Congress President Rahul Gandhi in recent days has decided to become proactive in trying to debunk the ‘success stories’ of BJP governments. In order to do that, he is seen as cutting corners and spreading lies, like alleging that Modi had doled out Rs 33,000 crores for the Nano plant in Sanand, which was debunked by TATA itself via an official statement.
Rahul Gandhi was again back to attacking Narendra Modi on Sunday by targeting the ambitious smart city project:
Dear Modi bhakts, Out of 9,860 crores for the Smart Cities only 7% has been used. China is out competing us while your master gives us empty slogans. Please watch this video and advise him to focus on what matters- job creation for India.#BJPEmptyPromiseshttps://t.co/o6C0NzteqX
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 31, 2017
As seen above, Rahul Gandhi decided to use extremely derogatory language against Modi supporters by insinuating them to be his slaves. Over and above that, he decided to question the progress of smart cities by alleging that just 7% of a total Rs 9,860 crores has been used for the project.
And when the ‘master’ tweets, how can the official Congress Twitter account stay far behind:
Only 7% of the Rs. 9860 crore spent on Modi’s Smart Cities Mission. Another Marketing and PR driven activity, not amounting to anything. https://t.co/SknKVodZDA
— Congress (@INCIndia) January 1, 2018
While people didn’t dignify Rahul Gandhi’s slurs with a response, they did come out to bust his allegations about the smart city project, and one of them was Hardeep Singh Puri, the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs:
@OfficeOfRG ‘s sudden interest in #SmartCities is welcome. He should, however, guard against cherry picking info. 7% in his tweet is just payments made for work done, actual payment due is 31%. In 3 yrs of #ModiGovt work worth 32K Cr already started & tendered (1/2) pic.twitter.com/uclO2MVs47
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 1, 2018
As tweeted out by the Minister, the 7% figure thrown around is merely payments made for work already concluded and the government actually needs to pay a total 31% of the cost as tendering and work has began for projects worth Rs. 32,000 crores.
As per the infographic tweeted by him, states like Jharkhand and Gujarat have projects worth Rs. 2,716 crores and Rs. 5,835 ongoing/completed. In case of Jharkhand the total expenses have already shot up to 182.4% of the total planned cost: 
He further decided to attack the Congress, by claiming that the Congress ruled states were actually the one which feature at the bottom of the smart city ranking:
#SmartCities require establishment of SPVs; designing & planning of projects. In 10 yrs of UPA just 68% of 46K Cr spent on Jnnurm. Cities in @INCIndia ruled states languish at bottom in #SmartCities ranking. Would encourage @OfficeOfRG to have better informed #dyNastyBhakts (2/2) pic.twitter.com/ZndxgCfDUP
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 1, 2018
OpIndia columnist Ashutosh Muglikar too decided to educate Rahul Gandhi and the Congress regarding the smart city protect:
Hello Thugs at INC. Via a thread will bust your lies. So what is happening on smart city project..
1. projects worth Rs.1,35,459 crore in 2,855 projects are in various stages of implementation While 147 projects worth Rs.1,872 crore have been completed https://t.co/pFMbkdpBYa
— Ashu? (@muglikar_) January 1, 2018
As pointed out by Ashutosh, the total cost of the smart city project comes up to a total of Rs. 1,35,459 crores, and is sub divided into 2,855 projects. So far 147 of these projects have been completed and a further 396 projects worth Rs. 14,672 cores are currently going on. Apart from this tenders have already been issued for 283 projects costing Rs. 16,549.
So clearly, these points raise the question as to from why did Rahul Gandhi and the Congress decide to spread half truths regrading the project, when clearly they were way off the mark in assessing the truth of the matter.
