A popular website among the Union Ministers that claims to have busted "four major fake news stories", is reportedly linked to company promoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's book Exam Warrior.
According to The Indian Express report, the website True Picture was registered last year and shares its landline telephone number with BlueKraft Digital Foundation- Exam Warrior's "technology and knowledge" partner.
Earlier this week, atleast 13 Union Ministers, including Information and Broadcast Minister Smriti Irani had tweeted a True Picture story calling out "fake news" published by mainstream media houses. Seven ministers also added the same comment with the share link: "Raise your voice against the fake news."
Founded by Hitesh Jain and Rajesh Jain in 2016, as per the Registrar of Companies Records, BlueKraft Digital Foundation has a long-standing relation with the Bharatiya Janta Party. Rajesh Jain had earlier contributed as a part-time member in the Unique Identification Authority of India. He was also a technology entrepreneur in Modi's campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, reported TIE.
Another member Akhilesh Mishra clarified to the newspaper that the telep[hone number must be the result of "some mix-up" and that they do not run the news "vigilante" website.
In its 'about us' section, True Picture claims that it’s here to "eliminate maze of misdirection, perception building, twisted narratives, half-baked analysis, biased opinions and a lot of other factors".
"We are not news bearers, we are a media analysis team that carries out the background research on leading media stories to present the true picture to you," it further added.
The fact-checking page of the website, that looks more like a tribute to the Congress party, carries a spool of stories attacking the party in Opposition and 'analysis' of news reports that has been critical of the government.
"Media as Rahul Gandhi Spokespersons?", "Four Major Fake News Stories Busted" are few of the stories on the website.
The news was reported at a time when the government has come up with order to tighten the noose around the journalists writing 'fake news'. The new law framed by I&B ministry allows regulatory bodies to assume a journalist accused of writing fake news to be guilty until proven innocent. However, the ministry withdrew the order after the Prime Minister directed that the press release regarding fake news be withdrawn.
