Former NDTV producer Noman Siddiqui, in a social media post, alleged his cab driver, who hailed from Uttar Pradesh, passed communal remarks on him.
On Wednesday (October 27) evening, Siddiqui posted on Twitter, “Cab driver in Delhi saw my name, thankfully didn’t cancel the ride. Told me he’s from UP “waha pe Musalmano ko tight karke rakha hain, aapke logo ko waise iss desh se chale jaana chahiye, kyu itni beizzati she rahe ho”. I am still thinking of an answer, numb!”
This created a social media storm. The Leftist and Islamists social media users started questioning the growing ‘intolerance’ in the country. The liberal social media users started demanding action against the ‘communal cab driver’. This was when all hell broke loose. They started requesting Siddiqui to proceed with a criminal complaint against the cab driver.
Rather than proceeding with the complaint, Siddiqui first locked his Twitter account and then deleted it.
The perennially sorry Bollywood actor Swara Bhaskar, quoting Noman’s post, tweeted, “I’m so sorry Noman”.
This is not the first time when Leftists and Islamists have used fake cab driver stories to create a fake narrative to suit their political agenda.
Islamist, masquerading as a journalist, Arfa Khanum Sherwani had earlier posted how her cab driver told her about the country being taken hostage by Modi.
She had posted “Modiji desh ko bandi banaa liye hain” (Modiji has taken India hostage). Taxi driver Shuklaji frm Bihar taking me 2 airport for a flight to Patna.”
No further detail of ‘Shuklaji” was ever shared to ascertain the factual veracity of her claims.
From Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Saba Naqvi to economist Kaushik Basu have been using fake cab driver stories to spread their agenda.
“Couldn’t believe Ola driver who dropped me from airport, a Modi fan from Mathura, putting a great deal of effort to convince how the United States got its independence after India and why 70 years of Congress rule was why India & US where they’re! Ignorance & fake news is bliss!”
Former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Kaushik Basu, had posted on Twitter, “Wonderful Sikh taxi driver in New York today-he spoke about the tragic treatment of farmers in India &, in detail about how the new farm laws hurt farmers. He got lost getting me home & when he refused to take money for the detour, I realised the detour was to complete his speech.”
Earlier, Basu had tweeted, “Just travelled with the most scholarly taxi driver in New York. An Indonesian, he spoke of how Indonesia and India were close because of Nehru and Hatta, held forth on Indian culture & Amartya Sen’s popular writings. When I joined in, he asked, How come you know so much about Sen?”
