"April Fooled In December" Babul Supriyo Falls For WhatsApp Forward

WhatsApp forwards and e-mail scams with their tempting but fake rewards have achieved somewhat of a cult status in pop culture. Even though most of us know by now that some Nigerian sitting in Lagos isn't going to transfer a million dollars to your account and the new notes do not have a GPS chip,  we still sometimes fall for the odd WhatsApp forward. Something similar seems to have happened with Union Minister Babul Supriyo, who was recently trolled for tweeting an unverified WhatsApp forward full of glaring errors.

Yesterday, Mr Supriyo took to Twitter to share a message that declared January 1, 2018, to be a Sunday. The message claimed that February 2, March 3 and every date corresponding with the number of the month so on would be a Sunday in 2018. A quick glance at a calendar will tell you that's not true.
 

*This is absolutely CRAZY*
01-01-2018 *SUNDAY*
02-02-2018 *SUNDAY*
03-03-2018 *SUNDAY*
04-04-2018 *SUNDAY*
05-05-2018 *SUNDAY*
06-06-2018 *SUNDAY*
07-07-2018 *SUNDAY*
08-08-2018 *SUNDAY*
09-09-2018 *SUNDAY*
10-10-2018 *SUNDAY*
11-11-2018 *SUNDAY*
12-12-2018 *SUNDAY*

- Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) December 10, 2017

Many immediately corrected Mr Supriyo's error, pointing out that January 1 is going to be a Monday.
 

Unfortunately the news is fake. Yesterday I got this same sms too. Real one:
01-01-2018 MONDAY
02-02-2018 FRIDAY
03-03-2018 SATURDAY
04-04-2018 WEDNESDAY

- Dr. Shaunak Das (@shaunakdass) December 10, 2017

Always check the fact before forwarding things

- Atul Vijay (@Atulvjay) December 10, 2017

pic.twitter.com/T4OSwJaL15

- Raghunath AS (@asraghunath) December 10, 2017

To his credit, the minister took it sportingly, tweeting that he had been 'April fooled in December'.
 

It's crazy that someone create such a fake thing !!! Infuriated But I won't delete it as some of you suggest we can all make mistakes or be April Fooled in December .. I'd rather accept that I am fooled with this one https://t.co/UJLAwx7XEm

- Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) December 10, 2017

He also said he won't delete the tweet and called it a harmless mistake
 

No no .. I won't who said I wil HAVE to be correct all the time .. ? It's just a harmless mistake .. had it been any Govt Data or Fact, I wud not only have removed it but also rectified it with an apology .. Won't delete this .. nope https://t.co/iOJd5IqiYW

- Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) December 10, 2017