OTV Foresight 2025: ‘PM Modi is the messenger', Shehzad Poonawalla shares how BJP combats fake news

The national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shehzad Poonawalla asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the ‘ideal messenger’ and has optimally leveraged his message of development and inclusive growth through the medium of social media to rise over fake news and misinformation.

Poonawalla made the statements while speaking at the ‘OTV Foresight 2025’ event in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Debating the role of social media and technology in politics, he spoke along the lines of how several new narratives, both true and false, cropping up on social media with the potential to influence elections.

To cement his point, Poonawala made an example out of YouTuber and social media influencer Dhruv Rathee. “He (Rathee) had made many claims out of thin air but people stood firm in their faith in PM Modi and expressed the same with the election mandates in Delhi and Maharashtra,” said the BJP spokesperson.

Poonawala also affirmed that for a political party to stay undefeated and unsmeared by misinformation and fake news, it needs a strong message, an unshakable messenger, and a wide-reaching medium, all of which are at the disposal of his party.

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“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the ideal messenger and his message of ‘India first’ has reached far and wide. People across the country can see for themselves and fact-check any fake news being spread by anyone,” he stated.

Shehzad Poonawalla, in his statements, also said that social media has now taken a very important role in society, bridging the digital divide just as Lord Ram had connected India and Sri Lanka with the Ram Setu.

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He emphasized that the PM Modi-led government successfully utilized social media and various technologies to combat major challenges like the COWIN vaccination portal and also battled corruption with the Jan Dhan Yojana.