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Journalism of Courage
It is said no information ever disappears from the Internet once it is in public domain. Hyperactive trolls are making sure that a list of 25 statements purportedly made by politicians from the Congress and allies in the past continue to be in circulation, obviously to show them in poor light in poll season. Some statements are distorted, leading to a debate on authenticity.
The list contains statements like, “poverty is a state of mind” by Rahul Gandhi — although what is mentioned is somewhat distorted — and “people will forget the coal scam as they forgot Bofors” by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. It also has Rajiv Gandhi’s statement, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes” on the anti-Sikh riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984.
“Before voting, please remember statements of Congress & its allies”, reminds the list that has gone viral on Internet. Propagated by BJP supporters, these statements have found their way into fora supporting Narendra Modi besides discussion boards on Jat reservation, social network groups dominated by NRIs, Twitter, Facebook and mobile messaging platforms like Whatsapp to name a few.
A few of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks on inflation and economy are there —some have been distorted, some are quoted out of context and some seem downright imaginary. “The poor are responsible for inflation,” the list quotes the PM as having said though he seems to have never made such a statement.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on purchase of gold impacting economy has been distorted to project as if he had said buying gold caused “inflation”.
The finance minister, along with Rahul and Singh, features multiple times. As does Raj Babbar, A K Antony, Bhakta Charan Das and Salman Khurshid, with their controversial statements. NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan are also there.
NCP’s Ajit Pawar also finds a mention for his remark “should I urinate to fill dams” for which he had tendered an apology. The list shared across platforms is gaining momentum and though netizens are arguing over authenticity of the so-called statements, the purpose of circulating the list seems to have been served.
