By Mahibul Hoque, TwoCircles.net
Mumbai: If you have donated to PM Cares fund launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a relief fund to combat the Coronavirus pandemic, chances are that your donations have been siphoned off to a proxy relief fund created by people close to Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha(BJYM), the youth wing of the ruling rightwing BJP.
Following the outbreak of COVID19 pandemic in March, PM Modi had launched the PM Cares fund. It immediately attracted criticism for neglecting the already established Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund which was set up in 1948 and had a balance of Rs 38 billion.
The top leaders from the Maharashtra BJP unit have been participating in social media campaigns and nominating others to contribute to the PM CARES Fund in the state. However, the link provided by these leaders does not lead to the official government relief fund but a proxy site called pmcaresfund.online, whereas the official link to PM Cares fund is pmcaresfund.gov.in.
In identical posts, BJP leaders from the state had posted screenshots or posts of their contribution to the fund using the hashtag #IndiaNeedsUs, including Union Minister Raosaheb Patil Danve (BJP MP from Jalgaon constituency), Unmesh Patil (state BJP general secretary), Suresh Halwankar (MLA and BJYM state president), Yogesh Tilekar (BJP’s Mumbai city spokesperson) and Shaina NC.
The hashtag was first shared by one Kunal Nitin Marathe on April 17 with the caption in Marathi.
The translation of the above caption is “My country needs me in the fight against corona, I dedicate my share of salt #NaMo strengthening his hand #PMCARE, you should also dedicate a significant contribution to the fund to achieve this challenge.” This was later picked up by many BJP as well as its youth wing leaders, shared widely through their social media handles.
On April 18, however, the leaders modified the caption and started nominating persons to donate through the bogus website. Their post read:
“#IndiaNeedsUs My country is my identity and today My country needs me. In the nation’s fight against Corona, by dedicating my share, I am strengthening Prime Minister Shri #NarendraModi ji’s initiatives which serves the best interest of our country in such times of crisis. I appeal all my fellow Indians to dedicate your share of the funds to the #PMCARE in the best of your capacity. Please accept the challenge and tag, nominate your friends. Let us all together efficiently plunge ourselves in the service of this nation under the leadership of our Prime Minister Modiji. And yes, share your photo / screen shot. #IndiaNeedsUs #MyContribution2Nation”
In the case of State Minister of Consumer, Food and Public Distribution Danve, his Facebook unedited post was liked 1350 times, overall garnering 3.2 thousand likes and was shared 242 times. In another instance, former minister of Energy, New and Renewable Energy Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s unedited post was liked 131 times before it was edited.
While some BJP leaders later on April 20 deleted posts in which they nominated other leaders to donate through the phony website, MP Patil and state BJP secretary Halwankar’s tweet still had the same link where they mentioned pmcaresfund.online, the sham website.
Deep Connections?
The fake website is currently not opening and it is not clear how much donation was made through the website. Although it might appear that the online donation campaign mentioned the hoax website by mistake, but in an investigation, this reporter found a connection between the website and close allies of BJYM’s Maharashtra unit.
When searching details of these websites on Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a US based non-profit organization which maintains database of internet usage, it was found that the proxy website was based out of Mumbai. The website was created on April 15 and the domain name was almost identical to government’s website. On further investigation of the source code of the website, it was established that the sham pmcaresfund.online was setup by an unknown digital media solutions venture named Sai Ventures Business Network. This saiventuresbusinessnetwork.com is closely linked with the BJYM.
One Rahul Sharma, who also claims to be the head of social media of BJYM Maharashtra unit, identifies himself as the founder of Sai Ventures Business Network on LinkedIn. His Twitter handle (@rabwins) has mostly retweets of BJYM members or BJP officials. On the other hand, Sai Ventures Business Network has its own Twitter handle – @saiventuresind- and mentions Rahul Sharma (@rabwins) as its founder. Even @saiventuresind handle has retweets of people close to the Maharshtra BJYM or its office bearers.
We reached out to the contact number mentioned on Sai Ventures Business Network website but the person who answered the call said that it was a wrong number. Similarly, Danve was also not available for a comment though we tried to reach him over the phone.
