On Saturday, Bollywood actor and former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Paresh Rawal posted a tweet claiming that Myanmar is situated at a distance of 1769 km from India and merely 2 km from China. He went to blame secular Indians and intellectuals for illegal Rohingya Muslim infiltration.
“….Myanmar to India- 1769 kms ….Myanmar to China.- 2km But, Why the Rohingyas want to come to India? and not China?” he wrote. “Because Unlike India, there are no seculars no Intellectuals no anti nationals no in China, who support refugees Rohingyas.”
This post had been retweeted close to 17,400 times and liked over 53,000 times by the time this article was published.
Similarly, on December 17, founder of fake news platform Postcard News Mahesh Vikram Hegde who is “blessed to be followed by PM Narendra Modi”, posted the same message along with an infographic that takes West Bengal as the point of entry from Myanmar to India. Several other users have posted the same claim on Twitter and Facebook.
That’s not how geography works
Just as Myanmar shares a border with China, it also shares its border with four Indian states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur. In fact, all three nations share borders.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the total length of the international border between Myanmar and India is 1,643 km.
A press release by Press Information Bureau from January 3, 2018, reported an agreement signed between India and Myanmar on Land Border Crossing. The objective of the agreement was to facilitate regulation and harmonization of already existing free movement rights for people ordinarily residing in the border areas of both countries, along with the basis of valid passports and visas.
The claim made by Paresh Rawal and others that distance between Myanmar to China is 2 km and Myanmar to India is 1769 km is false. The former BJP MP has been featured on Alt News fact-checks several times in the past – for tweeting a fake newspaper clipping targetting Rahul Gandhi and for putting out false statistics to portray Modi government better at combating terror in J&K.
This article first appeared on Alt News.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!