Union Minister Ashwini Vaisnaw today fact-checked Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg’s claim on the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. In an interview on Friday with popular podcaster Joe Rogan, Mr Zuckerberg wrongly claimed that most incumbent governments, including India, lost elections in 2024.

Mr Zuckerberg’s claim “is factually incorrect,” said the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government had won the 2024 general elections.

Correcting Mr Zuckerberg, Mr Vaishnaw posted on X, “As the world’s largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. The people of India reaffirmed their trust in the NDA led by PM”.

Mr Zuckerberg, trying to highlight how COVID-19 pandemic led to the global erosion of trust in governments and influenced elections, said, “2024 was a very big election year around the world and all these countries, India, had elections. The incumbents basically lost every single one. There is some sort of a global phenomenon – whether it was because of inflation or the economic policies to deal with Covid or just how the governments dealt with Covid. It seems to have had this effect that’s global.”

The Union Minister, contradicting Mr Zuckerberg, said, “PM Modi’s decisive 3rd-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust”.

As the world’s largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. People of India reaffirmed their trust in NDA led by PM @narendramodi Ji’s leadership.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s claim that most incumbent governments, including India in 2024 elections,…

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 13, 2025

The announcement triggered alarm with the move being widely seen as an attempt to curry favour with President-elect Donald Trump whose conservative support base has been complaining that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curb free speech.

US President Joe Biden called the move “really shameful” and a global network warned of “devastating consequences” if the tech giant broadened its policy to other countries.

“Some of these countries are highly vulnerable to misinformation that spurs political instability, election interference, mob violence and even genocide,” International Fact-Checking Network said in an open letter to Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg, however, defended the decision in the interview, comparing the fact-checking program with “something out of 1984,” citing George Orwell’s dystopian novel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the strategically important Z-Morh tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir today. A project that will connect Gagangir to Sonamarg, giving all-weather access to the region to the Kashmir valley.

The Z-Morh, also known as the Sonamarg Tunnel, spans 6.5 km, with 6.05 km of additional roads. It is located at an altitude of 8,562 feet. The road from Gagangir to Sonamarg is infamous for being avalanche-prone and unsafe during winters, making access to Sonamarg difficult from Srinagar.

What Makes Z-Morh Tunnel Important For India

Strategic and economic significance make the Z-Morh tunnel crucial for India.

The tunnel is expected to boost the economy of the region, making it another ski resort in Jammu and Kashmir after Gulmarg, which lay west of Srinagar. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the development of the Sonamarg resort in the Ganderbal district as a winter sports destination similar to Gulmarg.

The access to Sonamarg will allow people to reach Ladakh without staying overnight in Kargil. The road from Sonamarg – the National Highway-1 – goes to Baltal, a base camp for the Amarnath Yatra, then moves northwest to Matayen, Dras, Kaksar and Kargil in Ladakh. 

Once the construction of the Zojila tunnel, which lies east of Z-Morh, is complete, an all-weather access from Sonmarg to Dras will be possible. National Highway-1 connects Kashmir to Ladakh and lies south of the Line of Control (LOC). The highway was under attack during the 1999 Kargil Conflict and has strategic significance in connecting two northern regions of India – Kashmir and Ladakh.

The Zojila tunnel will start from Baltal in the Ganderbal district of Kashmir to Minimarg in Dras and has an approach road of 18 km. It is expected to reach near completion by 2028.

The Z-Morh tunnel and Zojila Tunnel will together provide the Indian Army an all-weather capability to reach northern areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, for increased vigilance along the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control further east.

Photo Credit: PTI

In October, six construction workers, who were part of a private company involved in the building of the tunnel, were killed in a terror attack. A doctor was also killed in the attack in the Ganderbal district.

The victims were identified as Dr Shahnawaz, a resident of Nayidgam Kashmir’s Budgam, Gurmeet Singh from Punjab’s Gurdaspur, Mohammad Haneef, Faheem Nasir, a safety manager, and Kaleem, from Bihar, Anil Kumar Shukla, a mechanical manager from Madhya Pradesh, and Shashi Abrol, a designer from Jammu.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tribute to the seven people who were killed in the attack near the tunnel.

The Z-Morh tunnel is a two-lane, bi-directional road structure with a width of 10 metres. A parallel escape tunnel, 7.5 metres wide, is included for emergencies and dual use as a railway tunnel. The tunnel can handle up to 1,000 vehicles per hour, at a maximum speed of 80 km/hr.

The Z-Morh Tunnel is one of 31 tunnels – 20 in Jammu and Kashmir and 11 in Ladakh – being constructed at a combined investment of Rs 2,680 crore.

There is fresh anticipation about the talks after several shifts, both politically and on the ground. 

​There is fresh anticipation about the talks after several shifts, both politically and on the ground.