Author:
Publication: The True Picture
Date: March 26, 2018
URL:      https://www.thetruepicture.in/saikat-datta-spread-fake-news/

A couple of days ago, Rahul Gandhi was asked by a girl in Karnataka about NCC and the facilities he would provide for those who pass a particular level in it. He had replied that he doesn’t know “details of NCC training and that type of stuff”. This video went viral and people criticized him for not knowing about NCC. Quite obviously, some NCC cadets too were not amused by Gandhi’s “type of stuff” comment.

One such cadet, Sanjana Singh, spoke to ANI UP and conveyed her views frankly over this issue.
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ANI UP ‏ @ANINewsUP
Surprised he doesn't have details of NCC. It isn't "other stuff". It's 2nd line of defence. Hope Rahul Gandhi learns about it. It's important for leader to know about it: Sanjana Singh,NCC Cadet on Rahul Gandhi's statement 'I don't know details of NCC training&that type of stuff'
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However, events seem to have taken an ugly turn.

Saikat Datta, “South Asia Editor of Asia Times Online”, in a bid to paint the NCC cadet as a political operative, tweeted the screenshot of a certain “Sanjana Singh” who seems to be with NCC as well as Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, complete with details of her college too. He said, “NCC Cadet S Singh, who spoke about Rahul Gandhi’s lack of knowledge about the NCC on camera, is “Unit President” of the ABVP.”
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Saikat Datta @saikatd
NCC cadet S Singh, who spoke about Rahul Gandhi's lack of knowledge about the NCC on camera, is "Unit President" of the ABVP. And NCC is being used for political data collection. Singh.
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He seemed to have deliberately left out the profile picture of the Sanjana Singh whose profile he linked, because, if one saw the picture of the cadet ANI UP took a byte from and compared it with the picture from the Facebook profile, it is clear that these two are different people.

Even a cursory look would reveal that these two women are not the same.

We considered not posting the profile picture from the Facebook profile but the larger issue of Saikat Datta, perhaps deliberately and perhaps even maliciously trying to spin an issue to make it look political, would not be settled without a picture comparison.

The questions here are:

- If Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know about the NCC and NCC cadets aren’t amused, Rahul Gandhi can always clarify. Why are journalists trying to intercede in Rahul Gandhi’s behalf?

- The dictum of “speaking truth to power” which many journalists including Saikat Datta claim to follow would say, in this situation, that the power differential was heavily skewed against the NCC cadet and the woman in the Facebook profile that Datta posted a screenshot of. Still, Datta chose, maybe maliciously, to go after the NCC cadet while, some would say, trying to give intellectual cover to a far more powerful Rahul Gandhi. Why is this so?

- Further, as multiple people started posting the Facebook profile of Sanjana Singh and attacking her for her supposed political opinion, does this not compromise the safety of the woman in question?