A screenshot of a tweet, purportedly by Congress leader Supriya Shrinate, is going viral on social media. The tweet has an image of Sonia Gandhi from yesteryears, and the following text: "Kyu madam? Italy ke saare dance bar band ho gaye the kya?" (Translation: "Why madam? Have all the dance bars in Italy been closed down?"). Several social media users have shared the screenshot, tagging the Congress spokesperson. Right-wing troll account @AmitLeliSlayer's tweet garnered over 3,30,000 views and over 7,000 retweets. (Archive)
Verified account @MYogiDevnath also tweeted the screenshot and garnered close to 1,40,000 views and over 3,000 retweets. (Archive)
Several other accounts have shared the viral screenshot. (Archives-1, 2, 3, 4)
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Fact Check
First, an advanced search on Twitter with the text seen in the purported tweet did not yield any results.
Moreover, it's noticeable that all the viral screenshots have the exact same number of likes, retweets, and quote-tweets. If Shrinate had indeed tweeted the image, it's likely that more people would have taken screenshots, and the numbers of likes etc would have varried.
Shrinate joined active politics in 2019, transitioning from her previous career as a journalist. We checked her tweets from the period of the viral tweet, and found that they reflected her journalistic background, and were characterized by formal language, even when questioning the authority. Additionally, she primarily tweeted in English in 2012. If Shrinate, who was then the chief editor for ET Now, had actually tweeted the content shown in the viral screenshot, it would undoubtedly have made headlines. However, we found no such news reports.
Upon closer observation of the viral screenshot, we noticed that there was a space between the image of Sonia Gandhi and the text that followed. This is an anomaly and is not normally seen in tweets. Below, we have compared a screenshot of one of Shrinate's live tweets taken on a mobile device, and the viral screenshot. The space is outlined in white.
Alt News reached out to Shrinate who refuted the claim. She told us, "I come from a Congress family. My father was a Congress MP from 2009 to 2014 and I have always been an ardent admirer of Sonia Gandhi ji. No such tweet was shared from my account ever, not even in 2012 as shown in the fake screenshot. On one hand they call me a 'Congress journalist' on the other they pull stunts like these. I will take legal recourse against those who have circulated this fake and photoshopped tweet."
The image was also shared by some Right-wing users after an alleged remark by Supriya Shrinate in March 2024 about actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut had sparked a political controversy. The BJP demanded Shrinate's removal as the party's social and digital media head. Shrinate, however, denied her involvement claiming it was posted by someone who had access to her accounts.
To sum up, the screenshot of the purported tweet by Supriya Shrinate attacking Sonia Gandhi in unparliamentary language is not genuine. Shrinate did not share any such tweet.
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