A quote by an impostor Facebook page of Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman criticising Delhi Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal's decision of providing free Delhi Metro and bus rides for women has gone viral on social media as that from the newly appointed FM.
The impostor page named 'Nirmala Sitaraman' shared a post with the caption, "A daily wage labourer will pay his metro fare, while a rich Delhi girl will be exempted. What kind of policy is this? Arvind Kejriwal Does your stupidity knows no bounds? Is giving freebies your only ploy to win elections?"
The post has gained around 14 thousand reactions and four thousand comments at the time of writing this article.
Click here to view the post, and here for an archive.
Screenshots of the post have gone viral on social media.
FACT-CHECK
The page purporting to be that of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is fake and not her official page as it does not have a blue tick. Additionally Sitharaman's surname has been misspelled as 'Sitaraman' without an 'h'.
Sitharaman's official Facebook handle is '@nirmala.sitharaman' and not 'Nirmlasitharaman'.
With around 2,14,811 likes, the impostor page keeps posting statements with no mention that it is a fan page.
The Twitter account (nirmlasitaraman) that has been linked to the impostor Facebook page has been suspended.
BOOM contacted the finance minister's office and an official from the ministry said that no such statement has been made by the minister.
The official Sitharaman page has not posted any such post on the mentioned date. Additionally and we also searched for recent statements made by the minister and did not find any such comment made by her.