Indian media misleads on slain former politician's 'past support for Congress party'

The false claim surfaced after Ahmed and his brother were killed by three gunmen live on TV as they were being taken in handcuffs to hospital by police in the northern city of Prayagraj, authorities said.

The brothers were deeply involved in India's criminal underworld -- the ex-MP was reportedly facing more than 100 different cases -- and press reports said the attackers were petty criminals, AFP reported.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) published an article on April 16 with the headline: "How Atiq Ahmad's key vote in 2008 helped save UPA govt, India's nuke deal with US", using an alternative spelling for Ahmed's name.

In 2008, Manmohan Singh, prime minister of the UPA government -- which ruled India between 2004 and 2014 -- faced a no-confidence motion over the India-US Civil Nuclear agreement, after left-wing parties which had previously backed the coalition withdrew their support (archived links here and here).

The PTI's article said that Ahmed and five other "criminal politicians" were "crucial to save the embattled UPA government and India's civil nuclear deal with the US".

It credited this information to a book called "Baahubalis of Indian Politics: Bullet to Ballot" by Rajesh Singh, which said Ahmed had "dutifully cast his precious vote, no doubt in favour of the beleaguered UPA". The title refers to a Hindi word meaning muscleman or gangster.

But the PTI subsequently acknowledged that the information taken from the book was incorrect, and removed the report from its website on April 17, one day after its publication (archived link).

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A screenshot of the false PTI report, taken on April 25, 2023

Ahmed served as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (MLA) from 1989, becoming an MP in 2004 for the Samajwadi Party (SP) -- the main rival and opposition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India's most populous state (archived link).

Since 2014, the BJP has been India's ruling party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Multiple news outlets reported the same false claim here, here, here and here in English; and here, here and here in Hindi-language.

Social media users then recirculated the claim, including here and here on Facebook; and here and here on Twitter, mainly in Hindi-language posts.

Parliament record

Indian journalist Aarish Chhabra wrote in a Twitter thread that a parliament document from 2008 showed Ahmed voted against the UPA government in the motion (archived links here and here).

"Did Atiq Ahmed save Manmohan Singh's govt from falling in 2008? NO. He in fact voted against the UPA, defying his party, SP," he wrote.

Minutes from the vote, held in the Lok Sabha lower house of parliament on July 21, 2008, confirmed that Ahmed voted against the Congress-led UPA government.

Ahmed's name, listed as Atiq Shri Ahamad, is listed under the 'Noes' on page 112.

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A screenshot of the parliament record from the vote on July 21, 2008.

The Hindustan Times reported that the "UPA government won the motion with 275 votes while 256 MPs voted against it" (archived link).

Ahmed was later expelled from the Samajwadi Party along with five other members for voting against the UPA, India Today reported in 2008 (archived link).

Meanwhile, Rajesh Singh -- who authored "Baahubalis of Indian Politics: Bullet to Ballot" -- said he wrongly stated in his book that Ahmed voted in support of the UPA government in 2008.

“Yes, it was a slip-up," he told AFP. "This was picked up by the media at the wrong time.

“But it was an honest mistake. If you see the bigger picture, all the parties somehow have these (gangsters) using power to gain votes.”

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