Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh CM and Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav expressed serious concerns over the menace of fake news on Monday, recalling incidents where he too fell victim to viral rumours.
Speaking at the ‘Beyond Fake News’ conference organised by BBC at the Lucknow University, Yadav compared fake news to a virus.
“Today, some people are spreading fake news in the name of nationalism. Such people are anti-national in reality. This fake news is like a virus, and today the entire society can be affected by this virus. Fake news has also taken lives and continues to create a social divide. Some political parties are trying to reap benefits out of it. With fake news coming into play, one more word that has been viral is ‘Feku’.”
“A president of a national party was boasting of how fake news about me hitting my father went viral on their WhatsApp groups. And one female reporter went ahead and published fake news about me hitting my mother. Some political parties are boasting about lakhs of WhatsApp groups and all they want is to divert people’s attention from other issues. Today, trolls are being followed by people sitting at top constitutional posts,” he added.
On the issue of an alliance with BSP, Akhilesh said, “Many political parties are afraid of our alliance with the BSP. The real alliance between SP and BSP started between Lohia ji and Baba Saheb Ambedkar ji, then Netajii and Kanshiram ji took it forward. Now we will also try to take this forward.”
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