Fact Check: Viral post with Jaya Bachchan’s ‘demands’ in Rajya Sabha for senior citizens’ welfare is misleading
Jaya Bachchan spoke in the Parliament about issues being faced by senior citizens but did not make the specific demands mentioned in the post.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 22 Dec 2023 5:09 AM GMT
Screengrab of the post making the misleading claim. (Source: Facebook)
Hyderabad: Several social media users have claimed that Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Jaya Bachchan, during her speech allegedly titled ‘Kill Senior Citizens!’ in the Parliament, demanded several privileges for the welfare of senior citizens in the form of pensions, concessions, insurance, priority for court cases, etc.
(Source: Facebook)
The posts with a detailed explanation of these points attributing them to Jaya Bachchan’s speech can be viewed here and here.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the posts were misleading. In February 2023, Jaya Bachchan spoke in Parliament about issues being faced by senior citizens but did not make the specific demands mentioned in the post.
We ran a relevant keyword search and came across a report by The Hindu on the Parliament Budget Session from February 8. It said that Bachchan had raised the issue of women’s safety and questioned the reduction in the Nirbhaya fund. She had also asked for the government’s plan for senior citizens
Taking this cue, we searched for her speech and found its transcript on the website of the Rajya Sabha.
According to the transcript, Jaya Bachchan spoke on the reduction in the Nirbhaya fund, the dignity and pride of sanitation workers, and the artistic community and mentioned the population of senior citizens and the problems they will be facing in the future. There is no mention that she titled the speech ‘Kill senior citizens.’
Quoting the National Statistics Office (NSO), she said that people above 60 years of age in India were projected to reach 41 per cent by 2031. She asked the government about their action plan for these senior citizens.
“All over the world, social security is provided by the Government to the handicapped, disabled and elderly people but in our country, no such provision is there. Millions of senior citizens have served the country to bring this country to this standard but they have been completely ignored, and they have been deprived of the dignity of age in spite of their hard work and dedication to this country,” Bachchan said.
Beyond this, there are no other mentions of a list of demands made by Jaya Bachchan regarding senior citizens’ welfare.
We also found Bachchan’s speech published by Sansad TV, the Parliamentary YouTube channel of India, on February 8, 2023, titled “Jaya Bachchan’s Remarks | Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in Rajya Sabha.” After 5:02 minutes into the video, we found her raising the same issue about senior citizens before moving on to speaking about the artistic community in India.
Hence, we conclude that the posts claiming Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan made several demands for the welfare of senior citizens in the Parliament are misleading.
