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Saurav Das shares fake Gaurav Bhatia quote on Swatantra Bhardwaj; deletes after being called out

On September 5, Saurav Das, the co-convener of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), shared a photo on X that attributed a quote to BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, under the label of ‘NBT’, which presumably referred to the news outlet, NavBharat Times. It was claimed that Bhatia had said, “The youth named Swatantra Bhardwaj is a […]

On September 5, Saurav Das, the co-convener of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), shared a photo on X that attributed a quote to BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, under the label of ‘NBT’, which presumably referred to the news outlet, NavBharat Times.

It was claimed that Bhatia had said, “The youth named Swatantra Bhardwaj is a ‘Dimaagi Naxal’, he is filled with casteist venom, and he has nothing to do with the BJP government.”

The post was later deleted by Das, but the archived version can be accessed here.

Several other X users, like Nimo Yadav (@DrNimoYadav), Vaibhav Shukla (@vaibhaw_g), and Gen-Z of India (@GenZ_of_India_) amplified the viral quote. Archives: 1, 2, 3

Click to view slideshow.

Bhardwaj, a Hindutva hardliner, recently created an uproar after a clip from a podcast went viral. In it, he boasted about assaulting Sanjay Kumar, father of CJP protester Nishu Azad, during the Jantar Mantar protest, and asserted that he faced no action because of his political connections, naming Kapil Mishra and Chirag Paswan. He now faces criminal charges under Sections 115(2), 126(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with provisions of the POCSO Act and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, with an attempt-to-murder charge also invoked in the case. On September 7, he was sent to 14-day judicial remand.

Fact Check

To verify the authenticity of the viral quote attributed to Gaurav Bhatia, we ran relevant keyword searches to see if any verified news outlet reported on it, but could find none.

However, we found this X post, published by Navbharat Times on September 5, which clarifies that “misleading messages are being spread” through these “fake posts.”

Thereafter, we found that Gaurav Bhatia had also categorically debunked the viral quote attributed to him by Saurav Das, in an X post. He gave the CJP leader an ultimatum of 24 hours to apologise for spreading the viral misquote, warning that he would file an FIR against him otherwise.

Das himself shared a post stating that the quote-graphic was AI-generated.

To sum up, the viral quote attributed to BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia about Swatantra Bhardwaj being a ‘Dimaagi Naxal’ is entirely fabricated. Bhatia had made no such statement on the Hindutva propagandist who is now in jail facing multiple criminal charges including under POCSO Act.


This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Prantik Ali.


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Prantik Ali | Radio Free (2026-09-07T13:51:56+00:00) Saurav Das shares fake Gaurav Bhatia quote on Swatantra Bhardwaj; deletes after being called out. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/09/07/saurav-das-shares-fake-gaurav-bhatia-quote-on-swatantra-bhardwaj-deletes-after-being-called-out/

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" » Saurav Das shares fake Gaurav Bhatia quote on Swatantra Bhardwaj; deletes after being called out." Prantik Ali | Radio Free - Monday September 7, 2026, https://www.radiofree.org/2026/09/07/saurav-das-shares-fake-gaurav-bhatia-quote-on-swatantra-bhardwaj-deletes-after-being-called-out/
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» Saurav Das shares fake Gaurav Bhatia quote on Swatantra Bhardwaj; deletes after being called out | Prantik Ali | Radio Free | https://www.radiofree.org/2026/09/07/saurav-das-shares-fake-gaurav-bhatia-quote-on-swatantra-bhardwaj-deletes-after-being-called-out/ |

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