Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that a message that is circulating on social media asking people to stand for 5 minutes in honour of him is fake.
The prime minister tweeted that it has come to his notice that some people are campaigning to honour Modi by standing for five minutes. On the first glance, it seems like a conspiracy to drag him into a controversy, he added. PM Modi came forward to clarify about the message after historian and Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist Ramachandra Guha mocked him and his supporters referring to the message.
PM Modi also added that it is possible that it is a genuine well wish of some people. ‘If that is true, I request that if you have so much love for me and want to honour me, please take care of one poor family as long as the coronavirus crisis continues’, he further tweeted. “Nothing can be a bigger honour for me”, the PM concluded.
The prime minister was referring to an image with a message which called for giving a standing ovation to him for his handling of the Coronavirus outbreak. The message said, “this man has done so much for us and out nation. This Sunday on 12th April-2020, 5 PM, let us all give a standing ovation and salute our Prime Minister. Everyone is requested to stand in their house balconies at 5 PM and give a standing ovation and salute our prime minister, Mr Narendra Damodardas Modi for 5 minutes.”
The message also added, ‘kindly forward to as many as you can’, a typical characteristic of fake messages which appear on social media.
This poster below is doing the WhatsApp circuit. As Dr B. R. Ambedkar warned us: “Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship”. pic.twitter.com/KI5d2js7m8
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) April 8, 2020
Gandhi-Nehru family apologist Ramchandra Guha tweeted the image mocking PM Modi and his supporters claiming it is hero-worship which will lead to dictatorship. Claiming the message to be true, he quoted BR Ambedkar saying, “Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship”.
The fact that Guha used the message to attack the PM gives credence to PM Modi’s doubt that it has been created to drag him into a conspiracy.
