Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on Thursday, took to Twitter to accuse Congress President Rahul Gandhi of lying in politics.
In his tweet, Jaitely wrote, ”In mature democracies those who rely on falsehood are considered unfit for public life. Many have been banished from political activity for lying.”
There has been no reply on Rafale questions raised by me. In mature democracies those who rely on falsehood are considered unfit for public life. Many have been banished from political activity for lying. But this rule obviously can’t apply to a dynastic party like Congress.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 20, 2018
One could not be blamed for wondering if FM Jaitely was taunting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, due to the latter’s penchant for lying.
Here are 8 times when PM Modi conveniently chose to lie to India.
- PM Modi Claimed No Congress Leader Met Bhagat Singh In Jail
In May this year, while addressing a rally in then poll-bound Karnataka, PM Modi claimed that no Congress leader went to meet freedom fighter Bhagat Singh when he was jailed.
“When Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt, Veer Savarkar, greats like them were jailed fighting for the country’s independence, did any Congress leader go to meet them? he asked. But the Congress leaders go and meet the corrupt who have been jailed. Congress is supporting those who are corrupt. Such things cannot be accepted,” Modi said.
Fact: Historians and journalists were quick to call out PM Modi for making an incredulous claim. Soon, twitter was fill with proofs of Congress leaders to met Bhagat Singh when he was in prison.
Go and read history before misusing it for politics. Nehru not only met them in prison but also wrote about them. Several Congress leaders defied Gandhi to speak for them. https://t.co/IMr2vTpSnW
— S lrfan Habib एस इरफान हबीब عرفان حبئب (@irfhabib) May 10, 2018
Dear Prime Minister,
Please do not embarrass us anymore. I know, it's not your fault. Your research team is failing you.#Nehru did visit #BhagatSingh after he went on hunger strike at Mianwali jail in June, 1929. This is well documented.
And this is what he had to say: https://t.co/tWl1krZ0KE— Rajesh Mahapatra | ରାଜେଶ ମହାପାତ୍ର (@rajeshmahapatra) May 10, 2018
India Today also busted Modi’s claim and reported that it’s well documented that Nehru met Bhagat Singh in Lahore jail on August 8, 1929, when several inmates – including Singh – were on a hunger strike, protesting ill-treatment by prison authorities.
Nehru mentioned his meeting with Bhagat Singh in his autobiography.
Nehru wrote, “I happened to be in Lahore when the hunger strike was already a month old. I was given permission to visit some of the prisoners in the prison, and I availed myself of this. I saw Bhagat Singh for the first time, and Jatindranath Das and a few others.”
- PM Modi Said Demonetisation Will Eliminate Black Money From Economy
On 9th November, 2016, PM Modi and his government banned old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. In his speech addressing the nation that day, PM claimed that this move will help eliminate fake currency, promote cashless economy and end terrorism.
Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, in an article for NewsCentral24x7.com busted all the false claims made by PM Modi.
“PM Modi in his 2017 Independence Day speech, from the Red Fort (which is now leased to a private entity.. because Modinomics) made tall claims about Rs 3 lakh crore not coming back to the system. This claim has now been emphatically proved to nothing but a big fat lie!
According to the RBI report released in August this year, of the notes that were demonetised, currency worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore had been received as of June 30, 2017. This out of a total Rs 15.42 lakh crore, which was rendered invalid by demonetisation. This means a mere Rs 10,720 crore has not returned to the banks.”
- PM Modi Claimed That BJP Achieved 100% Electrification Of Villages In India
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed that the NDA government had achieved 100 per cent electrification of villages in India. Later, BJP IT Cell head, Amit Malviya, claimed that the BJP has electrified 18,374 villages in “just” 4 years.
Fact: It’s true that today, India has achieved 100 per cent electrification in all villages. However, PM conveniently skipped to mention, is that 95.6 per cent of villages had been electrified before May 2014, under the UPA regime.
Between 2005-2014, the Manmohan Singh government carried out electrification at the rate of almost 10,000 villages per year. The BJP’s pac, on the other hand, has been roughly around 5,000 villages a year – half of the Congress government’s. The BJP would have taken 25.8 years to electrify all villages.
