On Friday, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad – the students’ body of the RSS, accused National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) – the student wing of the Indian National Congress of appropriating their protests and misleading the public by passing off images of ABVP protesters as that of NSUI ones against the central government.
The NSUI had posted a series of images on Thursday to attack the BJP. In one of the images it shared on Twitter, it had tweeted an image of a student protestor who was seen being carried and pushed over a barricade by the Delhi police at a protest.
Sharing the particular image, the Congress students’ body, in their veiled attack against the BJP, said BJP knew best to demonise students and to destroy nation’s image.
Hours after the NSUI tweeted an image of students’ protests, ABVP slammed the Congress students’ body for appropriating one of their protests and sharing images of their student leaders to take potshots at the BJP.
Taking a dig at the NSUI, ABVP said, “It seems Congress and NSUI are facing rejection in campuses to such a level that they now have to use a photo of ABVP karyakarta Shambhavi to take a failed potshot.”
It seems Congress and NSUI are facing rejection in campuses to such a level that they now have to use a photo of @abvpjnu karyakarta Shambhavi to take a failed potshot. https://t.co/xwX1fR7zWu
— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) November 5, 2020
According to the ABVP, the image shared by NSUI claiming to be a student protest against the BJP is in fact an image of ABVP protest that was organised in November 2019 to protest against a fee hike.
Image taken at ABVP protests outside UGC last year
The protest was carried out by the ABVP outside University Grants Commission against the fee hike. ABVP said that the lady protestor seen in the image shared by NSUI is an ABVP activist Shambhavee.
Reportedly, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had held protest outside University Grants Commission (UGC) against fee hike on November 13, 2019 in Delhi. The ABVP had carried out a signature campaign against a fee hike ahead of their protest outside UGC in Delhi last year.
#RollBackFeeHike
— ABVP JNU (@abvpjnu) November 13, 2019
Join protest at University Executive Council at JNU Convention Centre on 13-11-19 @ 9.00 AM
DERA DALO Protest at UGC on 13-11-19 at 02.00 p.m. Bus will leave from Sabarmati Dhaba at 1:15 PM. @ManishJangidJNU @ABVPVoice @abvptoday @ANI @loksabhatv @ugc_india pic.twitter.com/UwfZ6QtwBR
A news report by India TV also corroborates the claims made by ABVP made against NSUI. In the video shared by India TV, one can see how ABVP leader Shambhavi was pushed and lifted by the police during the protests against fee hike outside UGC office in Delhi in November 2019.
The lady protestor in the image shared by NSUI is exactly same as the person being pushed by the Delhi Police at the ABVP protest in Delhi last year.
Leftists shares images of ABVP protest, but no credits given
Not just NSUI, even the Communist Party of India – Marxist had attempted to pass the same image as theirs last year.
A week after ABVP had organised protests outside UGC in Delhi, the CPI-M had hailed these students for protesting against fee hike. However, as it was carried out by ABVP, the communist party had deliberately ignored to credit these protests to the ABVP.
Even controversial Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani had shared these images without attributing these protests to ABVP.
However, ABVP had even then taken to Twitter to school them about these protests and had asked them to acknowledge ABVP protests while warning them against misappropriation of ABVP’s protests.
To protest the fee hike in JNU and to demand its rollback, karyakartas of @abvpjnu had protested outside UGC on 13th November. While there is nothing new about ABVP standing up for students’ rights, what has surprised us is the acknowledgement coming from unexpected quarters!
— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) November 20, 2019
Congress has a long history of using ‘wrong images’ to peddle their propaganda
Just a few months back, the Gandhi-scion Priyanka Gandhi, continuing the act of putting misinformation on social media, had posted a tweet to criticise the farm reforms that are being implemented by the Narendra Modi government. The tweet was accompanied by a photograph of a farmer in distress. However, the photograph shared by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was at least seven years old.
Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala had earlier shared an image from Nepal as that of India to play politics over the misery of the poor. The Congress leader had posted the image of a woman, carrying a toddler on her back on Twitter. Surjewala’s tweet was accompanied by a politically motivated caption that read, “New India ka Sach!“
Earlier, the Dalit Congress had taken to social media to share an old image of a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh to attack the central government for its alleged inefficiency of handling of the migrant workers’ issue. Sharing the image through the official Twitter handle, Dalit Congress had said that Modi govt should envisage the helplessness to the faces of these people and do something to help them