Amit Malviya: How the Ringmaster of BJP’s Propaganda Machinery Weaponises Misinformation

On January 15, 2020, Amit Malviya, national in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) IT cell, shared a video of a random group of persons insinuating that the women of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for money. His allegation was found baseless by a collaborative Alt News-Newslaundry investigation. But this hardly discouraged Malviya.

Shaheen Bagh protest is sponsored... सारा कांग्रेस का खेल है... pic.twitter.com/JOKIO2qK7P

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 15, 2020

Two days hence, he shared a photograph of an elderly man eating biryani at Shaheen Bagh. In a bizarre tweet, Malviya wrote, “Proof of Biryani being distributed at Shaheen Bagh!” Was the BJP leader alluding that the act of eating food at a protest site is an offence or morally incorrect? Should the protesters be participating on empty stomachs? Only he can answer.

Proof of Biryani being distributed at Shaheen Bagh! pic.twitter.com/ylwnjJr2oy

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 5, 2020

Malviya’s misleading tweets are not limited to Shaheen Bagh. Alt News has been monitoring his social media presence for a while now and has found that he repeatedly uses misinformation to discredit individuals, communities, opposition parties, leaders and movements. With him being the official ring leader of BJP’s online propaganda machinery, the misinformation promoted by Malviya has a dangerous ripple effect. His false claims are echoed by party members and supporters of the BJP thus giving rise to large-scale misinformation campaigns.

MISINFORMATION TARGETING ANTI-CAA PROTESTS

1. Falsely claimed that anti-CAA protesters in Lucknow chanted ‘Pakistan Zindabad’

On December 28, 2019, Malviya tweeted a video of anti-CAA protest at Lucknow’s Clock Tower and claimed that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised in the rally.

Since this is a season of pulling out old videos, here is one from Lucknow where anti-CAA protestors can be seen raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans... Damn! Someone needs to have a samvaad with them and ask them to carry tricolour and Bapu’s picture for the cameras next time... pic.twitter.com/Lvg7sj2G9Z

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 28, 2019

Alt News found that the claim was false. The protesters did not raise pro-Pakistan slogans but said ‘Kashif saab zindabad’. Kashif saab aka Kashif Ahmad is the Lucknow AIMIM chief. In a conversation with Alt News, AIMIM UP president Haji Shaukat Ali informed that Kashif Ahmad was leading the December 13 protest. Kashif saab aka Kashif Ahmad is the Lucknow AIMIM chief. In a conversation with Alt News, AIMIM UP president Haji Shaukat Ali informed that Kashif Ahmad was leading the December 13 protest.

The complete fact-check can be read here.

2. Falsely claimed AMU students chanted “Hinduon ki kabr khudegi”

A video of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act was circulated on social media with a claim that they raised slogans against Hindus. A,ong those who shared it was Malviya.

AMU students are chanting ‘हिंदुओ की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की धरती पर...’

Chaps at Jamia want ‘हिंदुओं से आज़ादी...’

If this is the mindset that pervades in these ‘minority’ institutions, imagine the plight of Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan... pic.twitter.com/VRNeOyhaHY

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 15, 2019

The students were actually raising slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar, BJP, Brahminism and casteism. They said, “हिंदुत्व की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, सावरकर की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये बीजेपी की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ब्राह्मणवाद की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये जातीवाद की कब्र. (Grave of Hindutva will be dug on the chest of AMU, grave of Savarkar will be dug on the chest of AMU, this BJP’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Brahminism’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Casteism’s grave will be dug -translated)”.

Are you listening;
All the way from AMU.
Long Live AMU#AMUrejectscab#CABBill2019#CitizenshipAmendmentBill pic.twitter.com/WN77Kwvcz9

— پیر زادہ محبوب الحق (@psmh019) December 12, 2019

3. Journalist Arfa Khanum’s speech on CAA shared with distorted interpretation

“The Islamists want CAA protests to be ‘inclusive’ only till the time you, the non Muslims, start accepting their religious identity, beliefs and supremacist slogans as gospel,” tweeted BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya while sharing a video of journalist Arfa Khanum.

