Fact Check: No, Priyanka Gandhi Was Not Laughing At Press Conference Addressing Pulwama Incident

In the backdrop of Pulwama’s horrifying terror attack which took the lives of 40 Central Reserve Police Force CPRF jawans, the fake news menace is on the rise. A tweet by Ankur Singh that read “Priyanka Gandhi was laughing at press conference, Such vultures” raised questions on how insensitive Priyanka Gandhi can be.

https://twitter.com/iAnkurSingh/status/1096046184408309760

The 11-second video attached to the tweet showed Priyanka Gandhi “Bahut bahut dhanyawad” (Thank you so much).

The truth

The video that Singh posted is only a small part of a much longer video in which Priyanka can be seen expressing sorrow over the tragic death of the jawans. “As you know, this press conference had been organised to discuss certain political issues. However, in view of the terror attack in Pulwama in which our jawans have been martyred, it would be inappropriate to discuss politics at this point in time,” she said at the beginning of the conference.

She further said that the entire nation is with the families of the martyred soldiers. In the end, she thanked the audience and requested them to maintain a two-minute silence on the occasion. Congress General Secretary for UP West Jyotiraditya Scindia also attended the meeting, reported The Quint.

The entire video clearly suggests that Priyanka Gandhi did not laugh at any point, and only a small part of the video was shared to spread fake news.

.@priyankagandhi Ji gave tribute to #CRPF Jawans by keeping 2 minutes silence and ended the press conference by saying that it is not the right time to talk about politics. #KashmirTerrorAttack #Pulwama https://t.co/ZbgAcGSS7X

— SS Kim (@KimHaokipINC) February 14, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows Ankur Singh on Twitter, reported Alt News. In a Mirror Now debate, Singh recently featured as a “tech expert”. There, he was seen speaking about Twitter bias against right-wing accounts. His Twitter account was revoked and suspended.

In the wake of the unfortunate Pulwama incident, Priyanka Gandhi’s press conference was cancelled by her, as reported by many news channels.

Lucknow: Congress General Secretary for UP East @priyankagandhi cancels scheduled press conference, says 'in wake of the unfortunate #PulwamaAttack, I don't think it is appropriate to talk politics right now.'
Track #LIVE updates https://t.co/bsSfBEKEJs#PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/WZmiFRhixJ

— EconomicTimes (@EconomicTimes) February 14, 2019

The Logical Indian take

As citizens of the country, we have a certain responsibility. While trolls and parody accounts have taken the responsibility upon themselves to share as much false information as possible, it is our responsibility to differentiate between what is true and what isn’t, while making others aware about the issue too.

Creating or sharing fake news is never justified. We have a responsibility to verify everything that we post on the internet. To ensure that our national debate is healthy and well-informed, each and every one of us has a responsibility of treating what we read with a pinch of salt, a spoonful of doubt, and a flood of research.

Also Read: Fact Check: No, Priyanka Gandhi Was Not Drunk At The March To India Gate