On April 22, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor tweeted that former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had passed away.
He said in his tweet “Saddened to learn of the passing of former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. I remember many positive interactions with her, including when she and the late Sushma Swaraj asked me to lead a Parliamentary delegation to BRICS in Moscow. My condolences to her family and prayers: Om Shanti.”
Following Tharoor’s tweet, many other leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule took to expressing condolences.
Even Hindustan Times published a news about the passing away of the former Lok Sabha speaker attributing the source of information to Shashi Tharoor.
However, BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya responded to Tharoor’s tweet saying that Sumitra Mahajan was hale and healthy.
He said in Hindi “Tai Ekdum swast hai. Bhagwan unhe lambi umar de (She is absolutely healthy. Let the Almighty give her a long life.)”
Realizing that he had spread fake news, Shashi Tharoor responded to Vijayvargiya’s tweet saying that he has deleted his earlier tweet. “Thanks Kailash Vijayvargiya. I have deleted the tweet. I wonder what motivates people to invent and spread such evil news that takes in people. My best wishes for Sumitra Ji’s health and long life.” Tharoor said in his tweet.
Mandar Mahajan, the youngest son of Sumitra Mahajan responded to the controversy on Friday morning and asked people to not fall prey to rumours.
Mahajan said, “My mother is perfectly healthy. The rumours about her demise are absolutely false. Please don’t believe in such rumours. Her COVID-19 report is also negative. I had met her in the evening itself. She is perfectly healthy.”
Hindustan Times which had published the story based on Shashi Tharoor’s claims, later retracted its story and apologized for the same. The national daily had published the report without verification.
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