A post falsely claiming that former Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev said cricketers are tweeting against the farmers' protest under pressure from the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah, is viral on social media.
BOOM went through Kapil Dev's twitter handle and also checked news reports but found no such statement made by the cricketing legend.
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Dev had, in fact, on February 4 tweeted from his verified handle 'wishing'that the tiff between farmers and the government is resolved ASAP'.
The fake quote is viral in the backdrop of several Indian cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rohit Sharma took to Twitter to voice their opinion on the ongoing farmers' protest using hashtags like IndiaTogether and IndiaAgainstPropaganda.
Their reactions came a day after pop star Rihanna's tweet on the farmers' protest being held on the borders of Delhi since November 26, 2020. Rihanna had tweeted an article of CNN on February 2, 2021 saying 'why aren't we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest'. The CNN article's headline read 'India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police'.
The viral post shares a picture of Kapil Dev with a Hindi statement which translates to 'Kapil Dev's big statement: Indian cricketers tweeting against the farmers under the pressure of Amit Shah's son'.
Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah is the secretary of BCCI.
(Hindi: #कपिलदेव का बड़ा बयान: अमित शाह के बेटे के दबाव में किसानों के खिलाफ ट्वीट कर रहे हैं भारतीय खिलाड़ी..)
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The claim is viral on several Facebook pages.
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Fact Check
BOOM looked for news reports on Kapil Dev's statement on Jay Shah but found none.
We then went through the cricketer's Twitter handle to find any such tweet on Farmers' protest or Jay Shah. The last tweet from his handle was on February 4, 2021.
The tweet read 'I simply love India , I wish the tiff between Farmers and Govt gets resolved ASAP. Let the experts take a call. One thing for sure Flag of India is supreme ALSO I WISH MY INDIAN CRICKET TEAM A GRAND SUCCESS IN THE UPCOMING SERIES AGAINST ENGLAND Jai Hind'.
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All the media reports mention about the February 4 tweet of Kapil Dev and has nothing to do with Jay Shah. Read the reports here and here.