Prime Minister under attack through fake news: Hardeep Puri

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri on Friday said the Narendra Modi government has been under constant attack and false narratives are being spread with impunity.
He was participating in a session ‘‘Building India, Battling fake news’ at the NBF conference.
“I have been a student of the false narrative for longer than I remember. I have also written a book in which I deal with the issue of the false narrative. But I think what we are facing here is not a false narrative in terms of an alternate set of facts. I really think what we are dealing here is a motivated, not properly thought set of attacks against the government and particularly the PM on something on which if somebody had introspected and reflected on it, those who are producing the false narratives can only be the losers.”
The narratives are spread through fake news and other instruments. Maintaining the need for the government to crack down on fake news, Hardeep Puri remarked, “Truth is the best defence in all cases. Only problem is that when you are running a government and piece of false news going around, social media mobilization, etc., it can create devastating consequences.” 
The Minister gave an example of such a narrative. Speaking on the controversies over the Kartavya Path and alleged destruction of trees there, Puri said, “If a government owns the land, is it within its right to build or not build?” He added, “I took some media to the Kartavya Path & asked them about the Jamun trees that were claimed to be uprooted. They couldn’t ask me because I was standing beneath a Jamun tree. Not a single one was uprooted”. 
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri deliberated on ‘Building India, Battling fake news’ in a conversation with Arnab Goswami.