The spate of lynchings stemming from rumours often circulating on social media such as WhatsApp has finally trained public attention on the technological, political and social dimensions of the fake news menace. Considering that nearly 200 million Indians use WhatsApp for their instant messaging needs, Facebook must not waste any more time in ramping up its local presence, providing timely assistance to police forces, and in actively engaging with news organisations and fact checking websites to put a lid on rumours. With India heading for general elections next year, any window for subversion of democracy needs to be quickly slammed shut. WhatsApp claims to have effectively thwarted rumours during the recent Mexican presidential elections and is combatting fake news in Brazil in alliance with 24 news outlets. These capabilities need to be demonstrated in India too. The government, on its part, cannot leave the policing and counter measures to WhatsApp alone - given the socio-political context of communal polarisation, weak criminal justice delivery system and low education levels. The actions of its own ministers reflect poorly on the government. Union minister Jayant Sinha's felicitation of eight lynching convicts was nothing less than a shock to the system. Sinha is free to believe the men were wrongly convicted, but his celebration at the juncture where they secured bail is unacceptable for any public functionary, let alone a Union minister. Propriety demands that he waited till an acquittal but such decorum is increasingly missing as politicians hurry to reap hypothetical electoral dividends from causes that marginalise minorities and normalise hatred, even lynchings. In neighbouring Bihar, Sinha's ministerial colleague Giriraj Singh was quick to express solidarity with men arrested for inciting communal tensions. These actions emphatically send the wrong signals to police and bureaucracy. Instead, intelligence gathering mechanisms need to be bolstered to help police keep pace with rumours, and those inciting violence must face arrest and prosecution. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasn't spoken at such a critical time, or taken action against errant ministers. If Sinha and Singh are enacting a strategy to keep the communal pot boiling in an election year, its efficacy is doubtful if it brings the opposition together or if people see through the ploy. But even if such toxic politics succeeds, it will come at the cost of besmirching India's reputation abroad as well as endangering the social harmony that's essential for economic progress.