It'll be Modi vs India in 2019, say opposition leaders
New Delhi, Sep 7 : Indian elections are based on ideologies and not personalities, said key opposition leaders on Friday and stressed that 2019 general elections will be a "Modi vs India" affair.
Speaking at the launch of Congress parliamentarian Kapil Sibal's new book "Shades of Truth - A Journey Derailed", they said that "a very broad-based strategic coalition" would be formed in "at least 25 states" to take on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2019 polls.
After a brief address by former Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Charting the "all-round failure" of the government, Singh charged that the country is facing "an agrarian crisis, economic turmoil and deteriorating ties with neighbouring countries".
He accused the Modi government of ignoring the plight of farmers, which has resulted in numerous protests in state capitals as well as the national capital.
Singh, Ansari and Sibal together unveiled the book to a packed house at the Nehru Memorial Museum Library here.
The book launch was followed by a panel discussion participated by Sibal, P. Chidambaram, Sitaram Yechury, Chandan Mitra and Sharad Yadav. They discussed the prospects of a joint opposition front for the 2019 general elections.
The panelists agreed that the opposition unity would be vital in the coming elections, with Sibal asserting that in "at least 25 states" a "very broad-based strategic coalition" would be worked upon to counter the BJP.
Chidambaram recounted that even in 2014 general elections, despite the wind in its favour, the BJP failed to attract the masses in several states like Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala and Odisha.
Sibal also noted that the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, both currently ruled by the NDA, would have a decisive role to play in the next elections.
On the question of who will be the prime ministerial candidate of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) against Modi, all panelists, except Chandan Mitra of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), maintained that a prime ministerial face is not important.
Yadav recounted a series of elections where a joint coalition had formed the government without declaring their prime ministerial candidate in advance.
"But, much water has flown through the Yamuna since the time you are talking about," interjected Mitra, who recently quit the BJP to join its adversary in West Bengal. He said the voters are much more aware today and therefore a prime ministerial candidate is important.
Mitra maintained that the prime ministerial candidate of the UPA must be from a regional party, whose credentials are well established.
Responding to an audience question, Sibal said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that he is ready to take on Modi, so there is no question of "whether or not he is up for it".
"He is up for it and he has said that publicly," Sibal quipped, adding that a prime ministerial face is not important before the elections.
He recalled that there was a debate before 2014 general elections that the country needs a strong leadership and a prominent face. "The great leader (Modi) has given us demonetisation," he said.
"It will be Modi vs India," said Yadav, as the panelists nodded in affirmation and loud claps by opposition leaders resonated in the packed hall.
On their projections for the 2019 general elections, the panelists reiterated that the coming together of the opposition parties at state level would result in their victory.
The attendees included opposition leaders across political parties, including Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI-M, former JD-U members Sharad Yadav and Pavan Varma, TMC member Chanadan Mitra and a host of senior Congress leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Saman Khurshid and Shashi Tharoor, among others.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
