Fake tweets ascribed to journalists after BJP’s win in UP

The results for the 2022 assembly elections in five states have been announced and BJP has won in four states namely, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. In the backdrop of this, screenshots of alleged tweets by journalists Ajit Anjum and Abhisar Sharma are being shared online. These screenshots claim that they said they would leave journalism if Yogi Adityanath wins UP again.

Screenshot 1: Attributed to Ajit Anjum

As per this screenshot, Anjum tweeted, “If in 2020 elections Yogi wins again in UP, I’ll leave journalism and open a stall of chicken pakoras (fritters) in Ballimaran.” Ballimaran is a locality in Delhi.

[Translated from” अगर 2022 के चुनाव में उत्तरप्रदेश में योगी फिर से जीत गये तो मैं पत्रकारिता छोड़कर दिल्‍ली की बिल्लिमरान में चिकन पकौडे की दुकान खोल लूंगा।]

The president of the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) Ashoke Pandit tweeted this screenshot. He wrote, “Anjum bhai, when do you want to eat pakoras? We’ll feed!” His tweet has gained over 10,000 likes.

Multiple Facebook accounts have shared it as well.

Fact-check

The viral screenshot suggests that Anjum’s Twitter account is verified. However, that’s not the case. Further, Anjum confirmed his Twitter account has never been verified.

In fact, Anjum pointed out the same and debunked the claim himself.

मेरे बारे में दुष्प्रचार का नया फोटोशॉप .
मेरे नाम से कुछ भी लिखकर वायरल किया जा रहा है .
इसी से पता चलता है कि भक्तों की जमात मुझ पर कितनी बौखलाई हुई है .
मेरा ट्वीटर हैंडल वेरिफाइड नहीं है लेकिन ब्लू टिक वाला फोटोशॉप करके खेल चालू है .
ये फर्जी लोग हैं . pic.twitter.com/jolZFCznCD

— Ajit Anjum (@ajitanjum) February 5, 2022

It must be noted that there are other red flags in the viral screenshot. For instance, the date and time format is erroneous. The ‘AM’ should be in capitals. The time and date should be separated by a dot. The format of the date followed by Twitter is month, day and year.

Screenshot 2: Attributed to Abhisar Sharma

As per this screenshot, Sharma tweeted, “If in 2023 elections Yogi Adityanath wins again in UP, I’ll relocate from Noida to Delhi’s Sheikh Sarai and set up an omelette stall. Take it in writing.”

[Translated from: अगर 2022 यूपी चुनाव में योगी आदित्यनाथ फिर से जीते तो मैं नॉएडा से शिफ़्ट होकर दिल्ली के शेख़सराय आ जाऊँगा और वहाँ अंडे औमलेट की रेड़ी लगाऊँगा। लिख कर ले लो।]

@TheAngryLord tweeted the screenshot and drew over 800 likes as of this writing. This account has over 50,000 followers.

Fact-check

Just like the previous tweet, this too is doctored. In order to establish that, we’ll analyse the layout of the viral tweet with a genuine tweet by Sharma. We noticed two key differences:

1. Three dots on the top right are not present in the viral screenshot (green circle).
2. The alignment of the tweet’s text and the date stamp doesn’t follow Twitter’s interface (green line).

To sum it up, two doctored screenshots falsely alleged that journalists Ajit Anjum and Abhisar Sharma had tweeted they would quit journalism if BJP won in Uttar Pradesh.