Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, the pro-Islamist lobby has been gunning for Prime Minister Modi with the most despicable lies and propaganda. Several pro-Islamist Indian journalists took it upon themselves to defame India internationally, while others, habitually peddle lies through proxy websites and social media to tarnish the image of India after the Modi government decided to abrogate Article 370 and finally, fully integrate the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India.
The pro-Islamist lobby has now found a new way to hit-out at PM Modi, albeit, with lies and deceit.
In the parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Modi hit out at Kashmir politicians like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti for their threats prior to the abrogation of Article 370. Prime Minister Modi in parliament first quoted Mehbooba Mufti.
Read: Jammu and Kashmir: NC’s Omar Abdullah and PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti booked under Public Safety Act
PM Modi quoted a tweetstorm by Mehmooba Mufti on the 5th of August, the day Article 370 was abrogated. Specifically, PM Modi referred to this tweet where Mehbooba Mufti had questioned what Kashmir got for “choosing India”.
What did J&K get for acceding to India? Another partition along communal lines? Our special status isn’t a gift bestowed upon us. Its a right guaranteed by the same ?? parliament. A contract entered into by J&K leadership & India. Today the very same contract has been violated
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) August 5, 2019
Then, PM Modi referred to Omar Abdullah and said Omar had said, “आर्टिकल 370 को हटाना ऐसा भूकंप लाएगा की कश्मीर भारत से अलग हो जायेगा (The abrogation of Article 370 would bring a massive earthquake that it will divide Kashmir from India.)”.
Before we get into how the propagandists are now trying to twist PM Modi’s words, one must understand the context in which PM Modi was speaking. First, PM Modi spoke at length about the development that has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. He then spoke about how there are charges that the Abrogation of Article 370 was against the tenets of the Constitution of India.
It was then that PM Modi quoted Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah to explain how it was their statements that were against the very tenets of the Constitution and the territorial integrity of India.
To understand this better, here are parts of what Mehbooba Mufti had said after the abrogation of Article 370.
“Decision of J&K leadership to reject 2 nation theory in 1947 & align with India has backfired. Unilateral decision of GOI to scrap Article 370 is illegal & unconstitutional which will make India an occupational force in J&K. GOIs intentions are clear. They want the territory of J&K by terrorising it’s people. Those elements in J&K who rejected the constitution & sought resolution under the UN have been vindicated. GOIs intention is clear & sinister. They want to change the demography of the only Muslim majority state in India, disempower Muslims to the extent where they become second class citizens in their own state. What did J&K get for acceding to India? Another partition along communal lines? Our special status isn’t a gift bestowed upon us. Its a right guaranteed by the same parliament. A contract entered into by J&K leadership & India. Today the very same contract has been violated (sic).”
Further, Omar Abdullah had said that this decision will have ‘dangerous consequences’ almost threatening the Union of India. To understand what he meant by these threats, one must look at Omar Abdullah’s 2014 tweet-storm where he had elucidated exactly what these ‘consequences’ were.
So the new MOS PMO says process/discussions to revoke Art 370 have started. Wow, that was a quick beginning. Not sure who is talking 1/n
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 27, 2014
Mark my words & save this tweet – long after Modi Govt is a distant memory either J&K won’t be part of India or Art 370 will still exist 2/n
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 27, 2014
Art 370 is the ONLY constitutional link between J&K & rest of India. Talk of revocation of not just ill informed it’s irresponsible. 3/3
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 27, 2014
Essentially, both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti had spoken about breaking India up, inciting violence and supporting terrorists and separatists of Kashmir if Article 370 was abrogated. In fact, after being put under house arrest, Omar Abdullah had also raised questions on Kashmir acceding to India and said that the accession was based on Article 370, essentially hinting that now that Article 370 has been abrogated, there is no reason for Kashmir to be a part of India. In fact, Omar Abdullah’s statement post the abrogation of Article 370 and those of Rahul Gandhi, whose party is today shielding Omar Abdullah from the statements of PM Modi were quoted by Pakistan in their anti-India dossier to UNHRC.
