Netizens are falling for a Twitter account that had impersonated cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to falsely claim that he gave an apt reply to journalist Rana Ayyub, who had taken a dig at him after tweeting on the farmers' agitation.
Screenshots of a Twitter conversation between the impostor handle and Ayyub are being shared to claim that Tendulkar referred to himself as a national hero amidst backlash by the journalist. The screenshots are viral in the backdrop of tweets by several celebrities against pop singer Rihanna, who expressed her solidarity towards the farmers' protest. Several had trolled Indian celebs for what they termed an orchestrated pushback against international voices who had tweeted in favour of the protests earlier this month.
The screenshot shows Rana Ayyub citing The Caravan's article on Tendulkar with the tweet, "Sachin Tendulkar,a man without any beliefs at all, devoid of any ethical or moral concerns towards the society and country that has so deified and veneratçed him. I think @sachin_rt should certainly read this. Not my Hero"
To this, the impostor handle impersonating Tendulkar replies, "Yes I'm not your Hero. Because I'm Indians' Hero."
The screenshot is viral in English and Bangla, with netizens applauding Tendulkar for an 'apt reply' to Ayyub.
The graphic in Bangla is a translation of Ayyub and the impostor handle's tweet. Click here and here for the posts; and here and here for the archives.
Handle Impersonates Sachin Tendulkar
BOOM was able to ascertain that the handle is an impostor account of Tendulkar and not his verified Twitter handle. Sachin Tendulkar's verified Twitter handle is @sachin_rt. While the impostor handle reads @ Sachin_rts_.
Below is a screenshot of Tendulkar's verified handle.
Additionally, we checked Ayyub's tweet on Tendulkar and did not find any replies from the latter.
Account now operating as Parody of Disha Ravi
We further ran a search with the handle @sachin_rts_ on Twitter and found that it has been renamed as Disha Ravi and is operating as a parody handle of the 22-year-old Bengaluru based activist arrested on February 14 for alleged links in the toolkit case. The username of the handle has also been changed to @DishaRaviOff and the bio of the handle now reads, "Toolkit got me tooled. Parody."
A search of @Sachin_rts leads to @DishaRaviOff
Below is the screenshot of the quote tweet by the impostor handle as Sachin Tendulkar, that has now been renamed.