The moment the Indian ‘liberals’ read about anyone having a negative opinion about Prime Minister Modi, they get giddy with excitement. Doubly so if the person ‘saying’ so is a Hindu and is ‘against Hindutva’.
Few days back, a shady website, ofmi.org run by one ‘Organisation for Minorities in India’, which doesn’t have much details on its website, published an article citing an ‘anonymous source within Tulsi Gabbard’s 2020 presidential campaign” that Gabbard “refused” an invitation to the ‘Howdy, Modi’ event. It claimed claimed that Gabbard had dropped out of ‘Howdy, Modi’ event after Congressman Ro Khanna’s call to ‘reject Hindutva’.
This, of course got the usual suspects extremely excited. A US Presidential candidate who is a Hindu is ‘rejecting’ PM Modi. Why to verify if it fits the narrative, right?
This article with no confirmed reports, was widely circulated by the usual anti-Modi brigade. Maharashtra Congress Sevadal and other Congress supporters too shared the link.
Tulsi Refuses Invitation to “Howdy Modi” Event in Texas. https://t.co/ftAHGIbgGh
— Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Sevadal (@SevadalMH) September 16, 2019
Gabbard’s decision to drop out of #HowdyModi follows on the heels of Congressman @RoKhanna’s statement invoking the duty to stand for pluralism and reject Hindutva, and equal rights for all religious communities. https://t.co/pb0bkcDOf4
— Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) September 16, 2019
Filmmaker Vinod Kapri also shared the link asking Gabbard if it is true. Kapri was accused by his former colleague of cooking up ‘adoption of an infant abandoned in garbage’ story on Twitter for publicity stunt for his film. He later denied the allegations.
Is this true @TulsiGabbard ?? Tulsi Gabbard Refuses Invitation to “Howdy Modi” Event in TexasOrganization for Minorities of India https://t.co/DtXUulAHmm
— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) September 16, 2019
This spreading fake news by posing a question as if you are verifying it, is in line with various Aam Aadmi Party leaders including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who frequently indulges in spreading fake news by appending a question, “is this true?”
“Journalist” associated with AFP’s fact-check, too, shared the link, clearly, without verifying.
Tulsi Gabbard drops out after Hindu-American congressman’s @RoKhanna call to “reject Hindutva” https://t.co/fF2E7e2hnj
— Uzair Hasan Rizvi (@RizviUzair) September 15, 2019
Abusive troll, Ashok Swain who was caught celebrating former ministers Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley‘s death, also indulged in spreading the fake news.
Modi has been outcaste even by ‘Hindutva Princess’ Tulsi Gabbard! https://t.co/qjhQmGOuJm
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) September 15, 2019
Our very own ‘journalist’ whose fiction “Gujarat Files” which she peddled as investigative journalism in Sohrabuddin encounter case, was trashed by Supreme Court saying that it is likely to be politically motivated, was also at the forefront of spreading this lie.
By the time of this report, Ayyub’s tweet has had over 1,000 retweets and 3,500 likes. Gabbard, however, has now replied and rubbished the report saying that it is a misinformed report. “I’m not attending the Houston event due to previously scheduled presidential campaign events. However I’m hoping to meet PM Modi on his visit to discuss the importance of maintaining the strong partnership of the world’s oldest & largest democracies,” she tweeted to Ayyub.
‘Howdy, Modi!’, a mega event which will be held in Houston, Texas on 22nd September, will also be attended by United States President Donald Trump. Over 50,000 people are expected to attend the event.
The Howdy event will be the largest ever event addressed by an Indian Prime Minister in North America and also the largest for a foreign leader in the US other than Pope Francis. The Howdy event will be Prime Minister Modi’s third major address to the Indian-American community after he became PM in 2014 and the first after his re-election in May. The previous two were at the Madison Square Garden in New York in 2014 and the Silicon Valley in 2016. Both the events were attended by more than 20,000 people.