The Islamists want CAA protests to be ‘inclusive’ only till the time you, the non Muslims, start accepting their religious identity, beliefs and supremacist slogans as gospel... Long live the dream of ‘Ghazwae-Hind’! pic.twitter.com/va564eghL8

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 26, 2020

The speech delivered by Arfa Khanum at Aligarh Muslim University was clipped and misrepresented. They claimed that the journalist was promoting the establishment of Islamic society and urging protesters to maintain a pretence of support to non-Muslims until such a society is created. However, Khanum was stating the complete opposite. She urged protesters to not use religious slogans to maintain the secular character of the movement.

MISINFORMATION TARGETING CONGRESS AND RAHUL GANDHI

1. Attempts to portray Nehru as an immoral man

In 2017, the BJP leader had shared a collage of images of first Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with women. Most of the photographs were of the former PM with his sister or niece. Malviya later took down his tweet but this hardly stopped others from sharing the collage.

2. Shares mischievously clipped video of Manmohan Singh

Amit Malviya tweeted a video of Dr Manmohan Singh on November 27, 2018, where the former PM can be heard saying, “The Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were very good.” This clip seemed to suggest that Singh was appreciating the BJP state governments.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh contradicts Rahul Gandhi, says governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh were ‘very good’... Waters down everything Congress President has been saying over the last few days! pic.twitter.com/cLqCL0al7q

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 27, 2018

As it turned out, Malviya shared a mischievously clipped video of the former PM’s speech made the previous day. The former PM’s exact words were, “My relationships with the government of Madhya Pradesh, the government of Chhattisgarh were very good. We never discriminated against BJP-ruled states.”

3. Falsely claimed that Rahul Gandhi signed the Somnath temple register as a non-Hindu

Congress is one of the favourite targets of Malviya. In another tweet from 2017, he had claimed that then party president Rahul Gandhi had signed the register at Somnath temple as a ‘non-Hindu’.

Ambassador Meera Shankar, UPA’s representative in US, had referred to Sonia Gandhi as a Christian leader. The reference was soon deleted. Now Rahul Gandhi declares he is a non-Hindu but their election affidavits claim that they are Hindus. Gandhis lying about their faith? pic.twitter.com/iFE4AhVnRM

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 29, 2017

However, handwriting analysis showed that the handwriting in the register did not match with Gandhi’s publically available handwritten notes.

4. The infamous potato-gold machine claim

In 2017, a video of Rahul Gandhi saying, “ऐसी मशीन लगाऊंगा इस साइड से आलू घुसेगा उस साइड से सोना निकलेगा …(Will install such a machine that if a potato is inserted from one end, gold will come out from the other end.)” was shared by the BJP IT cell head.

People are sending this to me and asking in disbelief if he actually said this.. Of course he did! pic.twitter.com/rgdTf26ARv

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 15, 2017

This was a clipped video of a much longer speech where Rahul Gandhi was actually taking a dig at PM Modi during an address in Gujarat’s Patan on November 12, 2017. The complete video was uploaded on the Congress president’s YouTube channel where at 17:50 minutes he can be heard saying, “कुछ महीने पहले यहाँ बाढ़ आयी ५०० करोड़ रुपये दूंगा, (पीएम मोदी ने) एक भी रूपया नहीं दिया. आलू के किसानो को कहा ऐसी मशीन लगाऊंगा इस साइड से आलू घुसेगा उस साइड से सोना निकलेगा…मेरे शब्द नहीं है नरेंद्र मोदीजी के शब्द है. (A few months ago there was a flood here and he (PM Modi) said he will give Rs 500 crore but not even a rupee was given. He told potato farmers, will install such a machine that if a potato is inserted from one end, gold will come out from the other end…these are not my words but Narendra Modiji’s words.)”

