PIB in soup for misreporting facts on 1857 revolt

Mentioning Swami Vivekananda and Ramana Maharishi as among those who influenced the 1857 First War of Independence in 'New India Samachar' have earned ridicule for Press Information Bureau with several, including a historian, politician and a party, asking how can someone born after the event influence it.

One of the infographics in the New India Samachar's latest issue said, "the Bhakti movement heralded the freedom struggle in India. During Bhakti Yuga, the saints and mahants of this country, from every part of the country whether it is Swami Vivekananda, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramana Maharishi, were concerned about its spiritual consciousness. It served as a precursor to the revolt of 1857," the article said.

Following a social media storm, the PIB has quietly changed the portion under the headline 'inspiration from history' omitting all names. The revised portion read, "The Bhakti movement acted as the foundation of the freedom struggle. As the Bhakti movement gave strength to the freedom movement, in the same way, the inspiration for the Atma Nirbhar Bharat is derived from those great personalities associated with it."

Earlier in the day, the PIB tweeted the screenshot of the magazine cover and the infographics with a comment, "There has been great participation of the common man in the freedom movement. But many of them have been forgotten. With the purpose to shift the spotlight on these anonymous freedom fighters, #AmritMahotsav celebrations have started."

Soon after, several people mentioned that Swami Vivekananda was born in 1863 and Ramana Maharshi in 1879 while the first war of independence was in 1857.

Historian Srinath Raghavan tweeted, "ROLL OVER historians of India. PIB has spoken..."

Senior Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted, "Swami Vivekananda was born in 1863 (six years after 1857); Ramana Maharishi was born in 1879 (22 years after 1857). But the PIB says they were a precursor to the ‘revolt of 1857.’ Slow claps for this degree in Entire History."

Trinamool Congress tweeted, "Something fishy about the Amrit in #AmritMahotsav. Swami Vivekananda Ji was born in 1863. We're still trying to figure out how he influenced the 'Revolt of 1857', if that's what we're going to call it... @PIB_India, can you send some help?"

A Twitter user @IbrahimMaliyam asked whether Swami Vivekananda and Ramana Maharshi "time-travelled" to create a spiritual consciousness that acted as a precursor for rebellion. "Bravo," he tweeted.

Another Twitter user @Digjoy15 said, "1) Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in 1486 and died in 1534. First British came to India around 1608. 2) Swami Vivekananda was born in 1863, Ramana Maharshi was Born in 1879 and Sepoy mutiny or revolt happened in 1857. None of them from the Bhakti movement era."

One of the Twitter account holders @AQalbee asked whether the PIB Fact Check Unit could do its own fact-checking, please. "If not we can outsource this fact-checking to @zoo_bear @AltNews @free_thinker," he added.

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