Fact Check: YCP Tried to Spin Fake Vishnu Idol Story

The top leadership of the NDA government in Andhra Pradesh has been repeatedly warning against social media manipulation and fake narratives. But certain YCP groups on social media are still sticking to this strategy, and they were at it again yesterday.

At the center of this campaign was YCP senior leader Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, who drove the drama. A video of Karunakar Reddy inspecting a Maha Vishnu idol in Tirupati was circulated with the narrative that there is no protection for Hindu gods in the temple city, and that this idol was lying on the ground.

In fact, YCP’s official Twitter handle itself claimed that there were beer bottles and human excreta near the Vishnu idol. A full-fledged campaign was built to project that Hindu gods are not being protected under the NDA government.

However, this staged narrative was quickly busted by the NDA troops. It was soon established that the idol in question was not of Maha Vishnu, but of Shani Deva.

Reportedly, this was an unfinished sculpture made by a sculptor for a Bengaluru client who had ordered a Shani idol. The incomplete idol had been placed on the roadside without supervision. YCP groups, along with Bhumana, cleverly used this to spread a false narrative about Vishnu.

This desperate attempt to use even the almighty Vishnu for political purposes was swiftly exposed by the NDA, and the fabricated social media narrative badly backfired on YCP.

It was later highlighted that Karunakar Reddy himself is an atheist and has made several controversial remarks against the Hindu community in the past. Yet, for political gains and to create communal conflict, this staged attempt to defame the NDA government using the Vishnu idol failed miserably and turned against YCP.