Delhi BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, came under fire from Twitter users for allegedly passing off a picture of the 2002 Gujarat riots as that of the violence in West Bengal’s Basirhat.
“Since trolls spent a sleepless night covering-up Basirhat violence, sharing media pics of the riots. Hope they report this to @WBPolice too,” Ms Sharma posted on the micro- blogging site and attached an image of charred vehicles along with it.
The twiterrati, however, pointed out to her that the image was from 2002 and accused her of spreading a rumour.
Ms Sharma, in a defiant tone, said the photo reflected the reality of Bengal, irrespective of the place. “I received a flyer from organisers of Save Bengal protests and I put it out. This has woken up the people in Lutyen’s Delhi who have maintained a stoic silence on Bengal till now,” added the leader. “
Many Twitter users tried to draw the attention of the Delhi Police towards the tweet and demanded that she be arrested.
“Requesting @WBPolice to take my tweet as a Complaint against @NupurSharmaBJP for her fake and provocative posts and Arrest her immediately,” said a Twitter user.
“Can’t trust any BJP handle these days. Films, old riots all is being passed off as Bengal,” said another.
Some even asked why Twitter didn’t take action against such people.
But, Ms Sharma begged to differ on the subject. “There are questions being asked on the unrelated picture, but why is there reaction on the riots in Bengal or on minority appeasement that is happening there”
This is not the first time a BJP leader has come under fire for sharing fake photos to show “plight of Hindus” in West Bengal, a report in DNA says.
Vijeta Malik, who’s a Haryana State Executive Member of BJP and an RSS member, shared a Facebook post along with a photo showing a woman’s sari being pulled off her body. While the text of post alleged that only “Hindus were being attacked and their honour is being violated,” it emerged that the photo in the post was actually a still from a Bhojpuri movie ‘Aurat Khilona Nahi,’. Interestingly, the movie starred BJP MP and Delhi President Manoj Tiwari.
After facing flak, the BJP representative deleted the post.
Feature Image Source: PTI