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

“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).

Surprised he doesn’t have details of NCC. It isn’t “other stuff”. It’s 2nd line of defence. Hope Rahul Gandhi learns about it. It’s important for leader to know about it: Sanjana Singh,NCC Cadet on Rahul Gandhi’s statement ‘I don’t know details of NCC training&that type of stuff’ pic.twitter.com/CJsYSd9eLW

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 24, 2018

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.

Before lecturing RG about the benefits C certificate holder of NCC should get, this kid should know that NCC is not our second line of defence. And I see how the uniform is misused while making a political statement to a TV camera. Not fit to be in NCC or any disciplined force. https://t.co/4O6zn4OvA3

— Sushant Singh (@SushantSin) March 24, 2018

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.

The unverified tweet appeared on TL but unlike Bhakts We apologise for it. Spreading lies is not our forte. https://t.co/5lj58hbbY9

— History of India (@RealHistoryPic) March 26, 2018

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

NCC cadet Sanjana Singh is Unit President of #ABVP

Now it is amply clear that the entire NCC cadet drama was sponsored by @RSSorg and @BJP4India to demean Rahul Gandhi.#NeechPolitics pic.twitter.com/eqkKI9MtJ2

— Rofl Republic (@i_theindian) March 25, 2018

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

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

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

Based on what @free_thinker has tweeted, deleting tweet the claims that FB profile of “Sanjana Singh” is NOT the same as the cadet interviewed by ANI. Will tweet more information if I find any. Apologies.

— Saikat Datta (@saikatd) March 26, 2018

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.