Fri 23 August 2019:
India Today Anti Fake News War Room found that the young woman, who featured in a video shared by Ram Madhav, had debuted on Twitter just six months back but already has more than 11,500 followers. According to her Twitter profile, her name is Yana Mirchandani and she hails from Sonamarg in Kashmir.
On August 8, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav shared a video of a young woman energetically expressing her support towards the Narendra Modi government’s decision to scrap Article 370. Within no time, the video sparked off an intense debate and thousands of people reacted to it.
— Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) August 8, 2019
Ram Madhav did not say a word along with the video. But reacting to it, Twitterati engaged in a debate if the girl is impersonating as a Kashmiri Muslim while her real identity is something else.
The BJP leader was even targeted for sharing a “fake video”. In the video, the girl is covering her head with a dupatta and starts with greeting her viewers with “As-Salaam-Alaikum”. However, she does not reveal her name.
Ram Madhav just learned a smart way to peddle fake news.
This girl is Yana MirchandaniR (@Raj_Kumar111111) August 8, 2019
Many netizens claimed that she is actually Yana Mirchandani. Looking at the buzz the video created, India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) decided to dig deeper into the profile of the woman.
We found that she debuted on Twitter just six months back but already has more than 11,500 followers. According to her Twitter profile, her name is Yana Mirchandani and she hails from Sonamarg in Kashmir.
AFWA tracked down and spoke to Mirchandani. But as she requested not to reveal much about her due to security concerns, we’re only sharing the information that is publicly available.
Who is the woman?
Her full name is Suhani Yana Mirchandani. But she prefers to call herself just Yana Mirchandani. We asked her to share a photo so that we can be sure she is the woman in the video to which she agreed on the condition that we do not publish it.
Her Twitter profile says that she hails from Sonamarg in Kashmir and her ancestors are from Sindh (now in Pakistan). However, she lives in Mumbai and works for a Hong Kong-based company.
Before her current job, she worked for a while with foreign airlines as a crew member.
The Kashmir connection
Mirchandani told us that she was born in Kashmir and many of her family members still live there. However, she has not lived in Kashmir for long and visits there only once in a while. She has lived out of India for many years.
According to Mirchandani, her ancestors migrated to Kashmir from Sindh a decade before partition. She claims that she comes from a Muslim family, but later embraced Sanatana Dharma.
However, she refused to part with any documentary evidence about her religion or place of birth when we asked her, saying she can show it only if we meet her in person.
Hyperactive on Twitter
Mirchandani joined Twitter only on February 26 this year, but since then has already interacted on twitter more than 3,000 times. That comes to more than 18 tweets a day!
She said, “Earlier, I was not active on social media, but after the Pulwama terror attack in February, I found some Kashmiris supporting the attack on CRPF personnel. I felt strongly about it and thought I should not stay mum. Since then, I do not miss a chance to speak up.”
Mad about Modi
Mirchandani confessed that she is a staunch supporter of Narendra Modi. Her Twitter timeline has ample evidence of it. When India was struggling against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final, she shared this meme.
Modiji …Ab Aap hi kuch kijiye ? #indiavsNewzealand pic.twitter.com/ddcSkEuubo
— Yana Mirchandani يانا مِرچندانى (@MirchandaniYana) July 10, 2019
She is also a big fan of Amit Shah’s “aggressive style”.
I say Amit Shah. They hear Shahenshah ! pic.twitter.com/IolZGjh7Uj
— Yana Mirchandani يانا مِرچندانى (@MirchandaniYana) May 31, 2019
After BJP’s landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, she shared this TikTok video of an Amit Shah lookalike.
#AmitShah Sir after the election results? ?? pic.twitter.com/DCGVCd7ISx
— Yana Mirchandani يانا مِرچندانى (@MirchandaniYana) May 24, 2019
Falling for fake news
Screening her Twitter timeline, we could see that she has also shared fake news multiple times.
For example, she tweeted a video with the claim that a boy in West Bengal was beaten up badly for hosting a saffron flag atop his house. AFWA had earlier debunked this.
Similarly, she also shared the viral photo of Chhattisgarh Congress politician TS Singh Deo being passed off as interim party president Motilal Vora touching the feet of Rahul Gandhi. AFWA had debunked this fake news too.
New president of Congress #MotilalVora (90yrs old) taking blessings from Rahul Gandhi by touching his feet…ex prime minister #ManmohanSingh holds the Bouquet given to Rahul as an obedient house help…
A glimpse of Congress culture..? pic.twitter.com/Wrkb5nYyqb— Yana Mirchandani يانا مِرچندانى (@MirchandaniYana) July 4, 2019
When we asked Mirchandani about the fake news she shared, she said they were just memes and she shared them for fun.
Source: indiatoday
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