Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Kerala revives after the devastating floods, the innumerous adversities it has to fight refuses to reach a finale. Right from the beginning, the state was putting up a brave resistance against the outbreak of fake news. Sangh Parivar allies are determined to shatter Kerala as it tries to be reborn from ruins, and unabashedly uses the disaster to reap political gains.
After spreading false news about the state rescue mission in unique ways including one that involved an army impostor, now these forces have begun a fresh campaign nationally, portraying the state minister of agriculture Sunil Kumar as R.S.S Karyavahak. An image of the minister engaged in relief activities along with the Kerala Police is now being circulated on the social media, describing him as an R.S.S leader who is volunteering on the disaster front.
Twitterati are widely sharing the image, accompanied by a message which says the world should know about the selfless services put forth by R.S.S. Hashtags including #rebuildkerala and #rsskerala goes trending along with these. However, Minister Sunil Kumar is of the opinion that the R.S.S is turning themselves into a laughing stock by making such outlandish claims.
“This isn’t the first time they are trying to make fake claims like these. I haven’t lodged any complaints on the issue yet, but will see to it and proceed if necessary,” he told DoolNews. He further adds that volunteers belonging to all political parties and ideologies were among those who came forward to help the affected, and R.S.S. allies might have been there as well. “No one is degrading them, and no one ever said that they weren’t aiding the relief work. Why are they still keen about spreading falsity? If they relentlessly cook up fake news using a minister’s picture, then what might be the plight of others?” asks Sunil Kumar.
Widespread discontent is stirring up all over the social media, as the image also got proven to be one among the many fake news-hate speech campaigns instigated by Sangh Parivar targeting the state.
Another message propagated by the Parivar was about Raghuath, a K.S.E.B. employee who met a tragic death while repairing a damaged transformer amidst the rains. His photograph was spread around, captioned as a Swayam Sevak, who lost his life while engaging in the rescue mission in Palakkad district. A message along with Raghunath’s image states that he was one among the many R.S.S. volunteers who sacrificed their lives for the rescue mission.
Claims made by B.J.P. state leader K. Surendran on his Facebook page were also baseless. In a message posted on his page, he states that 9 B.J.P. workers embraced martyrdom while trying to save lives. However, four among the 9 photographs he shared are of people who were caught in landslides in Kotambathur Colony, Desamangalam. Prasad, who seemingly died after being hit by a severe heart attack, and K.S.E.B. employee Raghunath are among the others whom Surendran claims to be from the Parivar.
“Lakhs of Sevaks voluntarily took part in the rescue mission. We shall never forget the fact that nine Swayam Sevaks have lost their lives while taking part in the rescue mission. Sevaks are now engaged in a mission of cleaning all the flood-affected areas of the state. All the District Collectors and survivors are totally aware that Seva Bharati has successfully gathered resources and volunteers, and it has been the most efficiently coordinating relief activities. Kindly do not try to exploit the situation,” says Surendran in his Facebook post.
However, after his claims turned out to be fake, social media has started to stage protests against him. Many are even furious at him, and alleges that B.J.P. was trying to politicise the deaths.
Earlier, it was identified that the images of rescue mission publicised by the R.S.S. was in fact taken long back in Gujarat. These pictures of R.S.S. volunteers distributing food among the people were actually clicked in 2017 August, and was circulated by a verified twitter account, ‘Friends of R.S.S.,’ labelling them as volunteering work taken up by the state R.S.S. force.
Sangh Parivar allies were also in the forefront of the propagandist move of encouraging hate speech during the times of agony. Messages which says that the floods affected only Christians, Muslims and communists, and that Kerala deserved no help, were also found to be channelled around. Kerala, however, has wilfully discarded all the attempts to thrash its harmony. The state which survived the disaster of the century will undoubtedly survive its combat with fake news as well.