UK-based Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca recently admitted in a court that in “very rare cases”, its Covid-19 vaccine can cause low platelet count and a blood clot-related side effect – Thrombosis Thrombocytopenia Syndrome. Since the admission, discussions about this vaccine have been dominating headlines. In India, AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine was produced by the Serum Institute of India in Pune and was marketed under the name, ‘Covishield’. The Indian government made this vaccine available to citizens for free, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image was on the certificates for both the fir ..read more

A newspaper clipping from Kannada daily Vijayavani’s Mangaluru edition is viral on social media. It carries the news of the appointment of a new assistant executive officer (AEO) at the Kukke Sri Subramanya Temple in Karnataka. The name of the man who has been appointed as the AEO is Yesuraj. Several social media users have raised questions Yesuraj’s religion. According to them, Yesuraj is not a Hindu by birth, but he converted to Hinduism from Christianity. Kukke Subramanya is a temple in Subramanya village of Kadaba taluk in Dakshina Kannada district. It is believed to be 5000 years old. A u ..read more

In a public meeting at Banaskantha, Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1 claimed that the BJP was the only party contesting in more than 272 seats in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. While the Lok Sabha comprises 545 seats, elections are being held in 543. Hence 272 is the majority figure. Modi said in Gujarati, “If you want to form a government, then at least 272 seats are required. Except for the BJP, no political party in the country is contesting 272 seats, and then they are saying they will form the government. Even the royal family of Delhi is not going to vote for Congress… Th ..read more

A clip of Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury purportedly asking people to vote for the BJP instead of the Trinamool Congress is viral on social media. Several influential users have tweeted the video, some condemning Chowhdury’s words, some urging people to listen to him. For instance, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said, “Listen to him, Bengal.” Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury knows exactly how bad the situation in West Bengal, under Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, is. He wishes well for his home state. Listen to him, Bengal. pic.twitter.com/4psl0vnY3X — Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) May 1, 2024 O ..read more

How big a part will disinformation play in the 2024 election campaign? The question has been asked by so many people on so many platforms. As the big fat Indian election season reaches its peak, the answer is quite clear. At the moment, the BJP’s Lok Sabha 2024 election campaign stands firmly on falsehoods, disinformation and communal hate. These are tools with which the party has always sought to create propaganda in its favour — it is the raison d’etre of the IT cell and Amit Malviya — but with the election season at its peak, the BJP has decided to use them in a no-holds-barred manner. Modi ..read more

An image of the front page of The New York Times is being widely shared on social media. It consists of the masthead of the NYT, below which, a graphic of a naked king occupies almost half of the page. The edition is dated March 15, 2024. Users claim that the international newspaper carried this graphic to depict PM Modi’s situation after the electoral bonds data had been released. X (formerly Twitter) user Izhar Alam (@Izharalam00786) shared the above-mentioned image on March 16 with a caption in Hindi that can be translated as, “On Electoral Bond, International Media The New York Times is sa ..read more

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently tweeted a comparison video showing the condition of Assam roads “before and after Modi government”. The clips of the potholed and waterlogged roads are captioned “Assam Roads Then”, and those showing good roads are captioned, “Assam Roads Now.”  Assam’s roads – Before and after Modi Government ? pic.twitter.com/baIwad7Vxc — Himanta Biswa Sarma (Modi Ka Parivar) (@himantabiswa) April 25, 2024 Fact Check In the part of the video that apparently shows roads before the Modi government came to power, we spotted a car with the registration num ..read more

A 17-second clip featuring Union home minister Amit Shah is viral on social media where he can be heard saying that when a BJP government is formed, it will end the ‘unconstitutional reservations’ given to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBC (SC/ST/OBC). Congress Telangana’s official X handle shared the viral video with a caption in Telugu, which said, “Are there SC, ST, OBC minority brothers and sisters working in the BJP, which is playing religion-based politics? After watching this video, decide whether to vote for the BJP or not…” The tweet has now been deleted. Premium subscribed ..read more

The official X handle of Karnataka chief electoral officer on April 26 announced that action had been initiated against sitting Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya for posting a video on his X handle and soliciting votes on the grounds of religion. A case was lodged at Jayanagar police station in Bengaluru on April 25 against Surya under Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Police sources told The Hindu that they ​had taken cognizance of a tweet by Surya where he allegedly sought votes citing the Ram Mandir and asked people to vote for Modi for “a better and secure future ..read more

A screengrab of a YouTube video from TV9 Kannada featuring Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is being widely shared on social media with users drawing attention to its title. It says: “I Will Share Wealth Of The Nation To Muslims: CM Siddaramaiah”. BJP supporters and Right Wing influencers are sharing the clip in response to the criticism by the Congress camp of Prime Minister Modi’s speech at a public meeting in Rajasthan’s Banswara on April 21. In his address, the PM stated that the Congress manifesto had promised wealth redistribution among Muslims. He further claimed that former P ..read more