Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is now the Chief Minister of Goa, took to twitter to slam media reports which claimed that he had quit the post of Defence Minister because he could not cope with the pressure of dealing with issues like Kashmir:
Reports attributed to me by some news agency regarding my speech at Ambedkar Jayanti is factually incorrect.1/2
— Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) April 15, 2017
The speech was in Konkani & reported correctly by local media as also by some national agencies like The Hindu – https://t.co/Td3eZHU9uy 2/2
— Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) April 15, 2017
The tweets came after media reports that made claim that this was the “real reason” which led to him quitting. One example of such reports is the report by DNA based on PTI, which was titled as: “Couldn’t handle pressure of issues like Kashmir: Parrikar reveals real reason he came back to Goa”
In the above screenshot itself, one can see how DNA played with words. In the headline they scream that this was the “real reason”. But the byline itself said that the Goa CM stated that this was “one of the reasons”.
In the same article, if one digs deeper, one can see that DNA “quotes” him as saying this:
Even if one takes this “quote” to be correct, It may be considered a stretch to directly link the statement of “pressure” with that of Kashmir. Subsequently numerous media reports emerged with the same reporting, all claiming to be sourced via PTI. [1], [2], [3]
Further, in the limited video clipping put out by ABP News, Parrikar is seen saying most of the above, but he does no utter the magical words of “I quit because of this reason”:
Further, as Parrikar said in his tweet, it appears The Hindu had got the quote right. This is what The Hindu had reported:
The above report was filed by a local Goan correspondent so the chances of the meaning getting lost in translation are minimal, and which is why perhaps Parrikar felt this was the most correct report. It also broadly agrees with the video in the ABP News bulletin and makes no mention of the “this is why I left” quote, which wasn’t seen in the video clipping as well.
