In a cryptic tweet on Friday morning, Tejasvi Surya’s office wrote on Twitter “When one has no news, they create fake news.” citing news articles published about his apology.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Thursday revisited the Bengaluru South War Room of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to apologize after a video of him went viral trying to expose the ‘bed-allocation scam’ where he stormed into the war room and read out 16 names out of the 212-odd staff – all of whom were Muslims and accused them of being a part of the scam. These names were circulated on social media too and have been harassed since then. However, in a cryptic tweet on Friday morning, the MP’s office wrote on Twitter “When one has no news, they create fake news.” citing news articles published about his apology.
When one has no news, they create fake news. https://t.co/MfBPuSAW2R pic.twitter.com/r7jHrq1OdD
— Office of Tejasvi Surya (@Offtejasvisurya) May 7, 2021
In a two–day old video, Surya can be seen screaming at the officials present along with four MLAs from his parliamentary constituency, reading out 16 names of Muslim employees, while another MLA asks if they are running a helpline or a madrasa.
Out of total 205 employees, @Tejasvi_Surya reads out 17 Muslims who were part of BBMP South Bangalore War room. He later ask if this was a 'madrassa'. Later, all 17 were sacked.
THIS IS THE REWARD MUSLIMS GET IN INDIA FOR THEIR SELFLESS SERVICE. pic.twitter.com/9wFwvvnrbK— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 5, 2021
The video went viral on social media and netizens accused him of communalizing the ‘scam’, especially at a time when Bangalore is struggling to grapple with the increase in COVID-19 infections. It reported 23,706 fresh infections and 139 fatalities, in the last 24 hours. News reports soon revealed that only 1 of these 16 was part of the team of bed allocation — and he had joined it temporarily just last week to replace another employee who had a personal emergency at home. The other 15 — most of them young graduates in their early twenties — were members of other teams involved in indexing, home isolation supervision, and discharge of patients who finished the quarantine period.
According to The News Minute, Tejasvi Surya said “I am sorry, it was a mistake on my part. I was given a list and I read it. I know the war room was affected by it,”
The MP further said that he didn’t intend to be communal and that he simply read out from a list that was given to him. “I didn’t see whether it was Hindu or Muslim,” he reportedly said.
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Addressing the harassment and bombardment of phone calls called faced by the named individuals, Surya said “Even my number was leaked and I, too, am facing threats. Don’t worry, this will all be over in a week. I am with you. I will teach a lesson to those who leaked your numbers.”
“We work here together, Muslims and Hindus. These are all young boys he has named, how can they be called terrorists? Do you think these boys even know how guns work? This apology was namesake, and they should not have been named by him like that.” a source working in the war room said.
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