Amidst the ongoing diplomatic crisis over the alleged derogatory remarks made on live TV news by now-suspended BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, a purported letter by Home Minister Amit Shah directed to Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is viral on social media.
In the letter, Shah has been portrayed as praising Nupur Sharma by calling her an “icon” to promote the RSS ideology and urging the CM to provide security to her and her ancestral home on an “urgent basis”.
The viral letter reads, “…I admire your efforts to maintain Law & Order in the state and your keen interest to provide Z security to Shri Ajay Gupta is also commendable. In current scenario, I recommend you to critically evaluate emerging threats to the family house of Smt Nupur Sharma in Dehradun and provide Z security on urgent basis. I am confident that you will manage well and efficiently execute this task. Both Shri Ajay Gupta and Smt Nupur Sharma are icons to promote Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology that will ultimately lead us to accomplish Hindu Rashtra goal. I hope, you will understand the sensitive nature of this task and give your prime importance. My best wishes to you and your team.[sic]”
This letter has been shared on Twitter by Abdulla Madumoole and Congress leader Nagma Morarji, who later deleted her tweet.
Prime Minister suspends Nupur Sharma, Home Minister praises her as icon of Hindu Rashtra. We are definitely doomed. Not only minorities, everybody is in danger. pic.twitter.com/JA4LW80YHI
— ABDULLA MADUMOOLE ಅಬ್ದುಲ್ಲ ಮಾದುಮೂಲೆ (@AMadumool) June 14, 2022
Alt News has also received multiple requests on its mobile app as well on the WhatsApp helpline number (+91 7600011160) to verify the authenticity of this letter.
Fact-check
We performed a keyword search and came across a tweet by PIB Fact Check posted in June of 2021, debunking a viral letter attributed to HM Amit Shah. This letter has eerie similarities to the now-viral letter where Shah is allegedly praising Nupur Sharma.
A letter allegedly written by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is in circulation on social media.#PIBFactCheck
This letter is #Fake. No such letter has been written by the Union Home Minister @AmitShah. pic.twitter.com/JbbCjmlu0e
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) June 7, 2021
When we compared the two letters, we noticed a few anomalies such as:
- Both letters have the same HMP number i.e., 28647021.
- Both the letters have identical shadows. Notice the marking [1] in the image below.
There are also various grammatical errors in the letter shared in 2022, which is unusual for official communications. Moreover, the previous letter, which was viral in June 2021 also turned out to be fake and was debunked by PIB, the nodal agency of the Government of India.
A Special Task Force (STF) unit of Uttarakhand lodged an FIR in the matter against unidentified person(s) under multiple sections of the IPC and the IT Act.
To sum it up, a morphed letter attributed to Home Minister Amit Shah is viral on social media claiming that he has praised now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
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