Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Opposition while replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in the Lok Sabha on February 6. He spoke on various issues including the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), abrogation of Article 370 and others.
However, during his address he quoted satirical website ‘Faking News’ and attributed a quote to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is under a house arrest since August 4.
He quoted Abdullah as saying, "The abrogation of Article 370 will bring a massive earthquake that it will divide Kashmir from India." It was also tweeted by BJP's official Twitter handle. They wrote, "Omar Abdullah had said that the abrogation of Article 370 would bring a massive earthquake and will divide Kashmir from India. Farukh Abdullah had said the removal of Article 370 will strengthen the road of freedom for Kashmiris: PM Modi."
Fact checking website Alt News proved that the above quote was from an article from a satirical website ‘Faking News’ and not the one made by Omar Abdullah. The website had published the exact quote on May 28, 2014.
The day before 'Faking News' article was published, Abdullah had tweeted about Article 370 and the Modi government. "Mark my words & save this tweet - long after Modi Govt is a distant memory either J&K won't be part of India or Art 370 will still exist," he wrote.
Twitter trolled Prime Minister Modi for attributing a false quote to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. "Where the Prime Minister of India attributes a quote to a detained-for-6-months ex-CM of Kashmir, even as that quote is from a *FAKING NEWS* website! The diligence check seems exactly same as the wrong numbers in the budget or Wikipedia being the source in Economic Survey," a user wrote.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
