Sorry, NSA did not praise Uttarakhand CS for handling Kumbh Mela
A letter purportedly written by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval praising Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Om....
By Newsmeter Network Published on 22 April 2021 7:20 AM GMT
HYDERABAD: A letter purportedly written by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval praising Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Om Prakash's efforts in handling the situation during the Kumbh Mela held in Haridwar, is viral on social media.
However, NewsMeter has found that the viral letter is fake. It contains numerous grammatical errors and has been termed fake by ANI.
The posts on social media can be viewed here.
FACT CHECK:
We noticed several grammatical errors in the viral letter such as the entire line that reads, "I also appreciating that you use your..." The letter "I" is not capitalized and the word 'ideology' is misspelled as "idelogoy." This indicated that the viral letter is not official as no official letters would make such grammatical errors.
We then performed a keyword search with the text mentioned in the viral letter and found a tweet by journalist Aman Sharma who posted a letter with similar content in 2019. The letter was addressed to the UP government and praised the efforts of Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari for handling the situation after the Ayodhya case verdict was announced.
It was noticed that the viral letter carries almost the same content from the 2019 letter with some tweaks. (Left: Viral letter. Right: Official letter.) This proves that the viral letter has lifted content from the original letter.
Furthermore, news agency ANI reported that the government officials said: "NSA Doval has not written any letter lauding Kumbh Mela conduct". And the letter is fake.
Apart from this, in May 2020, another similar letter went viral, with the claim that the National Security Advisor congratulated Commissioner Secretary, Ladakh for handling the border situation. The letter carried a similar content. That letter was also termed fake by PIB.
Evidently, a fake letter that purports to show National Security Advisor Ajit Doval praising Uttarakhand chief secretary for his efforts in handling the Kumbh Mela is false. No such letter has been written.
