DigitEye India Fact Checkers
Several claims have appeared on social media and in news outlets that Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam had tweeted out in support of educational technology company Unacademy, for firing a teacher over the plea not vote for uneducated leaders.
Unacademy Law Educator Stirs Controversy: Karan Sangwan Advises Students Against Supporting Current Government
Unacademy’s law instructor, Karan Sangwan, has ignited a debate by urging his students to refrain from voting for the current government (BJP) in upcoming elections pic.twitter.com/RoYGLwu2oq
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) August 13, 2023
The original video shows Karan Sangwan, a teach at Unacademy, urging students to elect well-educated politicians has stirred a row with the company firing the teacher while social media was equally divided over the action taken against.
Among those who supported Unacademy move to sack the teacher was one tweet on Twitter (now X) with the handle Sonu Nigam. As Sonu Nigam, the singer known for his memorable songs in several films and in many languages, the issue has become widely discussed on social media. Here is the tweet:
Thank You @unacademy for terminating Karan Sangwan. he should have focused on putting more effort into the betterment of students instead of ranting.
A teacher must remember that his task is to teach and not to preach. Let democracy and the people of India decide their leaders. pic.twitter.com/lb4eLg1wT4
— Sonu Nigam (@SonuNigamSingh) August 17, 2023
The X platform has witnessed several retweets and criticism of the singer while some supporting him on the issue as seen below:
FACT CHECK
As the teacher Sangwan in his viral video mentioned that following the recent bill tabled by the government, all the notes he had prepared on criminal law for the students have become redundant. “Remember one thing, the next time you vote, choose an educated candidate so that you do not have to suffer all this again in life, do not vote for someone who only knows how to change names,” he says in the video that went viral on social media.
When the Digiteye India team checked for the original tweet and its profile, we found that it does not belong to singer Sonu Nigam but to a lawyer from Bihar by uer name @SonuNigamSingh. He has 31,600 followers. Here’s his profile:
When we checked for singer Sonu Nigam’s X account, no official account by him was found. Hence, the claim and reaction on social media pinning the singer down for some other person’s tweet is found False.
Claim: Singer Sonu Nigam supports Unacademy’s ouster of teacher Karan Sangwan.
Conclusion: The tweet is not by singer but by a user Sonu Nigam Singh, hence false claim.
Rating: Misleading — 