5. Falsely claimed Rahul Gandhi visited Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s Dera Sacha Sauda

In an August 2017 tweet, Amit Malviya claimed, “Rahul Gandhi visited Dera Sacha Sauda as recently as Jan 2017 to seek support.. Congress rules Punjab. What quid pro quo did they promise?“ He later deleted the tweet.

The screenshot of the article that Malviya posted is originally an Indian Express article dated January 29, 2017. The article states, “With just a week to go for the Punjab Assembly elections, AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi Saturday visited Dera Sach Khand Ballan in Jalandhar, the biggest and the most influential among the Dalit Ravidassia community.” Gandhi did not visit Dera Sacha Sauda but Dera Sach Khand Ballan, whose head is Sant Niranjan Dass and not Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Alt News’s complete fact-check can be read here.

MISINFORMATION DURING ELECTION TIME

1. Misinformation ahead of 2019 Delhi elections

A video of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was shared by Amit Malviya ahead of 2019 Delhi elections. He claimed that a man was lynched at a Kejriwal roadshow.

AAP workers indulge in brutality, lynch a man in Arvind Kejriwal’s road show, who remains a mute spectator, doesn’t intervene, goes around his program as if nothing is happening...

Is this man even fit to be in public life let alone occupy a public office?pic.twitter.com/baYVtrY7Qi

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 31, 2020

Malviya did not tweet the complete picture. Other clips from the video show that Kejriwal was slapped by a person who was then thrashed by the CM’s supporters. Contrary to social media claims, the man was not lynched. However, he was brutally beaten.

Arvind Kejriwal slapped by a man in west Delhi. Act caught on camera. The man, Suresh, was then assaulted by AAP volunteers.

* strong language. pic.twitter.com/2vTzDyS6w1

— Raj Shekhar Jha (@rajshekharTOI) May 4, 2019

2. Misinformation ahead of polling in West Bengal during 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019 elections, Malviya tweeted an alleged ‘first-person’ account of a student of Vidyasagar College about the violence that erupted in the campus during BJP chief Amit Shah’s rally. The ‘student’ blamed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for vandalising the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar inside the varsity campus.

First person account of a student from Vidyasagar College. Original post in Bangla and translation alongside. He recounts how TMC hooligans orchestrated vandalisation of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’ bust inside the college for their petty politics. #SaveBengalSaveDemocracy pic.twitter.com/OWA79RTjbw

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 15, 2019

Incidentally, the same message was shared by numerous other individuals in the first person. The circulation of the identical message was also noticed by Twitter users. One of them sarcastically wrote, “Today, entire Facebook is ‘I am a Vidyasagar student’.”

Alt News published an investigative report after analysing visuals of the violence and speaking with faculty members and students of the college. We found that the allegations raised in the post shared by Malviya were misleading.

3. Misinformation shared after 2018 Telangana polls

In the aftermath of the Telangana assembly elections in 2018, in which the BJP suffered a setback, Malviya tweeted that the party, despite having a 7 percent vote share in Telangana managed to win just one seat, whereas the Owaisi led AIMIM with a vote share of merely 2.7 percent bagged 7 seats in the election.

In Telangana, AIMIM with just 2.7% vote share won 7 seats but BJP with 7% got just won. Let that sink in.

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 23, 2018

While the numbers cited by Malviya were correct, the claim was misleading. This is because while the AIMIM had a vote share of 2.7%, the party had contested on merely 8 seats, of which it won 7. On the other hand, BJP had contested 118 out of 119 seats in the state assembly. AIMIM thus has a far superior strike rate of 87.5 percent (7 out of 8) in comparison to the BJP’s dismal strike rate of 0.85 percent (1 out of 118). The complete details are available on the website of the Election Commission.

MISINFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF PM MODI

1. Falsely claimed PM Modi is the first ‘head of the state’ to visit Kumbh

Prime minister Narendra Modi took a holy dip in the Ganges in the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh on January 24, 2019. Soon after, Malviya tweeted that PM Modi is the “first head of state to visit Kumbh in all these years.”  