Read: Pakistan’s anti-India dossier in UNHRC features quotes from Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah: Reports
Now that these problematic and dangerous statements were mentioned by PM Modi in the parliament itself after time had wiped them clean from public memory, the lobby had to find a way to save face, as they always do, when Islamists are exposed. The Lutyens cabal then focussed on one word that was used by the Prime Minister as a ‘matter of speech’, in order to whitewash the threats issued by the Kashmir leaders only points to a deeper malaise within the Lutyens ecosystem.
Several propagandists took to Twitter to claim that PM Modi was lying and that he had, in fact, quoted a satire website Faking News and passed the word ‘Earthquake’ as an authentic quote by Omar Abdullah. The trope was started by propagandists like Swati Chaturvedi and to help the narrative reach further, self-proclaimed fact-checkers like AltNews who have been caught peddling lies often also chimed in along with Congress and other usual suspects.
Removing Article 370 will cause earthquakes separating Kashmir from India: Omar Abdullah https://t.co/cdZ3EPgoRR @PMOIndia now quotes a satire site. @OmarAbdullah has been in jail for six months without charges 2
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) February 6, 2020
Modi quotes a satirical website, literally called “Faking News” to justify his draconian actions against former J&K CM Omar Abdullah.
This is what happens when the only degree you have is from WhatsApp University. https://t.co/SGuQS4JF3x
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 7, 2020
What the propagandists were trying to do is shield Islamist leaders from Kashmir like Omar Abdullah and latch on to one word, while hiding the truly seditious statements that Abdullah and Mufti had given after the abrogation of Article 370.
The chorus would have been funny if not tragic. ‘will cause earthquakes’ is a popular figure of speech and even their favourite Rahul Gandhi had used it. PM Modi simply paraphrased it. Just that it happened to have been used on Faking News too, doesn’t mean he quoted Faking News. Basically, PM Modi used a figure of speech to paraphrase whatever was said by the Kashmir politicians.
While the manner in which PM Modi paraphrased Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti did not alter the meaning of their sentiment, the same cannot be said about the cabal. In fact, paraphrasing and interpreting wrongly the meaning of PM Modi says has been the favourite strawman tactic used by the cabal for a long time with the media happily playing along, just as it is now.
Going back to point from where the vilification of Prime Minister Modi started – The Gujarat riots of 2002. Times of India had reported that speaking about the riots, PM Modi had said that ‘every action has a reaction’, essentially meaning that the burning of Hindus has been answered with the riots. However, Modi had never said this. After TOI reported this blatant lie, several op-eds by media foot soldiers were written demonising Modi.
Later, in 2013, before the 2014 General Elections, media had misquoted Modi yet again. They reported that Modi had compared Muslims to dogs by saying that even if a dog died, he would have felt bad. In reality, it was again only a metaphor used. Modi had essentially said that we are human beings who feel bad even if an animal dies, the Muslims and Hindus who died were human beings and he is pained by their death.
The most recent was PM Modi’s “15 Lac” comment during the run-up to 2014 elections. PM Modi had said, to quantify the amount of black money stashed abroad that if we ever got all the black money back to India, there was so much, that every person could get 15 Lac out of it. That statement was twisted to report that PM Modi had promised the people of India that he would credit Rs 15 Lac to every citizen’s account. The politicians used that to call Modi a liar and the media simply played along, throwing every ethic of journalism to the wind.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in the saga of how politicians and their pens for hire have misquoted and maligned PM Modi ever since his Gujarat days, that how ‘project vilify Modi’ is still very much in progress.
One has to wonder why the lobby is so desperate at this point in time. Perhaps because with the anti-CAA riots and Muslim mobs wreaking havoc, the carefully crafted narrative of how the only problem that ails India is that of “Hindutva” is falling apart, or because of Shaheen Bagh and how the media aided the Islamists there have exposed the true face of the cabal. Either way, the desperation of the pro-Islamist lobby is rather evident if they had to cling on to such strawman arguments to vilify the Prime Minister.
