16th August, 2018 was a sad day for Indians as one of the greatest Prime Ministers of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, passed away. People who revered him for his political acumen, poetic flair or both, paid their last respects and mourned his loss. However, what ensued after was absolutely shameful. Fake photos of his dead body were passed around online, ministers were seen laughing at his condolence meeting and others were found capsizing boats while immersing his ashes. And all that improper behaviour might’ve reached its peak now.
According to International Business Times, photos of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ashes being sold on Amazon were shared on social media and it went viral in no time.
The photo was first posted by Twitter user @YoYoModi1, claiming that the ex-Prime Minister’s ashes were on sale at the moment, along with a book on Narendra Modi. The anonymous person had also posted user reviews which said that the “product” was fantastic but the ashes weren’t enough.
Sooner or later, the news was picked up my many news sites and Twitter was convinced that this despicable act was in fact taking place.
1. Sentiments were getting hurt.
2. Clicking on the link might have helped.
3. That’s a bad joke.
Finally, when Twitter user Devashish Jarariya commented on this heinous incident, the original propagator of this photo owned up to the fact that the whole thing is fake.
For your information, this admission from the anonymous Twitter user came very late and the damage was already done. And as you can see, there’s not even a hint of an apology in it.
Fake news has become a menace in India and the Government and the judicial system are doing what they can to curb it. However, we’ve to face the fact that with the advent of technology, we’re becoming more and more gullible. While a simple search on Amazon could solve the problem, we’re resorting to pointing fingers. So, for once, maybe we should get smarter before maligning everyone in our path so that we can retain the respect people like Atal Bihari Vajpayee deserve.