Urdu Daily newspaper Inquilab printed on its first page of the June 12th edition that Rahul Gandhi had proudly said at a meeting with Muslim intellectuals that Congress is a party of Muslims.
Interestingly enough, the newspaper stood by its report, accentuating through another report saying that the Congress minority cell chief, Nadeem Javed corroborated the former, even after most of the members present in the meeting denied it.
BJP’s Attack On Gandhi About The Statement
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted recently,
“In an interview to Inquilab, Congress Minority Cell President Nadeem Javed has reiterated that Rahul Gandhi was right in saying, ‘Yes, we are a part of Muslims’.
Mr. Javed further says Rahul Gandhi is meeting Muslim League and very soon he will be presiding over a Muslim Convention”.
The tweet set fire to the news and victimization of Rahul Gandhi for practicing communal politics wouldn’t stop after that.
The Prime Minister himself took this newspaper report up to take a dig at the Grand Old Party’s president on how he was just trying his hands on a get-sympathy-from-minorities kind of a vote bank.
The education minister, Prakash Javedkar accentuated Modi’s comment and attacked Rahul Gandhi on this sudden shift of vote bank policies from Hindus to Muslims.
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The Truth And How Inquilab Flouted It
Although the Urdu Daily reporter Mumtaz Alam Rizwi asserted that Nadeem Javed backed up this report of Gandhi calling Congress a party of Muslims, Javed contradicted and clarified that the report was twisted, Gandhi’s words were different.
Most of the Muslim Intellectuals who met Rahul Gandhi have denied any ‘Congress being a Muslim party’ comments.
The real words by Rahul Gandhi at the meeting with the Muslim Intellectuals, according to Javed, were:
“Congress is a party of all. We are a party for the weak, and Muslims are weakened, like the Dalits were in the past. So yes, we are a party of Muslims if that’s what’s needed.”
The first few words were left unheard and reports were made by the Urdu newspaper taking into consideration just the last line of the statement.
Later, The Inquilab editor, Shakeel Shamsi justified his stand by saying that his news was nothing wrong. The havoc was created by a BJP MP’s tweet about the same, referring to Sambit Patra indirectly.
Randeep Surjewala, an MLA from the Congress strongly condemned this act by the ruling party and compared them to the British saying: “Divide and rule was the principle then; divide the state is the principle now. BJP is the new version of the East India Company.”
Certain media channels may sometimes flout news for publicity, but we as citizens should bear in mind never to judge a politician based on what is being spoken about him/her.
The real judgement should be based totally upon the work done for the development and welfare of the country.
India still awaits the time that politicians and media will rise above the petty game of politics and let the political discourse be more relevant to the nation’s growth.
Image Source: Google Images
Sources: Firstpost, Times of India, NDTV
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