The BJP taking complete credit of 100 percent electrification of villages is nothing short of a lie aimed at misleading people, like most the party’s empty claims about development.
- PM Modi Misquoted WHO Data On Swachh Bharat
PM shared success stories of the schemes launched by his government on the 72nd Independence Day this year. While boasting about the achievements of the Swachh Bharat Mission, he quoted a World Health Organisation (WHO) report saying that the scheme has already saved lives of three lakh children, reported India Today.
Fact: In a report published earlier this year by WHO’s regional office for South East Asia, it said, “WHO lauds India’s commitment to accelerated coverage of safe sanitation services which, assuming 100% coverage is achieved by October 2019, could avert up to 300,000 deaths due to diarrheal disease and protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) since the country launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014.”
Notably, the WHO report stated that “assuming‘ 100% coverage is achieved by October 2019, could avert up to 3,00,000 deaths….”
But for PM Modi, it is quite usual to twist and turn facts. Just everyday phenomena.
- PM Modi Claimed Work Of 99 Irrigation Projects Was Shut Under UPA Govt
While delivering his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2018 PM Modi said, “Farmers are using micro-irrigation, drip irrigation, sprinklers and on the other end, work on 99 closed down big irrigation projects is now on-going.”
Fact: According to FactCheck India, those 99 projects were never shut down.
FactCheck India busted Modi’s lie and tweeted, “These 99 high-priority irrigation projects were never shut down. They were taken up under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) that began in 1996-97, and prioritised for completion by December 2019 under NDA government in July 2016 “as these can be completed in a period of 2-3 years if estimated funds are made available.”
“Of 99 ‘high-priority’ projects to be completed by December 2019, 54 were to be completed in 2 phases by March 2018, said NITI Aayog roadmap. Nearly 6 months past deadline, 23 projects are pending completion, only 31 irrigation projects completed so far; 45 more to be completed by December 2019,” its another tweet read.
Also Read: BJP Leaders Are Talented Comedians; Here Are Eight Ridiculous Remarks Made By Them In 2018
- PM Mod Claimed Former PM Vajpayee Was A Passenger On India’s First Ever Metro
At a speech to mark the inauguration of the Magenta line of Delhi metro, PM Modi on December 25, 2017 said that former PM Vajpayee became a passenger on India’s first ever metro service when the Delhi metro was flagged off in 2002, reported AltNews.
Fact: AltNews busted PM’s uninformed claim and reported that he very first metro service to be launched in India was the Kolkata metro, the foundation stone for which was laid by former PM Indira Gandhi in 1972. The service was finally launced in 1984. Delhi metro was India’s 2nd metro service after Kolkata.
- PM Modi Claimed BJP Started The Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme
Addressing a rally in Karnataka in October 2017, PM Modi stated that it was the BJP government that had launched the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. He claimed that his government had saved upto Rs,57,000 crore by eliminating middlemen and plugging leakages.
Fact: Well, PM Modi’s claim was nothing but a hollow lie. AltNews reported the DBT scheme was first launched in the year 2013. The Union Budget of February 2013 had announced that the scheme would be retrospectively effective from January 1, 2013. In fact, a tweet by the Prime Minister’s Office (@PMOIndia) of August 2017 itself stated how the DBT scheme had ‘grown’ from 2013-14 to the present year.
- PM Said More Electricity Supplied In Uttar Pradesh During Eid Than Diwali
Ahead of U.P. assembly elections in 2017, PM Modi at a rally in Fatehpur had claimed that the U.P government then headed by the Samajwadi party had supplied more electricity during the festival of Eid than Diwali. PM Modi had said, “Ramzan me bijli ati hai toh Diwali me bhi ani chahiye; bhedbhav nahi hona chahiye” (If there is electricity during Ramadan then it must be available during Diwali too; there shouldn’t be any discrimination).
Fact: AltNews reported that according to official statistics, the power supply on Eid (6 July 2016) was 13,500 MW per day while the power supply on Diwali (28 Oct to Nov 1, 2016) was 15,400 MW per day with a 24-hour supply on all 5 days. These statistics clearly showed that not only was the power supply not deficient on the days of Diwali, but in fact was more than Eid.