On Tuesday morning, The Indian Express published an investigative report regarding land deals involving the family of Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav in his hometown of Ujjain.

From the time Yadav took oath as Chief Minister on December 13, 2023, until December 2025, a scrutiny of land records by Express journalist Jay Mazoomdaar reveals that his inner circle – including his wife Seema, daughter-in-law Shalini, brothers, and first cousins – acquired at least 137 plots, totalling 168 acres, for approximately Rs 45 crore.

Most of these freshly bought parcels are either close to new road projects announced in and around Ujjain, or in areas demarcated for change of land use from agriculture to residential or commercial – all decisions taken by the state government, which Yadav helms. Furthermore, these purchases swelled a family land bank that already held 179 acres.

A senior state government official said it was “not appropriate to link the business or land dealings of the Chief Minister's family with the Chief Minister and his office.”

Following the report, Yadav came under fire across political circles and social media. However, by evening, a coordinated pushback had swung into action on X (formerly Twitter), with blue-ticked accounts rushing to his defence.

The caste deflection

A user on X with over 400,000 followers, for instance, wrote, “Mohan Yadav ji is not a poor man; he has possessed substantial wealth for a long time.” He claimed the CM was being targeted simply because he is a Yadav – effectively playing the caste card – yet offered no response to the actual issue at hand. To bolster his argument, he shared a clip from an interview Saurabh Dwivedi, founder of The Lallantop and now Hindi digital editor at the Express, did with Mohan Yadav, in which they discussed his business ventures.

Citing this same interview clip, another user with around 57,000 followers on X wrote, “It was Saurabh ji himself who gathered this information back then, yet now he appears on another channel saying something different, raising issues about a specific location... I do not know why, at whose behest, or for what reason he is saying this – that is for him to know – but it is evident to everyone that Dr Yadav belonged to an affluent family, and now that he has become Chief Minister, he has become an eyesore to others…”

The clip in question is from an interview published on YouTube that predates the Express report by more than two years. It is worth noting that the investigative report was written by Jay Mazoomdaar; Saurabh’s involvement was limited to a Hindi video explainer of the report. 

More troublingly, some users were seen spreading casteist arguments regarding reporter Jay Mazoomdaar. For instance, a user wrote, “One must find out the caste of the Indian Express journalist who did the reporting. People of his caste harbour hatred against the Bahujan community.”

The ‘attack on faith’ defence

Prominent right-wing commentator Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) tweeted that the properties are “neither secret nor new” and were openly disclosed on the state’s Sampada property app. “Mohan Yadav and his family have been in the real estate business for decades... What’s interesting is the timing... [the] ecosystem is clearly trying to create a narrative that links every major Hindu pilgrimage centre with controversy and corruption.”

Just look at the immediate pivot from real estate to religious sentiment by blue-tick accounts like these. By dragging in Ujjain’s famous Mahakal temple, Sinha took a story about a CM’s family profiteering from state projects into a grand ‘anti-Hindu’ conspiracy.

The same talking points were amplified by another major account, String Reveals (@StringReveals): “Another day, another manufactured narrative by Congress... By dragging Mahakal into the discourse and drawing parallels with Ayodhya, there’s a clear attempt to link major Hindu pilgrimage sites with controversy and corruption.”

String Reveals then deployed another oft-used weapon of such coordinated attacks on social media: whataboutism. “Now let's talk facts 👇 Kamal Nath — approx ₹800 crore assets, 100+ acres of land. Yet, no outrage,” the account added, entirely ignoring the fact of a sitting CM’s family acquiring land next to freshly announced government roads.

Rishi Bagree, meanwhile, hit every note in a single tweet.

The toolkit chorus

When multiple accounts start using identical vocabulary within a tight window, the coordination ceases to be subtle. Accounts with massive followings like Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates), desi mojito (@desimojito), and Bhiku Mhatre (@MhatreBhiku) all unholstered the favourite buzzword of the ruling dispensation: “Toolkit”.

desi mojito shrieked in all-caps: "TOOLKIT ACTIVATED WITH FAKE NEWS... Saw many LW accounts posting the same image since [this] morning. REASON: Ujjain is witnessing unprecedented development and preparations for a historic Simhastha 2028. That's exactly why the ecosystem is in panic mode.”

Bhiku Mhatre echoed this sentiment line for line: “Fake news toolkit activated again 🚨 ... Cabinet Reshuffle is Underway in MP, They can't stop development on ground, so they run media trials.”

To cement this defensive wall, these blue-tick accounts began aggressively circulating the video clip from March 2024 – the footage of Dwivedi interviewing Mohan Yadav. The troll army weaponised this interview as absolute “proof” that The Indian Express report was completely redundant. 

The larger accounts had their talking points. Further down, however, it got messier.

The #FactsOverPropaganda hijack

Ignoring the crucial questions raised by the investigative report, various arguments were concocted to defend the land deals involving the Chief Minister and his family. But the matter did not end there. When some people attempted to counter these specious arguments with facts – posting tweets with the hashtag #FactsOverPropaganda – defenders of the chief minister stepped in again. Here, the defence of the CM’s land deals shifted to his official responsibilities and the work he had done for the state.

For example, a user wrote, “A major move by the Dr Mohan Yadav government. A new era is beginning in MP, spanning 16,000 square kilometres. This will realise the roadmap for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India) 2047.” 

The user then mentioned CM Mohan Yadav’s X account and used the hashtag #FactsOverPropaganda. Curiously, however, the graphic accompanying his tweet focused on decisions taken by the Madhya Pradesh government for livestock farmers.

Similarly, another user wrote, “Dr. Mohan Yadav government's Blue-Green Development policy for environmental protection. There will be strict restrictions on construction near the Narmada River and forest areas.” She, too, mentioned CM Mohan Yadav’s X account and used the hashtag #FactsOverPropaganda. Yet, while her tweet focused on one set of facts, the graphic she shared highlighted that the Madhya Pradesh government's efforts were improving neonatal and maternal health indicators in the state.

Similarly, a user wrote, “Under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav, the UIMR project is scripting a new story of development. The goal of transforming the lives of 1.25 crore people by bringing modern amenities to 6 districts, 38 tehsils, and 2,781 villages is commendable.” His tweet also included hashtags and tagged the CM, yet the attached graphic was incorrect. The graphic shared by this user indicated that a provision of over Rs 4,000 crore had been made in the Madhya Pradesh budget, and that tap water had reached 83 lakh households by May 2026.

Likewise, numerous such posts can be found under the #FactsOverPropaganda hashtag; their apparent sole objective was to convey that Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and his government were taking major strides toward the development of Madhya Pradesh. 

To bolster their arguments, some cited the proposed Ujjain-Indore Metropolitan Region (UIMR) project — a proposal drafted by the MP government for a vast metropolitan area spanning approximately 16,000 square kilometres, encompassing 38 tehsils and 2,781 villages across the districts of Indore, Ujjain, Dewas, Dhar, Shajapur, and Ratlam.

Incidentally, the Express report also points out that the land deals involving Yadav and his family are largely concentrated in areas where new projects have been announced, are upcoming, or are currently underway – directly raising the question of whether this information was leveraged to profit from land purchases. Newslaundry could not verify whether any of those deals fall within the UIMR project's specific vicinity.

However, not all influencers, particularly of the pro-Hindutva variety, were buying into this coordinated social media defence of the Madhya Pradesh CM. 

Ajeet Bharti, for example, had this to say:

Taken together, the pushback against the Express report was less a rebuttal than a distraction, a coordinated effort to change the subject. 

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