A Facebook post with a newspaper clip containing a news that President Ram Nath Kovind made the following statement, ‘now there is no need for reservations’ is being shared widely. In the post, there is also an image that has a statement purportedly made by Kovind – ‘to progress, there is no necessity of reservations’. Let’s try to analyze the authenticity of the claims made in the post.
Claim: President Ram Nath Kovind has said ‘now there is no need for reservations; to progress, there is no necessity for reservations’
Fact: President Ram Nath Kovind hasn’t made those statements. No credible source was found to authenticate the claim. The newspaper clip seen in the post is a digitally created one. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A newspaper-clip with the date December 16, 2017, was used in the post. When searched for that clip, nothing was found. When googled to check if President Kovind has made the statements claimed in the post, no supporting information was found. If President Kovind had really made such statements, owing to their sensitivity, they would have been reported by major newspapers and channels in India. So, the clip posted on Facebook isn’t an authentic one, it is a digitally manufactured clip.
When the photo in the post is cropped and subjected to reverse image search technique, it was found in a YouTube video of President Kovind addressing Andhra University in Visakhapatnam on December 7, 2017. In the video, Kovind hasn’t made any statements attributed to him in the post.
During the search process, it was found that, in 2010 when Kovind was BJP’s spokesperson, he opposed the recommendation of Ranganath Misra commission that proposed to offer reservations in government jobs for the religious minorities. Ranganath Misra Commission was constituted by the Government of India in 2004 to look into various issues related to Linguistic and Religious minorities in India.
To sum it up, President Ram Nath Kovind did not make those statements on reservations.
Did you watch our new Episode of the DECODE series on Parliament?
