Rahul Gandhi ‘fudging figures’ in Gujarat poll campaign shows his ‘political maturity’
The impossible has happened. The ordinarily fact-bound Rahul Gandhi has been accused of not strictly adhering to the exact number down to the last decimal in his Gujarat election campaign speeches. Of course, the Congress vice-president, on the verge of being crowned the chief of the grand old party, is toying with a little rhetoric, upping his ante, as it were, in the game of political brinkmanship in which pulling the other down is easier achieved than showcasing one’s achievements truthfully.
After “Gabbar Singh Tax” and “Jumlo ki baarish” tweets, Gandhi tweeted on November 26, that PM Modi’s pet Make in India project just died. He was citing a report in Business Standard that dealers have stopped placing orders for Tata Nano, whose factory was set up in Gujarat’s Sanand, and the average production rate had sunk to two cars a day.
PM’s pet “Make in India” project just died. 33,000 crores of Gujarati taxpayer money turned to ash. Who is accountable? https://t.co/pQ9HUK6Ui1
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 26, 2017
Gandhi asked in port city Porbandar if youth in Guajrat got jobs at the Sanand plant, which is at a record low, and said that Rs 33,000 crore benefits were given to the plant as part of Make in India scheme, but the government couldn’t even give Rs 300 crore subsidy on fuel to Gujarat’s fisherfolk. He then said that while Congress-led UPA spent on MGNREGA, about Rs 35,000 crore, Modi government was giving benefits to industrialists like Tata.
He also said Congress would invest in healthcare and education if it’s voted to power.
Naturally, Gandhi’s broadbrush strokes and high-voltage speech got the BJP’s goat, with a number of BJP leaders and members, particularly BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya taking to Twitter, to express umbrage at Rahul “lying”, or “fudging figures”.
Rahul Gandhi caught faking unemployment numbers in Gujarat.. He reduced the number of unemployed in the state by a whooping 20 lakhs in a matter of hours. He has been blatantly lying on several other issues but usually the quick media has done no fact check! Why? pic.twitter.com/nwovgBEHEv
— Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) November 25, 2017
Another politically expedient lie of Rahul Gandhi, whose campaign in Gujarat is full of misleading and factually incorrect statements.. https://t.co/XWXwKnwdvU
— Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) November 25, 2017
He also retweeted those mocking Rahul’s MGNREGA versus Tata comparison, going on to say at a TV debate later that Rahul indulges “college-level debates”, not political smartness.
Another politically expedient lie of Rahul Gandhi, whose campaign in Gujarat is full of misleading and factually incorrect statements.. https://t.co/XWXwKnwdvU
— Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) November 25, 2017
#PidiNomics का ये है कमाल डाटा देते हैं धमाल #pidigandhi #GujaratElection2017 #RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/8V04z5qMgb
— लक्ष्य 2019 (@Lakshya2019) November 25, 2017
There’s, however, a palpable sense of unease among the BJP leaders, who rush to contradict Rahul Gandhi even when the Congress V-P indulges in some hyperbole to drive home his points. The fifth member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to be the Congress chief, who has so far steered clear of any Hindu-Muslim polarising statements in the poll-bound state, needs to nevertheless keep fuelling the fire of deep unrest in Gujarat, underline the points of contention, draw attention towards the elusive “vikas” that has almost but disappeared in the BJP election rhetoric, where PM Modi has been blaming Congress even though BJP has been in power for 22 years at a stretch in the state.
Without the communal polarisation card, that the BJP so liberally uses at every level, deploying controversial figures like Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath as a Hindutva mascot for election campaigns, the Congress V-P doesn’t have too many choices but to increase the pitch and hype up the tone of his speeches. If he’s calling PM Modi’s Make in India a failure because Tata Nano plant in Gujarat’s Sanand is registering record low production and sales, it’s a clever sleight of hand, really.
Because of GST, automakers have registered losses, and Tata isn’t the only one to face the brunt. Hyundai, Bajaj, among others, have publicly admitted to the GST-induced confusion resulting in low sales, while others have kept quiet, hoping the storm to blow over. Recently, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has accused PM Modi of withholding funds and keeping bureaucratic nods pending to stall projects in her state, saying it’s a “super Emergency”.
There is a super-Emergency in the country; you people in the media are all scared: @MamataOfficial blasts off while speaking to me at #ConclaveEast17 @IndiaToday tv
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) November 24, 2017
A bit of rhetoric has always helped a good politician, as long as it’s not steering too far from reality. While PM Modi says people of Kutch have been thirsting for water and blamed Congress for it, he conveniently erased that it was the Congress that’s started building the Narmada dam, despite controversies over its impact.
Similarly, though Sardar Patel was much feted in the Congress circles and was the first home minister, PM Modi never fails to scold the grand old party and the Nehru-Gandhis for their so-called neglect of the son of Gujarat.
What Rahul Gandhi is doing isn’t fudging figures but a sweeping generalisation of the current situation. At a time when favourable surveys can be published as if on cue and ratings upgrade can be obtained despite economic indicators going south, when the menace of fake news is staring hard in our face, making it difficult to separate reality from propaganda, the rhetorical flourish of the Congress V-P is a really a harmless tactic, much like his Pidi tweet.
Both Congress and their allies in Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani, are sticking to hardcore issues like employment, farming crisis, development, industries facing low growth, healthcare and education, and have tried building from the grounds-up a coalition of the have-nots, which includes all those allegedly fallen by the wayside under BJP rule in Gujarat, echoing economist Jean Dreze’s comment that it’s “Gujarat muddle”, not model.
What Rahul Gandhi has done is therefore shown political maturity that is not indicator of governance capabilities but to rake up electoral dividends, with his rhetorical flourish.