Malviya’s claim was incorrect on two accounts. First, the prime minister is not the head of the state. S/he is the leader of the cabinet of ministers and the head of the executive branch of the government. The president of India is the head of the state. Based on this, the first head of the state to visit Kumbh was the first Indian president Rajendra Prasad. Second, PM Modi is not the first prime minister to visit Kumbh. The first prime minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, visited Kumbh in 1954.

Alt News’s complete fact-check can be read here.

2. Attempt to use Nobel winner’s name to endorse demonetisation

The BJP IT cell head claimed that Richard Thaler, the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics, praised demonetisation.

‪”Really? Damn.“, tweeted Thaler when he was told about the introduction of Rs 2000 note in place of the discontinued Rs 500 and 1000 notes. Malviya’s tweet did not include this bit.

Thaler’s statement on demonetisation was in fact as follows: “The concept was good as a move to a cashless society to impede corruption but the rollout was deeply flawed and the introduction of the Rs 2000 note makes the motivation for the entire exercise puzzling.”

TARGETTING INDIVIDUALS

1. Targets Yogendra Yadav via edited video clip after TV debate face-off

In a TV debate, Amit Malviya had accused Yogendra Yadav of playing caste politics. In response, Yadav challenged Malviya saying he would withdraw from public life if Malviya was able to produce any evidence to back his claim. Malviya posted a video of Yogendra Yadav where he Yadav is seen and heard speaking to a crowd in Muslim dominated Mewat about his Muslim identity. “I usually don’t carry TV debates to social media but making an exception to expose Yogendra Yadav’s Janus face,” tweeted Malviya attaching a short video clip. The clip ended with the question, “When are you withdrawing from public life?” ‘

I usually don’t carry TV debates to social media but making an exception to expose @_YogendraYadav’s janus face. Here is a video where he can be seen bragging his Muslim identity to a largely Muslim audience in Muslim dominated Mewat. If this isn’t cynical politics, then what is? pic.twitter.com/sPeHqaILpB

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 19, 2019

In trying to ‘expose’ Yogendra Yadav for using his Muslim identity for votes, Malviya used an edited clip which was not even a part of an election rally.

4 things BJP's lie factory conceals:

1. Allegation by @amitmalviya to which I responded:in 2014 election I used Muslim name for votes

2. Date of video:3 yrs+ after election

3 Context: protest meet on lynching by Hindu mob

4. My main message: don't think of revenge or violence https://t.co/uPi1F0xVUo

— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) April 19, 2019

2. Tries to malign Ravish Kumar by sharing a mischievously edited video clip

Below is a tweet posted by Malviya after the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh. In video, Kumar makes the following statement, “Jab tak yeh vyakti mafi nahin mangega aur mein apne party ke logo se kehta hoon ki yeh nationalist hindutva, nationalist nahin hai“.

पत्रकार की कौन सी पार्टी होती है? pic.twitter.com/oUdqqkniLO

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 10, 2017

However, if one hears the complete speech, the statement that Kumar made was, “cheen aur burma se jab woh laute to pehla kaam yehi kare ki woh dadhichi ko unfollow kare aur woh bataye ki unse kahe ki hamse galti hui hai. Jab tak yeh vyakti mafi nahin mangega aur mein party ke logo se kehta hoon ki yeh nationalist hindutva, nationalist nahin hai, yeh hum sab ko ek nagrik ki taur par pradhan mantri se maang karni chahiye.” Here, “woh” refers to PM Modi and Ravish Kumar is urging the prime minister to speak to his own party workers and tell them that people like Dadhichi are not true nationalists.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya while managing the party’s social media activities has shared a deluge of misinformation mainly targetting the opposition. In most of the above examples, he has not taken down his tweets despite fact-check stories debunking false claims. This not only shows a blatant disregard for the truth but also an intent to mislead. As the person-in-charge of the ruling party’s social media cell, his online presence is a reflection of the BJP’s proclivity to misinform the citizenry.