Ajeet Bharti, a right-wing influencer, has been booked by Bengaluru police for allegedly spreading disinformation about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Bharti claimed in a video posted on X that Rahul Gandhi stated he would replace the Ram temple in Ayodhya with the Babri Masjid, a statement that Gandhi has not made. This false claim led to an FIR being filed against Bharti under Sections 153(a) and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code, which deal with promoting religious enmity.

Ajeet Bharti

The complaint against Bharti was filed by BK Bopanna, an advocate and secretary of the KPCC legal cell, who stated that Bharti's statement was a deliberate lie and misrepresentation of Rahul Gandhi's speeches. Bopanna accused Bharti of spreading baseless allegations that could incite discord and harm societal harmony.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla responded to the issue on X, suggesting that Bharti was paraphrasing statements made by Acharya Pramod Krishnan, a former Congress member who had been critical of the party's stance on the Ram temple. Poonawalla implied that attempts to target individuals for their statements could work both ways in the realm of political discourse.

Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of AltNews, highlighted additional instances where Bharti allegedly spread disinformation. One example included Bharti sharing an edited video of Rahul Gandhi's speech in Ranchi, Jharkhand, which falsely implied that Gandhi proposed conducting a caste census to redistribute wealth from caste groups to minorities. The original speech clarified Gandhi's intent to conduct a socio-economic survey for redistributing wealth to marginalized groups based on their population, a point that was misrepresented by Bharti.

These incidents underscore ongoing concerns over the spread of misinformation and its potential to fuel tensions and distort public discourse, particularly in sensitive matters related to religion and politics.