Rumours of the death of former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee were being circulated on WhatsApp and social media platforms on Thursday. While the internet was abuzz with obituaries to the 93-year-old two-time Prime Minister, there were others who tried to find out the truth and attempted to counter the messages by saying that they were rumours. There was, however, no official clarification issued by the BJP to counter the messages.
According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, such reports have been triggered even before. In 2015, a school professor in Balasore district in Odisha had claimed that Vajpayee was dead. Following the rumours, a bereavement meet was organised and the school was ordered to remain closed. When the district collector was informed that the news was fake, the said principal was dismissed. On December 24, 2016, a school paid tributes to “late” Vajpayee and lit candles and offered flowers to Vajpayee’s photograph.
