So I decided to check the full statement of Yogi Adityanath, where, as per Siddharth Varadarajan @svaradarajan, Yogi said that "Lord Ram would protect devotees from the coronavirus".

I took the quotes from his tweet (attached). For Varadarajan is a senior journalist.

I assumed that since he has put specific words inside quotes and attributed them to a chief minister, there would be no trouble in finding the full statement on the web. For Varadarajan is a senior journalist.

But it wasn't that simple. A Google search showed no such statement made by the UP CM.

And then, I had to go to where few venture: pages 2, 3, and 4 of Google search.

I was sure that Yogi's quote must be there, for Varadarajan is a senior journalist.

But alas, nothing there as well.

And then I went back to page 1. Scouting for anything close to the statement Varadarajan claims was made by Yogi.

It had to be there, because you see, Varadarajan is a senior journalist.

And indeed there was. Someone had indeed said that Ram will ensure "no harm comes to devotees".

Except that it wasn't Yogi Adityanath. It was 'Ayodhya-based Mahant Paramhans'.

And where did I locate this quote?

In Varadarajan's own publication--The Wire.

There are other reports online too, which attribute the same quote to this Mahant Paramhans.

So, it turns out that Varadarajan attributed **someone else's** words to a sitting chief minister.

This is the kind of thing that attracts an 'F' grade and severe rebuke in any half-decent grad course.

My suggestion: check twice, thrice and then twenty-seven more times before believing anything written by Varadarajan or The Wire.

And while I was at it, I looked up Mahant Paramhans.

I found this Hindustan report which says that one Mahant Paramhans Das was excommunicated from his 'Chhaavni' in Ayodhya last November. https://www.livehindustan.com/uttar-pradesh/lucknow/story-mahant-paramhans-das-excommunicated-from-ascetic-camp-read-the-reason-2852019.html