Fake JNU agitation messages catch prominent Netizens on the wrong foot as they go hysterical on social media

Mumbai:

As the entire nation is aghast over the continued violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi, Netizens, prominent personalities, politicians and journalists have jumped on the bandwagon. Fake messages on social media caught many prominent Netizens on the wrong foot leaving them at the mercy of trollers. Amidst political mudslinging between opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing each other of violence, more fuel to the fire is being added with several conflicting and fake messages doing the rounds of the social media.

It may be recalled that the students of JNU have been protesting the fee hike since November last year. In the latest on-going agitation, the left wing and right wing student unions have locked horns. The Left leaning Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) opposed registration of students for new semester till the fee hike was not rolled back. The right wing students union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) insisted that the registrations must be allowed.

Violence erupted in the already tensed JNU campus on Saturday evening, which continued till Monday. While the students unions accused each other over the violence, the Congress led opposition blamed Modi government for it. “It is unfortunate that the despite being at fault, the JNUSU is blaming ABVP. It was the JNUSU that obstructed the registration of new students. They even tried to disrupt internet services when the administration opened online registrations facility,” said Swanand Gangal, member of Maharashtra BJP IT Cell.

As the issue reached flash-point, social media went hysterical. One of the most circulated messages on social media was about a WhatsApp group named, “Unity against left”. The screen shots of the group messages shared on social media platforms, gave an impression that it was a group created by ABVP to instigate violence on JNU campus. Senior journalist Barkha Dutt also shared the same from her twitter handle.

Interestingly, one of the numbers seen in the chat belongs to a company which was once associated with Congress during previous elections. The Netizens were prompt to point this out and troll all those who shared the screen shots on social media. The Twitterati didn’t even spare Barkha Dutt.

Immediately after it was exposed that the number was related to crowd funding for Congress, the social media further burst into hysteria. Many users grabbed the chance to give some earful to those who relied on the allegedly fake WhatsApp group and the messages therein. Dutt was trolled in no time for ‘exposing’ the Congress. The number featuring in the WhatsApp chat – 7005750770 – when searched led to the website contribute.inc.in, crowd funding platform website for Indian National Congress. Barkha Dutt could not be reached for her version.

When the controversy snowballed and boomeranged, the Congress party washed its hands off the vendor. The party in official statement said, “The SM team of INC had hired the services of several private vendors to run crowd funding campaign for a limited period before Lok Sabha elections after which it was discontinued. The number belongs to a vendor and has nothing to do with INC.”