Did Mamata Say Will ‘Show How to Make Hindus Cry’? No, It’s Fake

The actual headline mentions her talking about “shaking Delhi”.

(Photo: The Quint)

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CLAIM

A newspaper clipping of a leading Bangla daily, Bartaman, made rounds on social media with the headline: “Give me 42 seats and I’ll show you how to make the Hindus cry: Mamata”.

Madhu Kishwar tweeted about this clipping, asking “is this for real?”.

This clipping was shared on Facebook as well.

Sourced from Facebook.(Photo: Screenshot)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The clipping is a photo-shopped image where the actual headline has been doctored.

The actual headline for the newspaper read: “Give me 42 seats and I’ll show you how to shake Delhi: Mamata”.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On going through the website of the daily newspaper, Bartaman Patrika, The Quint found the original article.

Original article with the correct headline.(Photo: Screenshot of original news article from Bartaman’s website)

The original headline that the newspaper carried stated that Mamata Banerjee said, “Give me 42 seats and I’ll show you how to shake Delhi.”

The doctored image has replaced two words from the original headline which alters the meaning completely.

The following image shows the photo-shopped image. Here the words highlighted are “Hindus” and “Weep/Cry”.

Photo-shopped Headline(Photo: Screenshot)

The following is the actual headline produced by the newspaper. The highlighted words are “Delhi” and “Shake”.

Actual headline.(Photo: Screenshot)

Thus, “Delhi” was replaced by “Hindus” and “Shake” was replaced by “Weep/Cry”.

With further research, The Quint also came across a clarification regarding the photo-shopped image that the daily put out.

Bartaman responding to the photo-shopped news clipping.(Photo: Screenshot of Bartaman’s website)

The headline reads: “Fabricated news item of 'Bartaman' made viral on social media”.

They also mention how distorting the headline made it “provocative” and can lead to disturbing the communal harmony of the state.

On Tuesday, Bartaman filed a written complaint on this matter with the state's Chief Election Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab and Lalbazar's cyber crime cell.

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