Earlier today we had reported that in a show titled The Vinod Dua Show, journalist Vinod Dua had defamed union minister Nitin Gadkari by accusing that the minister was revolting against Modi government. As proof of this grave allegation, Dua had used a cleverly edited portion of an interview Gadkari had given to HW News, where Dua has recently joined. In episode 7 of the program, the veteran journalist had made a lengthy commentary on how dissidence in BJP is growing, and advised BJP not to project Modi as the face of its campaign in the coming elections. In the clip of Gadkari’s interview used by Dua, Gadkari is seen saying that the government is responsible for more than 400 stalled projects in his ministry.
After publication of the show, Nitin Gadkari strongly refuted the claims made by Dua, saying that he was talking about UPA government, not his own government. The Facebook page of Gadkari’s office had posted the full portion of the relevant part of the interview, where it is clear that Gadkari was talking about previous UPA government. Moreover, the entire interview is still available on HW News website, which also clearly indicate that Vinod Dua was lying, and he trying to create a fictitious rift in top leadership in BJP, which Gadkari claimed is part of propaganda. The clip used in Dua’s show clearly showed that Gadkari’s reply was abruptly cut, and he had not finished speaking. In the full interview, Gadkari names UPA government in the very next sentence.
After the rebuttal by Gadkari, episode 7 of the show was taken down from HW News website and Youtube. Vinod Dua was clearly lying that Gadkari was blaming his own government, and he should have tendered an apology for that. But they just quietly removed the episode. And now, after the heat it faced on social media, the website has come out with a bizarre ‘clarification’. In a post published on the website, it says that the ‘clip was erroneously sent incomplete to Mr Dua’. And based on that incomplete clip, Dua made an entire episode of his show, they suggest.
This is both hilarious and definitely dishonest clarification. In the clip, it is evident that Gadkari has not stopped speaking, because in the very next sentence he says that he is talking about UPA government. And the HW News had the full video on its website, it was their exclusive interview. It is very difficult to believe that a veteran journalist like Vinod Dua made an assumption that a senior minister like Gadkari is speaking against Modi based on an ‘incomplete’ clip. If it was true, it would be big news. Anybody would like to see the whole interview before making a show on the basis of just 2-3 sentences seen in the incomplete clip. In the 49:42 minute long video of the interview, Nitin Gadkari talked about stalled projects within the first 3:20 minutes, the clip was cut just after that. This means someone from HW News sent just a 3:20 minute long clip, most of which included introductory remarks by interviewer Akhilesh Bhargava, and now they are saying that Dua thought this is enough material to make such a sweeping comment.
More importantly, in the short clip that was used by Vinod Dua, Bharagava asks the first question on stalled road projects. Replying to this, Nitin Gadkari starts by saying ‘when I took over the ministry’. This clearly indicates that Gadkari was talking about the beginning of the NDA government, therefore he can’t blame the new government for the stalled projects. This means, even if Dua actually received a 3:20 minute of the interview, and he didn’t see the full interview, even that short portion included enough evidence that Gadkari was not talking about his own government.
This implies that HW News and Vinod Dua are now lying to hide deliberate propaganda they tried to peddle using a selected portion of Gadkari’s interview, and they are not ready to apologise for that act despite been caught red-handed.
