News agency ANI on Sunday deleted a tweet on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat who slammed China for its expansionist approach on the border. The deleted tweet shared a 1.04 minute video from Bhagwat's Vijayadashami rally speech.
Here is a screenshot of the original tweet:
ANI's deleted tweet | ANI
A few minutes later, ANI tweeted a correction and said the tweet was deleted due to a translation error of ‘Atikraman’.
Here is the 'corrected' tweet:
However, there are two interesting facts.
1) The original tweet was deleted after Congress leader took a jibe at Bhagwat with a screenshot of the ANI post.
2) The corrected tweet does not include a video and only has a quote of Bhagwat.
What does 'atikraman' mean?
For those who are not well versed with the word 'atikraman', it is used to describe illegal occupation of a land or area. Google search throws 'encroachment' as its English meaning.
While both 'encroachment' and 'intrusion' (later tweeted by ANI) are synomnyms, 'atikraman' has always been described as 'encroachment'. For example, anti-encroachment drives by civic bodies against illegal occupation of public land is called "atikraman hatao abhiyaan".
Meaning of encroachment | Cambridge Dictionary
Meaning of intrusion | Cambridge Dictionary
Hindi meaning of 'atikraman' | shabdkosh.raftaar.in
Even the PTI report quoting Bhagwat described his statement as "encroachment". In another sentence, the news agency described it as "intrusion", exhibiting that the two words can be used interchangebly. So, ANI's reason to a delete a tweet because it wrote 'encroachment' instead of 'intrusion' does not make any sense.
What did Bhagwat say?
Bhagwat said India needs to grow bigger than China in terms of shakti and vypati (power and scope), adding the world knows that country's expansionist designs.
Speaking at the RSS's annual Vijayadashami rally, he said India needs to be militarily better prepared against China.
"China was shocked at Indias response to its intrusion. India needs to grow bigger in power and scope than china," he was quoted as saying by PTI. "China encroached on our borders amid the pandemic."
