By Align India Editors
No, Rahul Gandhi didn’t tear that ordinance. Why, then, are you being made to believe that he did?
It is everywhere: the video of Rahul Gandhi ripping a controversial ordinance. That didn’t happen. But some clever work by the IT cell made it the apparent truth.
At the actual 2013 press conference, Rahul Gandhi objected to the ordinance, but never actually tore it. The video is a simple manipulation of a past speech in Lucknow, where he tore a piece of paper.
The ordinance in question allowed a sitting legislator to retain his position even while an appeal was pending. Rahul Gandhi disagreed. He called out his own government. His interest was in bettering his country, not in blindly supporting his party.
Persuading the public that he tore the ordinance is just a juvenile attempt to ruin the opponent’s reputation. It is a classic dictator move – dig up dirt on your only strong opposition. When you don’t find anything, make something up.
In this case, the BJP decided to paint Rahul Gandhi as a Pappu – an immature, irresponsible buffoon who lacks interest in Indian politics. And in so doing, they stole from you a fundamental democratic right – your alternative. A voter’s alternative.
In truth, Rahul Gandhi aims to make India a true welfare state through the Nyay program. He believes in a clean environment – both of which are incompatible with crony capitalists.
What’s next?
If Rahul Gandhi has a great tragedy, it is his image. The very people he fights for, see him as an enemy. Worse still, they believe he is unfit to fight for them.
This myth was one of many, in a sustained propaganda mission designed to alienate people from a man who is keeping the idea of India alive.
Align India helps you dismantle propaganda piece-by-piece so that Indian democracy stays alive. The deafening din of bigotry and jingoism has made us forget Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Shastri, and scores of other leaders who built India based on the values of peace and ethics, standing up for the downtrodden and the voiceless. Our effort is aimed at reviving these core values as enshrined in the Constitution of India while fiercely protecting the diversity, which defines the idea of India.