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PM used ‘fake’ news to target Omar: Oppn
New Delhi: Opposition parties on Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted a “fake” news report to target National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah
New Delhi: Opposition parties on Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted a “fake” news report to target National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah in Parliament, and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said references to him in the PM’s speech were “factually incorrect”.
Replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Modi quoted the former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister as having said: “The abrogation of Article 370 will bring a massive earthquake; that it will divide Kashmir from India.”
On Friday, the Congress said on its official Twitter handle that the quote was not from a genuine news item. “Modi quotes a satirical website, literally called ‘Faking News’, to justify his draconian actions against former J&K CM Omar Abdullah. This is what happens when the only degree you have is from WhatsApp University,” the party posted.
The website published the exact quote on May 28, 2014. Within hours of Modi’s address, Abdullah and fellow former CM Mehbooba Mufti were charged under the stringent Public Safety Act, having been in preventive custody since August 5, when the Centre nullified Article 370 that granted Jammu and Kashmir special status under the constitution and decided to bifurcate the state into two Union territories.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said, “With every passing day, one blow at a time, the Mo-Sh BJP government make a mockery of Parliament.” The reference was to Modi and home minister Shah.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also criticised Modi for saying that the statements purportedly made by former J&K chief ministers were not acceptable.
Vijayan, meanwhile, took to Facebook to demand that Modi rectify his statement, in which the PM made references to the Kerala CM.
“The statement of the PM in Rajya Sabha with regard to Kerala was factually incorrect and condemnable,” he said.
Attacking the opposition parties for their alleged attempts to “misguide and misinform” the nation on the new citizenship law, the Prime Minister said in the Rajya Sabha that Vijayan was on the one hand warning about extremist elements infiltrating anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests and on the other hand his party (CPI-M) supporting them in Delhi.
“We have warned and taken guard against those who try to infiltrate the people’s movement... My mentioning of the involvement of extremist organisations like SDPI (Socialist Democratic Party of India) during anti-CAA protests was with full conviction. The state has faith in its secular fabric to deal with the communal agenda of the Sangh Parivar. We will fight those who attempt to communalise our protests. The Prime Minister must rectify his statement defaming the protest movement of Kerala,” he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked Vijayan if he disowned his own revelations in the state assembly. “Or, is he finding it inconvenient that the PM has exposed the hypocrisy of the Left in selectively condemning perpetrators of violence in Kerala but supporting them outside Kerala?” asked BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao.
