Anupriya Patel has a fake Twitter handle. You won’t believe this story

Two twitter accounts, one politician, one doppelganger. The truth is out there.

WrittenBy:Manisha Pande
Date:
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Finally, a story where we can use a Buzzfeed-y headline and it actually makes complete sense. Here’s how it all started.

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The Tale of Two Twitter Accounts

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The year was 2014. Nearly two months after Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi took oath as the prime minister of India, at exactly 7:52 am on August 22, 2014, a Twitter account with the username Anupriya Patel said hello to the world of social media.

@anupriya_patel declared proudly: “Member of Parliament…! City of Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh)”.

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What followed next were nearly two years of blissful Twitter activity.

#myfristtweet accompanied @anupriya_patel’s first tweet along with a declaration that she would focus on development and serve each and every member of her Lok Sabha constituency.

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There were laments.

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There were celebrations.

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Now and then she endorsed lame jokes.

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Sometimes, she recited shlokas.

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But all wasn’t well.

Along the way, @anupriya_patel exhibited poor taste.

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About a month ago, when Kairana hit primetime news, she also exhibited her dislike for the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. And a particular distaste for “mulloh” (code for the Muslim community in general).

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Kairana faded soon and there was good news ahead. On July 5, in a major Cabinet reshuffle, Modi inducted Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel into his Council of Ministers as Minister of State for Health.

On Twitter, @anupriya_patel thanked the PM for his faith and promised the people of the country that she will uphold her duties to the best if her abilities.

https://twitter.com/anupriya_patel/status/750351755469266944

The Case of the Disappearing Tweets

But then, something mysterious started happening in @anupriya_patel’s timeline. Old tweets suddenly started disappearing. Everything about Muslims and Kairana vanished. The Twitter account seemed scared because people started pointing out that the PM had inducted a bigoted Anupriya Patel into his Cabinet.

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And then came a twist in the story — on July 6, MoS Anupriya Patel filed a first information report stating that @anupriya_patel, who had been tweeting for two long years and who was followed by BJP leaders like Santosh Singh Manoj Goel, Kiren Rijiju and Satish Upadhay, is an imposter!

Apparently, @anupriya_patel who shared in common the joys and sorrows of Anupriya Patel was a fake account. The real account of Anupriya Patel is @AnupriyaSPatel created exactly at 9:24 pm on July 5, 2016.

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The fact that the Twitter was account set up precisely when the deleted tweets started being circulated on social media. What. A. Coinkydink.

Now, @AnupriyaSPatel has zero tweets (as of now), and BJP leaders like Rijiju and Upadhay don’t follow her (not yet). Meanwhile, @anupriya_patel continues to have BJP Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulating MoS Anupriya Patel as her pinned tweet.


Double trouble

For two long years, @anupriya_patel carried on tweeting posing as Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel without anyone in the BJP or its strong Twitter army contesting the authenticity of the handle. When @anupriya_patel declared war on ‘jihadi-supporting’  SP government, no one screamed “fake”. When @anupriya_patel said 20 “mulloh” scared away 100 crore of our own, no one, not even Anupriya Patel, screamed “forged”.

Sound credible? We told you right at the beginning that Anupriya Patel has fake Twitter account and you won’t believe this story.

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