Congress president Rahul Gandhi, during his interview with News Nation‘s Deepak Chaurasia who had also interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 11, confronted the journalist about the question and answer sheet that was seen in the PM’s hand.
PM Modi’s interview gained infamy for multiple blunders — the ‘radar cloud cover’ and ‘using digital camera and email in 1987-88’ remarks, the coup de grâce being the sheets containing interview questions seen in Modi’s hand.
PM Modi is asked to recite a recent poetry of his in the @NewsNationTV intvw. He asks for HIS file which is duly handed over, and he starts fiddling with a bunch of papers. The paper on which there's a printed copy of a poetry also has a printed question on the top.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/S5TEffE60F
— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) May 13, 2019
Later, while interviewing Rahul Gandhi, Chaurasia asked him about PM Modi’s statement that the BJP won all seats in Surat in the last Gujarat Assembly elections. To this, Gandhi jibed, “This answer, was it on the Prime Minister’s note-sheet. That paper in his hand, was this written on it?”
Visibly embarrassed, Chaurasia tries to defend the PM (and himself) by saying that the papers only contained the poem that the PM had recited. However, Gandhi said pointed out that that even the question was written on the sheet, a fact that the everyone has now seen. “I want to know if this reply (about BJP’s performance in Surat), came from a note sheet or from memory,” Gandhi asked.
A twitter user posted the clipping of the interaction saying, “Rahul Gandhi left (Deepak) Chaurasia speechless.”
Bolti bandh kara di @RahulGandhi ne #Chaurasiya ki. ???? pic.twitter.com/5okdUJ4U4j
— Ashwin Mane. ???????? (@Ash_LoneHunter) May 14, 2019
Chaurasia again tried to defend the indefensible by saying that for the rest of the interview, the PM had not referred to a note sheet.
But because the question was indeed clearly visible on the sheet in PM’s hand, thanks to the camera which zoomed in on it at exactly the right angle and time, the issue is not debatable.
Also Read: Camera Catches Modi Holding Paper With Questions & Answers During TV Interview
The Congress president even tells Chaurasia that if they did not like that he pointed this out, News Nation can edit it out. “If you’re scared, you can edit this out, I am giving you permission.”
You can watch the moment at around 6:10 in the full interview: