Recently, the Official BJP Twitter account had tweeted a video of PM Narendra Modi’s talk at the Times Now Summit 2020. Along with the video, they had added a caption that highlighted a few of the lines spoken by PM Modi. However, this particular tweet confused some, as the data mentioned in the caption was not seen to be the same as the data provided by the income tax department.

The caption attached to the video of the PM speaking reads, “In the last 5 years, over 1.5 crore high-end cars have been sold & over 3 crore Indians have gone abroad. Only 1.5 crore Indians pay taxes. Out of this, only 3 lakh people have declared their income over Rs 50 lakh & 2,200 people over Rs 1 crore. It is shocking: PM Modi”.

This confused some Twitter users including Journalists and some even assumed its wrong information because the claim that 2,200 people have declared their income to be over Rs 1 crore is contradicting the data released by the income tax department about the same.

Fact Check

However, the data tweeted out by the BJP Twitter handle is not fake but it has been misunderstood. 

The official and verified account of the Income Tax India tweeted out a thread of tweets that clarified the situation.

Clarifying that the 2,200 figure refers to professionals such as Doctors, Chartered Accountants, Lawyers, etc. This term was not mentioned in the tweet caption, however, if one listens to the entire speech given by the PM, he has indeed mentioned that the figures mentioned by him, is with reference to professionals. In his speech at the Times Now Summit, the PM said, “We have professionals like Doctors, Lawyers, and Chartered Accountants But only 2,200 of them declare their annual income of over Rs 1 crore. Just 2,200 professionals.” 

Thus, netizens on social media were confused by the tweet, however, the confusion would not have circulated through social media if the basic verification of data had been done. This highlights the importance of self fact-check before making claims. In conclusion, the data tweeted out by the BJP Twitter account is not fake but misunderstood.