No, Mamata Govt Did Not Declare Five-Day Holiday For Eid In West Bengal: Police The Kolkata Police on Monday started an investigation into the fake notification issued in the name of West Bengal government on holidays for the Eid doing the rounds on social networking sites. "A fake notification is doing the rounds in social media about Eid holidays. It is false. Those who have masterminded this will be strictly dealt with as per law," the Kolkata Police today posted on its Facebook page. The "fake" notification purportedly issued by the state finance department on a letterhead with the Biswa Bangla logo stated that the state government has declared holidays for five days, from June 12 to June 16 , to celebrate the Eid festival. "All state government offices including educational institutions, rural and urban local bodies, development authorities, boards, corporations and state government undertakings shall remain closed" on those five days, the fake notification read. PTI For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>Kolkata Mamata Banerjee A fake notification, which claims a holiday has been declared on Eid-ul-Fitr, is doing the rounds on social media, creating a lot of confusion inThe social media post that went viral on Saturday evening states commencement of four Eid holidays, starting from June 12. The notification also bore the name and signature of a government official. A fake government logo was also used there.The notice falsely claims, "In order to celebrate Eid festival, which falls on between June 12 and June 15, in a befitting manner, the Governor is pleased to declare State Government holiday on 12 to 15 June 2018, in addition to 16 June 2018, which has already been notified as a public holiday. "The document further mentions that all state government offices, including educational institutions, rural and urban local bodies, development authorities, boards, corporation and other state government undertakings, shall remain closed.However, the Kolkata Police took to Twitter with a message warning that the notice in circulation on the social media is fake and the guilty would be punished. This fake notification was made viral on social media for the sole purpose of creating confusion among the people.State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said, "A political vindictive campaigning is going on that our Chief Ministeris giving extra favour to the minority section. This fake message is only to establish their demand. We have informed the matter to cyber crime department."<doc-sep>Few days before Eid, a message has created quite a stir on the social media. The message claims that the government of West Bengal has taken an unprecedented step of extending the holidays for Eid by four days. That effectively means that all the offices in West Bengal, according to this viral message, will be closed from June 12 to June 17 because Eid is likely to be on June 16, which is to is Saturday, or June 17, which is to is Sunday. The news was flashed by a TV news channel. Shot of a news flash of a TV news channel It was also reported by some local Bengali newspapers. Message reported by a local newspaper About a week of holidays for Eid in Mamata-led West Bengal, which has been in news for communal strife quite often, had the tongues twisting. Many people, including senior IAS officers expressed their view sharply over the social media platforms. IAS Sanjay Dixit on Twitter The notification of the week-long holidays was issued on a letter dated June 8, supposedly by the Audit Branch of the Finance Department of West Bengal. In order to celebrate Eid, which falls on any day between June 12 and June 15, 2018, in a befitting manner, the Governor is pleased to declare State Government holiday from 12 to 15 June, 2018, in addition to June 16, 2018, which has already been notified as a public holiday. - The notification read The viral notification doing rounds on the internet When the messages based on this letter started being shared quickly over the social media, on June 10, Kolkata Police took to Twitter to declare it as a fake letter. Kolkata Police on Twitter said notification is false FAKE LETTER? Did the Mamata Banerjee government backtrack on the decision after the backlash on social media or was it really a fake letter spread with malicious intent? We decided to find out. Last year, Mamata Banerjee government had courted controversy over the banning of Durga idol immersion during Muharram as the dates for both the events were falling on the same day. Then Mamata had to eat a humble pie when the Calcutta High court snubbed the state government for banning the idol immersion and ordered adequate security arrangement for both the events simultaneously. Mamta was widely criticised by her opponents for trying to appease the minorities for vote bank politics. Initially, it may look suspicious that what the finance department has to do with declaring a public holiday for whole of the state, but when we checked, we found that due to a rule dating back to 1957, public holidays in West Bengal are indeed declared by the Audit Branch of Finance Department. On the website of the Finance department, several such orders for declaring public holidays are available. This particular letter about Eid holiday looks genuine with Biswa-Banga logo of the West Bengal government, reference to the Governor along with the signature of Additional secretary of Finance, Mr Rajshekhar Bandopadhyay. But when we spoke to Mr Bandopadhyay, he clarified that this was not his signature. Moreover, he said that he is in the revenue