On the night of December 18, former cricketer and incumbent BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly posted a tweet in reference to his daughter, Sana Ganguly. “Please keep Sana out of all this issues .. this post is not true .. she is too young a girl to know about anything in politics.”

Please keep Sana out of all this issues .. this post is not true .. she is too young a girl to know about anything in politics — Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) December 18, 2019

Ganguly’s tweet came as multiple users on Twitter posted a purported screenshot of Sana’s Instagram story – an excerpt on fascism from Kushwant Singh’s book ‘The End of India’. A part of the passage reads, “Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonize in order to thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there.”

Twitter user Aparna (@chhuti_is) was one of the firsts to tweet the alleged screenshot. This was within 10 minutes of Sana posting the story.

BCCI President @SGanguly99‘s daughter Sana Ganguly just won my heart by this post. Incredible maturity from an 18 year old. pic.twitter.com/wQN5eyfY6G — Aparna (@chhuti_is) December 17, 2019

GANGULY CLAIMS: “POST IS NOT TRUE”

The BCCI chief, while requesting people to keep his daughter out of issues, wrote, “This post is not true.” His claim, however, was found to be false.

FACT-CHECK: POST IS TRUE

Aparna wasn’t the only user who posted a screenshot of Sana’s Instagram story. It was shared by multiple users and these screenshots were taken at different times. Hence, they were unique. Instagram story feature allows a user to upload content that self-deletes after 24 hours. Stories are not a part of a user’s regular feed. Moreover, the ‘blue-tick’ which is a verified badge confirming the authenticity of a profile does not show on stories. It only appears against the user’s name on her homepage and against her regular posts. However, unlike regular posts from public profiles that appear on a user’s ‘Explore’ section, stories can only be viewed upon visiting a person’s account.

Twitter user Mano (@mano_reports) took a screenshot after Sana’s story was live for three hours.

“Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonize in order to thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there.” – from #SanaGanguly‘s Insta page.#Last_9_lines_tells_the_fact_which_we_r_going_to_face_soon pic.twitter.com/eptDM4RXIA — Mano (@mano_reports) December 17, 2019

Avik (@speakingfoolish) tweeted a screenshot after two hours.

One Mohammad Kamran (@Mr_WicketKeeper) captured a screenshot after 4 hours.

CAA se nahin bhai kal Ganguly ki beti ne insta pe post kiya tha yeh aaj safai de raha hai pic.twitter.com/QbxH5az4pX — Mohammad Kamran (@Mr_WicketKeeper) December 18, 2019

Another user posted a screenshot taken after 6 hours and wrote, “The best thing about this generation is, they don’t fear! They will express their ideas and emotions without fear of power, muscle and social pressure. Kudos Sana Ganguly for this moving post. Many people who were silent for last 5-6 years are finally speaking up. #CAA_NRC“

The best thing about this generation is, they don’t fear! They will express their ideas and emotions without fear of power, muscle and social pressure. Kudos Sana Ganguly for this moving post. Many people who were silent for last 5-6 years are finally speaking up. #CAA_NRC pic.twitter.com/zbTAalUd5n — Parikshit Shah (@imparixit) December 18, 2019

Alt News contacted a few users to corroborate that the screenshots were indeed taken by them. Aparna told us, “This was noticed by some of my friends. I am not on Instagram but my husband is. So I went and checked the story from my husband’s account and took a screenshot. I applauded her maturity for reading and quoting from such a book.”

Aparna also shared with us another screenshot of Sana’s story which provides context to her previous story on Kushwant Singh’s book. She had posted a map of student protests against CAA across the country.

We also spoke with Arijeet Mukherjee whose Twitter username is @SaintIGNUtius. Arijit had commented on Sourav Ganguly’s tweet calling Sana’s post “not true”. He wrote, “Dear Dada – many like me actually verified the insta story. So there’s no “not true” there however hard you try. And I don’t believe that an 18 yr old cannot understand what’s going on. I myself am a father of one. I’d hv been proud. Or is it the lure of the chair?”

Dear Dada – many like me actually verified the insta story. So there’s no “not true” there however hard you try. And I don’t believe that an 18 yr old cannot understand what’s going on. I myself am a father of one. I’d hv been proud. Or is it the lure of the chair? https://t.co/xxW4cZxbQx — Xenial Xerus (@SaintIGNUtius) December 18, 2019

Arijit had not posted the screenshot he took on social media however he shared it with Alt News.

A few users raised speculations about Sana not having a blue-tick against her name on Instagram. However, as explained earlier in this report, the verification symbol does not appear on stories but homepage and Instagram feed.

Sourav Ganguly’s tweet that Sana’s post is “not true” is therefore false. Multiple individuals took screenshots of Sana’s story at different times thus pointing to the fact that these were genuine captures.

Donate to Alt News!

Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.



Donate Now To make an instant donation, click on the "Donate Now" button above. For information regarding donation via Bank Transfer/Cheque/DD, click here.