As the largest democracy of the world holds its general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to go on a lying spree. With a new lie every time he takes the stage, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s script for this election is changing on the daily. From outlandish claims about the Congress manifesto to hate speech against a section of his own citizens, the prime minister has done it all. So we did something too.
Here’s a list of some of Modi’s lies this election season.
1. May 8: Rahul Gandhi has stopped talking about ‘Adani-Ambani’
At a campaign rally in Telangana’s Karimnagar Modi brought a new issue into his electoral campaign – a “deal” he alleged that the Congress has made with business tycoons Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani. These are two businessmen – both from Gujarat – that the Modi administration has been accused of favouring during its tenure, with opposition leaders alleging that the prime minister has “sold the country” to the duo.
Fact Check: Congress never went silent on the issue. Read the full report here.
2. May 7: Congress is asking people to do ‘Vote Jihad’
While campaigning in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone, the prime minister said:
“India is at a crucial turning point in history. You have to decide whether there will be ‘vote jihad’ or ‘Ram rajya’ in India. Terrorists in Pakistan are threatening jihad against India, and Congress people here have announced that people must do ‘vote jihad’ against Modi. That is, people of a special religion have been asked to unite and vote against Modi,” he said.
Fact Check: Neither the Congress manifesto nor the party’s campaign speeches feature the term ‘vote-jihad’. Read the full report here.
3. May 7: Modi wants to win on 400+ seats so that Congress cannot:
- Put ‘Babri lock’ on the Ram temple
- Revive Article 370 in Kashmir
- Select sportspersons on the basis of religion
Fact Check: The Congress Manifesto does not feature ‘Article 370’; the lock on Babri masjid were opened during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister and a Congress state government in UP in 1985; on Sports, the Congress manifesto, without mentioning religion, says some of the following:
- Congress will provide sports scholarships of Rs 10,000 per month for talented and budding sportspersons below the age of 21.
- Congress will ensure that there is at least one community sports centre in every block and municipal town and at least one multi-sport coaching centre in every district.
- We will allocate sufficient funds to promote sports among girls and women, persons with disabilities, and disadvantaged groups such as ST.
4. April 29: Congress wants to ‘steal’ ST/SC/OBC reservation and hand it to Muslims
While campaigning in Maharashtra, the prime minister accused the Congress of wanting to “steal” the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward classes (OBCs) to hand them over to Muslims as an act of political appeasement.
Fact Check: Not only does the Congress manifesto not mention reservations for Muslims, it also states that the party will:
- Pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC.
- The reservation of 10 per cent in jobs and educational institutions for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be implemented for all castes and communities without discrimination.
- We will fill all the backlog vacancies in posts reserved for SC, ST and OBC within a period of one year.
On the other hand, Chandrababu Naidu, a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, has been seeking Muslim votes by promising them a quota. In fact, in almost all his speeches, he has promised a 4% quota for Muslims if elected to power in Andhra Pradesh. Read the full report here.
5. April 21: Congress will steal your money, gold, property and ‘mangalsutras‘ to give them to Muslims
While campaigning in Rajasthan’s Banswara, the prime minister called a section of his own citizens, the Muslim community, ‘infiltrators’, and ‘those who have more children’. While the prime minister has never considered himself to be above using communal slurs, one might have expected the model code of conduct to have some semblance of deterrence for the man holding the highest office of the country.
Fact Check: The Congress manifesto does not talk about redistribution of the wealth in the country, let alone among any particular community. It does, however, draw attention the rising inequality between India’s top 1% and the rest of the country. Read the full report here.
6. April 21: Congress believes Muslims have the first right on property
In the same speech from Banswara, the prime minister, for the second time, misquoted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 2006 speech where he said, “We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development.”
Fact Check: Modi had made similar misleading claims in 2006 that were refuted then, and have been once again refuted now. Read the full report here.
