Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
As Punjab witnesses a high-stakes political battle between the Congress, BJP and AAP, a letter purportedly written by the Sikhs For Justice, has gone viral on social media, claiming that the banned outfit has pledged its support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Newschecker found many posts on Twitter including one by Amandeep Singh, National media in-charge of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, a youth wing of BJP who tweeted out the letter questioning AAP’s support to the Khalistani organisation. The tweet has 43 likes and 28 retweets.
Several other users also shared the same document with similar caption.
The letter when translated reads that SFJ has extended full support to AAP in the upcoming Punjab elections. The letter also mentions that if AAP comes to power, the separatist agenda of Sikhs For Justice will be revived.
The letter came in light of recent allegations made by ex-AAP leader Kumar Vishwas who accused Arvind Kejriwal of supporting separatist elements in the state of Punjab. This letter is the latest of many dubious posts on social media circulating in the context of the state polls.
Fact Check/Verification
In order to verify the authenticity of the document, Newschecker began by looking for official news about the letter going viral through a keyword search. However, during our search we did not find any information from any credible source confirming this news.
We searched for the viral letter on Twitter with the help of some keywords. During the search, we found a tweet from Zee News journalist Sivank Mishra, who shared a video statement from Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, head of Sikhs for Justice calling out the viral post as fake.
Calling it a move by the AAP, Pannu said that no such message has been issued by Sikhs for Justice and the organisation and that SFJ is not supporting any party in the Punjab elections 2022.
Newschecker further checked the social media platforms of the Sikhs for Justice, but we could not open the profiles as it is banned in India. However, the profile is not banned abroad, and Newschecker obtained a screenshot of a post by SFJ on their Instagram profile, confirming the news as fake.
Conclusion
Our investigation shows that the letter, claiming that SFJ has issued a letter supporting the AAP for Punjab elections, is fake. Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, head of Sikhs for Justice, released the video and described the viral letter as fake, and the organisation has denied the report on its Instagram page.
Result: Fabricated News/ False
Our Sources
Instagram/SFJ
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
