RJ Raunac, Voice Behind ‘Baua’, Endorses Fake News on JNU Protests
Famous radio jockey, Raunac has released a video endorsing multiple fake claims regarding JNU.
advertisement
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ protests against the new hostel manual and fee hike have become a talking point across the country, drawing varied reactions from all sections of society.
As students continue raising their demand for a complete rollback of the proposed hike, the University has become the new favourite target of the fake news factory.
Interestingly, most of these claims were debunked by various fact-checking websites including WebQoof.
His video, titled ‘JNU फीस विवाद का पूरा सच’ ('The truth behind JNU's fee hike'), has sent ripples across social media with Twitter trends #Isupport_Rjरौnac and #boycottbaua being started by netizens for and against his video, respectively.
‘SENIOR CITIZENS’ JIBE
In the beginning of the video itself, the radio jockey takes a dig at the JNU students saying that police shouldn’t have attacked the students considering that no civilized society would endorse the idea of police thrashing ‘senior citizens’ of the country.
In recent days, we’ve seen multiple examples where students were targeted on social media after their images were circulated with fake claims regarding their age. The Quint got in touch with a few of these students.
Shambhavi, who was trolled for being a 43-year-old student studying at JNU with her daughter also studying in the same university, identified herself as a 23-year-old student pursuing her masters in French from the varsity.
Similarly, 30-year-old Pankaj Mishra’s image was circulated on social media with a claim that he is 43-year-old ‘Moinuddin’ from Kerala.
The fake news peddlers didn’t stop here, unrelated image of CPI leader and activist Annie Raja from outside Supreme Court was passed off as the oldest student of JNU without checks and verifications.
CLAIM: REVISED HOSTEL FEE OF JNU LESS THAN THAT OF IIT AND DELHI UNIVERSITY
RJ Raunac further goes on to claim that the revised hostel fee of JNU is still less than that of IITs and Delhi University. But, what’s the truth?
After the proposed revision, the annual hostel fee of JNU will be around Rs 61,000 to Rs 66,000. This fee is Rs 40,000 to Rs 55,000 for students of Delhi university. Contrary to the claims made by RJ Raunac, the proposed hike will make JNU the most expensive central university of the country.
CLAIM: JNU FAR BEHIND DELHI UNIVERSITY IN RANKINGS
In his video, RJ Raunac claims that Delhi is the top ranked university in the country, whereas JNU ranks at number 12.
A simple look at the ranking of Ministry of Human Resource Development of India busts this claim.
CLAIM: JNU STUDENTS USING CONDOM TO TIE HAIR
Furthering another fake claim, RJ Raunac in his video uses a picture to show that condoms are being used by JNU students to tie hair.
However, The Quint had earlier debunked the claim stating that the image is being shared with an absolutely misleading claim.
The image in fact, is a popular meme, which was circulated by several users on Facebook and Twitter, and is not from the JNU protest.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)