The US based Wall Street Journal (WSJ) which is known to be Hinduphobic, anti-India, had peddled fake news during Delhi anti-Hindu riots and also published a distorted map of India is at it again. This time the WSJ has gone a step ahead and attempted the character assissination of the former ABVP activist just because she resembles her twin sister who happens to be the Facebook India Policy Head.
Ankhi Das is Facebook India’s Policy Head while her twin sister Rashmi Das is a former ABVP activist and was the convener of World Organisation of Students and Youth (WOSY). Without verifying facts, WSJ started to bat on behalf of the Congress and its cronies by charging that Ankhi Das was a ABVP activist and a WOSY controver.
The controversy erupted after a Congress crony named Saket Gokhale charged that Ankhi Das as Facebook India’s Policy Head chose to not censor posts of BJP leaders as she was a former ABVP activist. The Congress and its workers on social media began to peddle the same fake claim and started the character assissination of Ankhi Das. Though Ankhi Das has categorically denied that she was ever a ABVP activist and her twin sister Rashmi Das has already revealed that it was she who was the ABVP activist and the WOSY convener, neither the WSJ or the Congress have issued a clarification or a correction in their understanding.
Speaking to Rohan Dua TOI, Rashmi Das said that she never hid her ABVP links and her twin sister Ankhi Das who is the policy director for India and south and central Asia is being targeted because of her (Rashmi Das’) political leanings. “I was with ABVP at JNU. I was general secretary of the students’ union. My work with ABVP and Sangh organisations has been public knowledge for 25 years,” she told TOI. Both the sisters studied at JNU.
Rashmi Das (left) was a ABVP activist while her twin sister Ankhi Das (right) is FB India Policy Head
The WSJ article alleged that her sister, Ankhi, had attended an event hosted by the ABVP affiliated organisation WOSY while it was Rashmi. Both ABVP and WOSY have issued statements dismissing the allegation and have stated that it was Rashmi who was their activist and convener at their event.
WOSY and ABVP take strong objection over fake news peddled by Congress and its sympathisers
In a press statement, the ABVP charged that the Congress was propagating fake news against former ABVP activist Dr. Rashmi Das. “In a recent show of cheap attention seeking behaviour, Congress has propagated false news against former JNU student and ABVP JNU activist Dr. Rashmi Das through one of its String-Puppet Journalist Saket Gokhale”, says ABVP.
The ABVP says that Dr. Rashmi Das was elected JNUSU General Secretary from ABVP in 1996 and a woman of repute by her own efforts, unlike Saket Gokhale who lives off by spreading fake news and false propaganda under the patronage of the Congress party. Saket Gokhale is a known follower and fan of Rahul Gandhi on Twitter and therefore everyone knows the support he has received to malign ABVP, says the press release.
It lastly says that ABVP JNU severely condemns such tactics of the Indian National Congress to malign and discredit ABVP JNU.
Rahul Gandhi with Saket Gokhale who spread the fake news about Ankhi Das and Facebook
On the other hand, WOSY has categorically stated that it objects to the fake news peddled by Saket Gokhale. In a press statement issued by its Secretary General Dr. Sanjeev Ningombam, WOSY says that it strongly condemns Gokhale’s act of spreading fake news pertaining to Dr. Rashmi Das and her twin sister Ms. Ankhi Das.
“Mr. Saket Gokhale claimed that Ms. Ankhi Das, Facebook Director, Public Policy, India, South Asia & Central Asia had “attended the session of WOSY” which is completely false even to this day. Incidentally, while propagating this fake news Mr. Gokhale used a screenshot image of a Facebook post from the official page of WOSY about then chairperson Dr. Rashmi Das attending the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2019 in Varanasi”, says WOSY.
WOSY further states that Dr. Rashmi Das was its Chairperson from 2011 to 2019 and has been with WOSY for over two decades now. “Her association with WOSY is completely voluntary in nature and based on spreading ideas a “vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” through the international students community studying in India. This noble concept a person like Mr. Gokhale would never understand”, says WOSY.
WOSY demands that Saket Gokhale take down his post and publicly apologise for fake news peddled by him. “Failing to do so, we will be constrained to pursue legal action against his vilification, spreading fake news and fomenting hatred and unrest”, says WOSY in its press release.
