Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
As India’s months-long lockdown starts easing, common social media users, commentators, and political pundits have once again started making assumptions as to what will be imposed again and what’s coming next. The latest entry to this wide array of misinformation is a WhatsApp forward claiming a four-week long strict lockdown in Delhi NCR from June 18. The WhatsApp forward also claims that the President’s rule will be imposed in the national capital. The strictness of this ‘alleged’ lockdown consists of no allowance to go outside. It further appeals to finish all necessary work and let others know of the ‘alleged’ lockdown.
Fact Check
As we begin fact-checking this claim, we first checked the website of the Home Ministry of India for any such announcement. It is noteworthy that no such announcement was found on the ministry’s website.
We also checked the official Twitter handle of the spokesperson of the MHA but we didn’t find any such announcement there as well. Furthermore, we found a tweet by the fact-checking arm of the government that debunks the claims made in the viral WhatsApp forward. The tweet by the PIB reads, “Claim: A message on Facebook claiming strict #Lockdown from 18th June.
When we searched further, we also found a series of tweets made by the Home Minister of India in which he has mentioned the meeting between him and the Delhi Chief Minister that took place today. In the same Twitter thread, the Home Minister has announced a slew of measures to help the Delhi government in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, through a tweet, has seconded the content of Home Minister Amit Shah’s tweets.
It is important to note that none of the above two have information about President’s rule in Delhi and the alleged strict lockdown.
Hence, it is proved in our fact-check report that the viral WhatsApp forward is false and no strict lockdown has been announced in Delhi. Since the Home Minister and the Delhi Chief Minister have announced fighting the coronavirus pandemic together, the claims regarding the President’s rule in Delhi are false as well.
Sources
- Google Search
- Twitter Advanced Search
Result: False
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Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