section of the finance department which has nothing to do with declaring public holidays. It is done by the Audit Branch of the Finance department. We could also see that the Biswa-Banga state government logo is never used in the regular circular or orders, including notifications for holidays. If we compare the fake notification with the original one present on the government website, we could see other discrepancies too. The notifications issued by the finance department, always had the letter number (No) starting with "F" which indicates Finance. In the fake letter, its not so. Kolkata Police has already registered a complaint and is still investigating who might be behind this fake letter and its motive. It is interesting to note that a similarly fake letter regarding five days holidays for Eid has also surfaced in Pakistan. This letter, also dated June 8, created quite a confusion there. Geo News for Pakistan has debunked this as a fake letter and done a report regarding this which can be read here. MAMATA BANERJEE AND OTHER FAKE NEWS Meanwhile, Mamta Banerjee was also the target of another fake news which is still circulating on the social media. It claims that a state government job has been advertised with the condition that candidates have to be only Muslim. Another fake news still circulating on the social media This "reservation for Muslims" in a government job is again been highlighted to point out the alleged minority appeasement streak of Mamata. "Islamisation of West Bengal in progress," Tapan Ghosh on Twitter said A closer look of the advertisement reveals that the job vacancy is for Kolkata Municipal Corporation but this is a job for the Muslim Burial Board department which is reserved for Muslims corresponding to last 129 years according to Calcutta burial Boards Act, 1889. The reservation for Muslims is real but is being portrayed in a wrong manner on the social media.<doc-sep>A letter by the Finance Department of the Government of West Bengal saying that the Governor has declared a holiday from the 12th to the 15th of June, 2018 in order to celebrate Eid has been called out as fake by the Kolkata Police. The letter further mentions that all State Government Offices including educational institutions shall also remain closed. Interestingly, while the Kolkata police busted the fake letter on Sunday morning, a serving IAS officer from Rajasthan Sanjay Dixit took to twitter to share the image and added his own commentary to it. Calling the state "Islamic State of West Bangladesh", he also said its "the longest Eid holiday ever - a full 5 days of free salary and compulsory holiday for the faithful and infidel alike." But later on finding that the state police had threatened action, Dixit deleted the tweet and issued a clarification. His original tweet has been archived and can be accessed here. There were others also who shared the tweet. West Bengal is the place to be if you want to have holidays. The state government has given 4 days vacation to all on the occasion of Eid. 😄😄😄 — Yudhajit Dutta (@YudhajitDutta) June 10, 2018 Earlier on Sunday morning, taking swift action Kolkata Police shared the image of the notice on its Twitter handle, warning that the masterminds will be dealt strictly as per law. A fake notification is doing the rounds in social media about Eid Holidays. It is false. Those who have masterminded this will be strictly dealt with as per law. pic.twitter.com/y5rRAa7QDP — Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) June 10, 2018 A PTI report mentioned that the Kolkata Police has begun the investigation into the fake notification issued in the name of the West Bengal government on holidays for the Eid doing rounds on social networking sites. Speaking to BOOM, DK Mahapatra, Special Secretary, Finance Department, Government of West Bengal said, "No such letter has been issued but yes, Rajsekhar Bandyopadhyay is the Additional Secretary of the Finance Department."<doc-sep>
Fake news is one of the biggest menaces of the recent time. Not only does it disseminate fast through unverified social media, but sometimes it can even fool the mainstream media sources. Something like that happened recently when a 'notification' went viral on social media. It was about West Bengal government giving five day holiday for Eid. The news was even aired by some regional channels and carried in few papers, thus adding credibility to the 'notification'. The Bengal government was slammed by many for arbitrarily increasing the number of holidays for Eid. It finally took Kolkata Police to clear up the confusion. "A fake notification is doing the rounds in social media about Eid holidays. It is false. Those who have masterminded this will be strictly dealt with as per law," the Kolkata Police posted on its social media handles. A fake notification is doing the rounds in social media about Eid Holidays. It is false. Those who have masterminded this will be strictly dealt with as per law. pic.twitter.com/y5rRAa7QDP June 10, 2018 The fake notification purportedly issued by the state finance department on a letterhead with the Biswa Bangla logo stated that the state government has declared holidays for five days, from June 12 to June 16, to celebrate the Eid festival. "All state government offices including educational institutions, rural and urban local bodies, development authorities, boards, corporations and state government undertakings shall remain closed" on those five days, the fake notification read. The police have started an investigation to find out who is behind the fake notification. With PTI inputs