The Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat, Delhi has the epitaph “Hē Ram”, the words he spoke just before he died
after being shot. Thousands pay their respects to Gandhi here every day. Every
one of them reads the epitaph and the Mahatma’s last words have been taught to
us in schools and history books. But did he really say those? No one has compelling
evidence that Gandhi did say ‘Hē Ram’ and none has ever been presented. He
could well have said anything else or maybe even nothing at all. This is how myths work.
It starts with somebody’s imagination or hallucination, somebody influential.
Then it creeps into history books and the media dishes out propaganda. Before long
the myth becomes the established and accepted truth.But not forever.
Closer to present day, for
years some in the Indian media have reported that the Supreme Court had rapped
the Gujarat govt over the 2002 riots with: “Neros were looking elsewhere when Gujarat was burning". Did
the SC actually say that? Let’s assume they did. But Arjun Modhwadia, Congress
leader in Gujarat has promised to prove the SC statement is true in the Gujarat
Assembly. He is struggling to establish this though. He is searching for
evidence and so am I. Whether Modhwadia presents the evidence in the Gujarat
assembly or not, over the last decade many celebrity media anchors have used the
supposed statement of the SC to equate Narendra Modi with Nero. Story is that
the Roman emperor was famously fiddling while Rome was burning so he could make
a palatial complex out of the ruins. So much was invested in painting Modi as a
murderer and looking the other way during Gujarat 2002 that the SIT Closure
report must have come as a shock to a huge industry of liars. The SIT
investigation is neatly summarised by Offstumped
and to cut a long story short I am just quoting his summary here:
... the thrust of CM’s speech everywhere was that the incident was heinous,
organised and that the culprits would be brought to strictest punishment.. . .
.it is not the case that the Chief Minister made any assertion concerning- the
obligation of any religious community to do such acts, as are likely to cause
disharmony. He did not make any appeal to Hindus or Muslims to take up arms
against each other.’it is reasonably concluded that no utterances on part of
Shri Narendra Modi could ‘be attributed suggestive to any intended promotion of
hatred ill-will etc.. amongst religious groups…
… the Learned Amicus Curiae has agreed with the various recommendations
made by the SIT on the different issues inquired into /investigated by the SIT.
However, the Ld. Amicus Curiae is of the view that, at this prima facie stage
offences u/s 153A(I )(a)& (b), 1536 (I 166 and 505 (2) IPC are made out
against Shri Narendra regarding the statement made by him in the meeting. In
this connection, as discussed, above SIT is of the view that the offences under
the aforesaid, sections of law are not made out against Shri Narendra Modi. In
the light of the aforesaid facts, a closure report is being submitted for
favour of perusal and orders…
Since the SIT closure report did not suit their taste the media
typically hung on grimly to the utterances of the Amicus Curae (AC) and kept
suggesting Modi could be prosecuted based on the AC’s report. The AC has
offered his opinion which does not constitute evidence. His opinion has also
been considered and reported upon by the SIT. Let us do a roll-call of the
vicious actors in the decade long campaign against Modi – Teesta Setalvad,
Shabnam Hashmi, Arundhati Roy, Harsh Mandar, Sanjiv Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt,
Mallika Sarabhai … where do I stop? It’s too long. And then there’s another
list from the media. Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Arnab
Goswami, Vinod Sharma, Vir Sanghvi…. Again too long a list. All of these
characters should hang their heads in shame and should actually apologise for
the untruths they spread about Modi and Gujarat. In their Hate-Modi campaign
they have even scoffed at the development of Gujarat and the progress the state
has made under him. Such a campaign
cannot be anything but ‘motivated’ and requires huge funding to sustain.
 | ||
| SIT makes the biggest bonfire of media lies |
The lies, the half-truths have all come to haunt the biggest
personalities in the media. It is even unfortunate that some of them, also
involved in other scandals, continue in their jobs. Many members of the Congress
party have also wilfully indulged in encouraging the lies about Gujarat. After
the SIT report, the next investigation has to be into the funding of NGOs like
those of Teesta, Shabnam and the activities of Sanjiv Bhatt and many others.
And what do we do with all the fake reports by the media over the decade? I
have a modest suggestion! Put them all together and burn them in the biggest
bonfire in your neighbourhood. The other lesson people should have learned by
now: Never trust one word of what the news media says except for the bare news
they report. They have lost all credibility and if they wish to regain it, the
5-star criminals must resign. The SIT has burned their lies and deceit. And let the bonfire of their reports and vanities be
as hot as the fires of Rome.
Of the gang of crooks in the news media there are a few who still have
people’s respect. One of them, Ravish
Kumar of NDTV (Hindi) recently tweeted and I translate his statement: “Government’s lie and the media turns those
lies into truth”. That’s the modern media’s daily job. In all of this the
activists and media crooks have even forgotten that if ever a case were to be
indeed brought against Narendra Modi he has every right to legal defence.
Whether Modi will ever need it is a matter of conjecture but no man in Indian
history has been so held guilty by suspicion, accusation and propaganda as he
has been. Even known and convicted terrorists in our prisons have got better
deals. Narendra Modi was and remains an innocent man in the eyes of the law as
of now. From CMs to PMs there have been instances of negligence during
agitations and communal riots. That may be true for Modi as well but the myth of
him being an instigator, conspirator or supporter of the 2002 riot ends here. This
particular myth, like the ‘Hē Ram’ of Gandhi, will not go on to become gospel
truth.
And yes, what about the liars in the media and NGOs? There has to be a
law by which such campaigners should be prosecuted and brought to justice. What
about the supposed statement of SC comparing Nero fiddling while Rome burned to
Gujarat or Narendra Modi? Although I doubt SC actually made that statement even
learned judges can sometimes use myths as an expression. There were many fires
in Rome during the period of Nero’s rule. The famous fire in which he fiddled
was during the year 64 in the first century. Awful truth is: Violins weren’t invented till over 1000 years after
Nero’s death. Oh well! Since that was a myth the historians suggested he
must have played a stringed instrument called the ‘Lyre’ but even that turned
out a hoax. Rome didn’t have an SIT then. If there had been one, the SIT would
have established the Truth: Nero Never
Fiddled!
