Former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal shares fake newspaper cutting quoting Amit Shah

“यह कहा था श्री अमित शाह ने अपने समरथिकों के प्रति। असत्य का सहारा लेने वाले अलग-अलग जगह अलग-अलग बात ही करते हैं। (This is what Shri Amit Shah said about his supporters. People taking the recourse of untruth speak different things at different places.-translated)” tweeted former Union Minster Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday. Along with this tweet an image of a purported newspaper cutting was also attached. The newspaper has ascribed a statement to BJP chief Amit Shah which calls the Baniya community ‘thieves’ and accuses them of profiteering.

यह कहा था श्री अमित शाह ने अपने समरथिकों के प्रति। असत्य का सहारा लेने वाले अलग-अलग जगह अलग-अलग बात ही करते हैं। pic.twitter.com/gSIAa0OvAJ

— Pawan Kumar Bansal (@pawanbansal_chd) December 11, 2018

Fake newspaper clip

On December 10, Alt News had debunked the viral fake newspaper clip. It was found that no mainstream media outlet had reported the statement. Hence, it is unlikely that such a statement coming from the BJP chief calling members of the Baniya community ‘cheaters’ and ‘thieves’ would have gone unreported.

To corroborate, we looked at the news reports and the video of Amit Shah’s rally in Bundi, Rajasthan on December 3. Alt News found that Shah had not uttered the statements attributed to him in the fake newspaper clip.

लाइव : श्री अमित शाह की बूंदी में जनसभा। #राजस्थान_री_शान_भाजपा https://t.co/Ffd8rLu9Yx

— BJP (@BJP4India) December 3, 2018

Other false claims

In a sub-section of the same article, it was falsely claimed that Amit Shah said that “these businessmen” will be replaced in retail and wholesale markets with big investment. The concluding paragraph also fabricated a lie that Prime Minister Modi had compared businessmen and the Baniya community with “thieves”.

In the past as well, Alt News has debunked several instances where misinformation is circulated on social media in the form of fake newspaper clips to provide credibility.