8-year-old ‘child activist’ Licypriya Kangujam from Manipur had been making occasional appearances on headlines for her ‘contribution’ towards fighting climate change. Some had even designated her as the ‘Greta Thunberg of India’. Though Licypriya didn’t approve of the bestowed title, she seems to welcome the media attention that came her way. She was a familiar name but wasn’t there yet.
Dear Media,
Stop calling me “Greta of India”. I am not doing my activism to looks like Greta Thunberg. Yes, she is one of our Inspiration & great influencer. We have common goal but I have my own identity, story. I began my movement since July 2018 even before Greta was started. pic.twitter.com/3UEqCVWYM8— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) January 27, 2020
Licypriya, however, got the entire media machinery working in her favor and rose to instant fame by declining PM Modi’s invite to partake in the #SheInspiresUs movement.
Dear @narendramodi Ji,
Please don’t celebrate me if you are not going to listen my voice.Thank you for selecting me amongst the inspiring women of the country under your initiative #SheInspiresUs. After thinking many times, I decided to turns down this honour. 🙏🏻
Jai Hind! pic.twitter.com/pjgi0TUdWa
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) March 6, 2020
Catapulted to immediate stardom, particularly by the anti-Modi brigade for talking back to the Prime Minister, she was the new hero of those who share a congenital dislike of Modi.
But increased media attention also comes with magnified scrutiny which exposed the dubious achievements of this child activist from Manipur. An exhaustive examination through all her tall claims of accomplishments, puts a giant question mark on their tenability.
For instance, political activist and former National General Secretary of NSUI, the student wing of Indian National Congress, Angellica Aribam tells a very different story which serves as an anti-climax to the narrative most media houses are perpetuating. In a series of tweets, Angela unraveled the long history of frauds this little girl has been propped into by her father.
I thought of ignoring this but since everyone seems to be interested in @LicypriyaK, let me indulge you.
Last April, 7yo Licypriya Kangujam claimed to be on her way to the UN headquarters in Geneva to address a ‘global UN session’ for ‘Disaster Risks Reduction’ (1/n)— Angellica Aribam (@AngellicAribam) March 7, 2020
She starts by discussing how last year, as a 7-year-old, Licypriya Kangujam claimed to be selected to address the United Nations in the sixth session of Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. All major news outlets carried this story, but it was only Chitra Ahanthem of Imphal Free Press who investigated the entire episode and debunked the claim as a farce designed by the girl’s father Kangujam Kanarjit. The journalist also ferreted out that Kanarjit was booked in 2015 for forgery, and charged with IPC 420 for fraud, 324 for assault, and 406 for criminal breach of trust, and soon went absconding,
East Mojo, a publication from North East, had retracted its original story celebrating the Manipur girl’s purported accomplishments, and in a subsequent article declared it as a piece of fake news that unfortunately went viral. In their report dated April 29, 2019, the outlet affirms that they had approached Stephanie Speck who chairs Communications, Advocacy, Knowledge Management and ICT, at the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction to check the veracity of Licypriya’s claims.
The UN official said, “I can confirm that Licyprya Devi Kangujam is not an official speaker at the Global Platform 2019 in Geneva.”
The Guwahati-based media house who first broke the news of the 8-year-old’s “achievements” had taken that story down after Imphal Free Press contacted them and raised doubts regarding their legitimacy. Once the sham was out, other media houses also carried stories of the deceit.
Seeing her fake mountain of lies crumble down, Licypriya, reportedly published and then deleted a Facebook post staying,
“Finally I decided not to attend the program in Geneva next month as I am completely in depression. Even my visa and flight tickets was ready. This is not the way to treat your “Ningol” [daughter]”
Apart from playing victim card on social media and then reneging, there is no substantial evidence or documents she could produce to prove the credibility of her words.
But the tall tale doesn’t end here. The “child activist” contends to be a winner of the Global Peace Award, but Global Peace Index, in a twitter exchange with TedEx Speaker, Kumar Manish, denies conferring any award on Licypriya Kangujam.
Hi, brave of you. As you have highlighted this. Let me share this exchange of mine with Australia based @GlobPeaceIndex which was claimed to given her "The Peace award". Global Peace Index denies that. The award was mentioned on her profile earlier. https://t.co/gPwg3maBmr pic.twitter.com/lEGKb1GovA
— Kumar Manish (@kumarmanish9) March 8, 2020
Licypriya also boasts some ‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Children Award’ granted by one ‘Khwaab Foundation’ which has no online footprints and appears to be just another con. Now, being exposed once again, the official twitter handle of the “child prodigy” is on a blocking rampage and she has blocked almost every individual and entity that called her bluff.
All this is not the 8-year-old’s fault for she doesn’t know the world of fakery she is being forced into by adults around her. But this story tells a lot about the world of left-liberal activism and our media. Most ‘activists’ these days are just peddling an agenda or self-promoting under cover of some virtue-signalling cause, while media’s irresponsible reporting of erroneous facts only to propagate their individual aversion for Prime Minister Modi and the BJP often takes the society for a ride.
Sources
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