से prasident ऑफ़ इंडिया को किसी की अनुमती की आवश्कता नही हो चाहिये?
पद्म पुरस्कार वापस लेना चाहिए 🤔🤔
Posted by Now Mahfooz Khan on Monday, November 15, 2021
The photo is widespread on Facebook.
We also received a few requests to verify the screengrab on the Alt News WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160) and mobile app.
President Kovind’s official Twitter handle is not ‘@rashtrptibhvn’ as in the viral image, but ‘@rashtrapatibhvn’. The display name is also misspelt as ‘Prasident of India’ instead of ‘President of India’.
In addition, Alt News could not find any such tweet on the President’s Twitter timeline. Had he actually posted such a tweet, it would have received widespread media coverage.
Upon further researching the handle ‘@rashtrptibhvn’, we discovered it currently remains suspended.
An archived version of the tweet that appears in the screenshot can be accessed here. This link also shows the user’s bio which states that it was a fan account of the President of India.
Apart from this, several Twitter users replied to old tweets posted by this account and clarified that it was fake. One user shared a screenshot of the handle’s profile and tagged the Home Minister’s office, the PMO, and Delhi police while demanding that strict action be taken against the user posing as the President.
देश के महामहिम के आधिकारिक ट्विटर हैंडल के अतिरिक्त एक फेक ट्विटर हैंडल अफवाह फैला रहा है असली ट्विटर हैंडल @rashtrapatibhvn
फेक ट्विटर हैंडल @rashtrptibhvn कृपया प्रशासनिक कार्यवाही करें।@HMOIndia @PMOIndia @DelhiPolice pic.twitter.com/5BBtYk2eqU
— अ‍ॅड. श्रीकांत मिश्र || Adv. Shrikant Mishra (@ShrikantRMishra) November 15, 2021
The tweet is, therefore, fake.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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