Many well-known news organisations published news articles on Wednesday, 11 December, stating that the well known Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia supports the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, going against the party line.

Screenshot from Amar Ujala

Articles published in Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, DB Post, and Navodaya Times made above claims. Swarajya magazine even mentioned in their article that the Deputy CM of Madhya Pradesh has gone all against Congress in supporting the 2019 citizenship Amendment Bill.

Dainik Bhaskar in their report falsely claimed that Scindia supports CAB which they later edited without any clarification.

Amar Ujala even went a few steps ahead and reported that once again after supporting the central government’s decision of scrapping of Article 370, Scindia has gone against his party.

Not just Scindia, even Kapil Sibal recently became a victim of media misquoting him. The right-wing news portal OpIndia wrongly reported Kapil Sibal’s recent speech in Parliament on Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019. OpIndia earlier published a news piece titled, “Sibal attacks Ambedkar as the person who agreed to two-nation theory, gives clean chit to Congress”, but they later altered the headline of the news piece. the new one though is equally problematic. The new heading states, “Kapil Sibal spreads lies about Savarkar and misquotes Ambedkar while trying to give clean chit to congress on the partition.”

The OpIndia referred to a tweet by Moneycontrol, which tweeted a statement by Congress MP Kapil Sibal in the recent parliament session.

I rise to oppose #CABBill. The two-nation theory wasn’t ours, it was perpetrated by Savarkar & #BRAmbedkar agreed too. Congress believes in one nation. I want HM to withdraw 2-nation statement: Kapil Sibal, Congress, in #RajyaSabha#CitizenshipBill LIVE: https://t.co/bGw3YAD0V1 pic.twitter.com/gNnTyfViOm

— moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) December 11, 2019

According to the particular tweet put forward by Moneycontrol, that was later taken by OpIndia for reference, Kapil Sibal apparently said that B R Ambedkar had agreed to the two-nation theory proposed by VD Savarkar. “I rise to oppose the CAB bill. The two-nation theory wasn’t ours, it was perpetrated by Savarkar and B R Ambedkar agreed too. Congress believes in one nation. I want Home Minister to withdraw the two-nation statement.” This statement was attributed to Kapil Sibal.

Claims

First one is that former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has extended his support to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The second one is that “Sibal attacks Ambedkar as the person who agreed to two-nation theory, gives clean chit to Congress“.

Fact Check

Scindia, speaking in Indore on Wednesday, said that the ‘Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was against the spirit of the Constitution and also India’s centuries-old philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.‘

He further added, “Taking this into account, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was against the basic spirit of the Constitution given that Indian citizens had never been viewed with lens of their faith.”

He even took to Twitter to share his actual views on the 2019 Citizenship amendment Bill. “#CAB2019 is against the very essence of the Constitution and Indian culture,” the tweet read.

#CAB2019 संविधान की मूल भावना के ख़िलाफ़ है,भारतीय संस्कृति के विपरीत भी है। अंबेडकर जी ने संविधान लिखते समय किसी को धर्म, जात के दृष्टिकोण से नहीं देखा था।भारत का इतिहास रहा है कि हमने सभी को अपनाया है- वासुदेव कुटुंबकम भारत की विशेषता है।धर्म के आधार पर पहले कभी ऐसा नहीं हुआ।

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) December 11, 2019

As far as the second claim is concerned Kapil Sibal didn’t say that B R Ambedkar agreed with V D Savarkar’s proposed two-nation theory. In fact, what he said was quite the opposite to the claims that were made by the right-wing news website. Sibal by referring to Ambedkar’s words said: “Strange as it may appear, Mr Savarkar and Mr Jinnah, instead of being opposed to each other in the one nation vs two-nation issue, are in complete agreement about it”. Sibal’s reference was to Ambedkar’s view, according to which there was a strange similarity of outlook between V D Savarkar and M A Jinnah insofar as the two-nation theory is concerned i.e., that they both agreed with the idea. OpIndia wrongly put Kapil Sibal’s statement.

After watching the video uploaded by the RajyaSabhaTV, one can clearly make out he did not make the statement that was claimed to be made by Sibal according to OpIndia.

Dr BR Ambedkar in his book Pakistan or Partition of India described Savarkar’s views on Jinnah’s two-nation theory as inconsistent and illogical. He even said that Jinnah and Savarkar had similar opinion related to the partition of India.

Conclusion Scindia never supported the 2019 Citizenship amendment Bill and Kapil Sibal never said that B R Ambedkar agreed with Savarkar on the two-nation th…