The months of negative campaigning against PM Modi by Congress, the constant use of derogatory jibes and remarks, the incessant peddling of the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ slogan against a democratically elected Prime Minister with an impeccable record and many such tactics were dealt a smashing blow when PM Modi reminded the Congress recently about how their fallacious ‘Mr Clean’ Rajiv Gandhi was consumed eventually as the ‘Bhrashtachari Number 1’.
Since PM Modi brought up Rajiv Gandhi’s name into play, a pandora’s box has been opened, and many skeletons that were buried deep in Congress’ closet are out in the open to haunt the party. From the Bofors scam to Bhopal gas tragedy, the recalling of Rajiv Gandhi’s tainted legacy seems like something Congress is desperately struggling to free itself from.
Yesterday, PM Modi ‘challenged’ Congress to fight the elections in the name of their beloved former PM.
My open challenge to Congress.
Fight elections in the name of the former PM associated with Bofors in:
Delhi and Punjab, where innocent Sikhs were butchered in his reign.
Bhopal, where he helped Warren Anderson flee after the infamous Gas Tragedy.
Challenge accepted? pic.twitter.com/CstT0VyITd
— Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 6, 2019
PM Modi has brought up issues deeply unsettling for Congress. Issues with the potential to cause heavy losses in the upcoming phases in the election which include Delhi where Sikhs witnessed genocide in 1984 and Bhopal, which saw thousands dying and millions suffering due to the gas tragedy.
These may be the reason why Congress and its ecosystem has taken their attacks on PM Modi to new depths. After many social media influencers and Congress-supporting media brigade tried painting the criticism of Rajiv Gandhi as a shameful act, giving the bizarre excuse that he is dead so it is not acceptable to criticise him, now a fresh smear campaigning has been started.
A person named Ria, who claims to be a member of Congress in South Mumbai, has shared a fake newspaper clipping which portrays PM Modi’s late father as a thief and claims that he had died of a heart attack after a young Narendra Modi left home taking all the gold his father had bought from the stolen money. The fake clip also claims that PM Modi’s siblings still blame him for their father’s death.
This so-called newspaper clip does not mention any date or the name of the paper. This is, however, being shared by many handles on social media, often in support of verified handles criticising PM Modi’s remarks on Rajiv Gandhi.
Was Modi ‘s father was held by railway police in stealing coals of the railways? Did he serve sentence for it? Was Modi responsible for the death of his father as claimed by his brothers? pic.twitter.com/53JZBnBduf
— Krishna Pachegonkerکرشنا پچگونکر (@krishpachegonkr) May 5, 2019
In fact, the contents of the fake news clips are sourced from another fake news that had surfaced in 2016. Then, a similar fake news clip, attributed to Hindi daily Amar Ujala, had been circulated claiming that PM Modi’s eldest brother, Prahladbhai Modi has stated those things about their family and their father’s death.
However, Amar Ujala had soon clarified that they had not published any such news and it is a fake clip being attributed to them. Subsequent fact-check reports had also dismissed the claims and had concluded that the clippings and the claims are all fake. PM Modi’s brother Prahladbhai Modi had also denied ever giving any such statements.
It is interesting to note that the Congress supporter Ria, who had shared the fake news clip, had deleted her Tweet after a Twitter user Ankit Jain drew the attention of police for her attempt to spread falsehoods about PM Modi.
Congress leaders have often launched attacks on PM Modi and his family. They have mocked his caste, humble background, his family and even his mother’s age. The party obsessed with one ruling family, however, often forgets that PM Modi or the BJP criticising former PM’s of Congress is a democratic right. Rahul Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great grandfather were all prime ministers of India and prime ministers are accountable for their actions. However, PM Modi’s family, a poor family from a small town in Gujarat that struggled to make ends meet, did not indulge in corruption, did not impose the emergency or did not cause the murder of thousands of Sikhs in the streets of Delhi.
PM Modi’s family also does not reap political benefit from his position and power. Unlike the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, PM Modi’s brothers or nephews will not be the BJP leaders or the party’s PM candidate. Targetting and attempting to besmirch a simple Indian family that had suffered losses of its own and had struggled a lot to make its children educated despite poverty, is another display of the depths the Congress plunges to in order to gain some political mileage.
