Modi claiming electricity in Nagla Fatela in his speech was not a bright idea
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been fact-checked one too many times to much embarrassment. He is prone to making tall promises, not delivering on them, and then waxing eloquent about the absent achievements in an even louder pitch - the PM's script is played to perfection and seems real, each time.
His latest gaffe made it to the Independence Day speech. A speech so long that many grew 10 years older just listening to it.
This time, Modiji claimed his government succeeded in electrifying thousands of villages. Now he is not one to forget the pledges he made during last year's I-Day speech. One village that shot into focus was Nagla Fatela, a village close to the capital. But let's just say it wasn't the brightest idea.
"Out of 18,000 villages, more than 10,000 villages have been electrified. The village of Nagla Fatela is only three hours from Delhi, but it took more than 70 years for it to get electricity. I have been told they are with us, watching this celebration of Independence Day," said Modiji.
Then his official Twitter handle, @PMOIndia, tweeted a photo of people from Nagla Fatela village sitting and watching his address on TV.
His tweet said, "People of Nagla Phatela watching the Independence Day celebrations for the first time. More power to them. :)"
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| PM Modi's account later deleted this tweet. |
The people of Nagla Phatela aren't as enthusiastic about Modiji's big announcement as the PM himself is, and promptly called his bluff.
*Drum Roll*
They said the photo with children watching the programme didn't even belong to their village. "No programme was organised in our village. The picture with children watching the Independence Day programme does not belong to our village" said Nagla Fatela's sarpanch.
The good folks at the village said that while poles had been set up and electricity metres installed in homes, there was still no power supply.
Embarrassment strikes at lightning pace! But wait, it didn't end there.
Modiji's power minister, Piyush Goyal, who had earlier tweeted about his ministry's achievement in bringing electricity to homes in the village, issued a clarification, which turned out to be even more embarrassing.
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| Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal should hold his horses while tweeting. |
Titled "Electrification of Village Nagla Fatela, Hathras -Facts at a Glance," the clarification issued by ministry of power confessed that the electrification of "said village was proposed" by the Akhilesh Yadav government and the detailed project report was sanctioned by the UPA government on "20.12.2013 and sanction letter was released by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) on 06.01.2014."
A newsflash for our Modiji: his government wasn't even in power when power to the Nagla Fatela was sanctioned; it was done under the Congress' regime.