A few weeks back BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra was asked to leave NDTV panel discussion by journalist and program host Nidhi Razdan. He had questioned the journalistic integrity of NDTV and alleged that it has ulterior motives and dishonest agendas against BJP. Nidhi very confidently threw the gauntlet and asked Mr. Patra to furnish some evidence and expose the agenda. Mr. Patra was just leveling an allegation without any proof so he was at a loss for words and could only utter that he will get back to it soon.
Now, in his eagerness and enthusiasm for the “expose”, Sambit Patra fell for a misleading article by a dubious Pakistani website known as Islamabad Times.
The caption to the original article which was critical of PM Modi’s Make In India mentioned NDTV, but in the news story, there was no citation by NDTV. Mr. Patra tweeted it and NDTV commented seeking an explanation and clarification from him. After NDTV responded, the Times of Islamabad removed its name from the headline caption.
The article was an opinion piece written by Congress leader P Chidambaram for the Indian Express on 11th June 2017. Times of Islamabad reproduced it.
It is not for the first that a BJP politician has been duped by a misleading and fake news. In the past Meenakshi Lekhi, also a BJP spokesperson, tweeted a congratulatory message that Indian national anthem has been declared as the best in the world by UNO. This was in 2014 June, a month after BJP came to power with a huge mandate. Ms. Lekhi later deleted the tweet.
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