On social media, a news clipping of a statement by Ramesh Bidhuri with the headline “Now people from UP-Bihar should be driven out from Delhi too” has gone viral. The statement reads: “There is only one solution for the people of UP-Bihar: get them to work, then beat them and drive them away from here. We have not taken their contract,” Ramesh Bidhuri, BJP MP.
Moreover, several users shared this video and made similar claims. The link can be seen here, here and here
Fact Check
During the investigation, DFRAC found the claim to be fake. We found a post from the official Facebook account of Ramesh Bidhuri, uploaded on October 18, 2018, with the caption: “How low can people stoop in their greed for power? I just received information that a statement regarding the residents of UP and Bihar was given in my name on social media, but neither the name of any newspaper nor the publisher was mentioned. On June 25, a fake newspaper clipping was circulated by an AAP spokesperson, which led to a public apology after the Jansatta newspaper denied it. Now, the name of the newspaper is no longer mentioned. Similarly, in the 2014 elections, false statements about serious crimes were made against me, and an attempt was made to tarnish my image. Kejriwal is now suffering from the defamation caused. Delhi is the capital of the country; it belongs to everyone. We aim to unite the country, not break it. Delhi belongs to 125 crore Indians, including the respected residents of UP and Bihar.” (English translation)
Furthermore, we also found a tweet from the official X handle of ‘BJPDelhi’ uploaded on October 13, 2018, with the caption: “Delhi BJP denies this news being circulated on social media by some anti-social elements. This news is completely false and baseless and is being spread by those who want to divide society for their politics as part of a well-planned conspiracy. It has no connection with BJP or any of its leaders.”
Conclusion
It is evident from DFRAC’s fact check that the viral news clipping of the statement by Ramesh Bidhuri is fake.
