The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:
On 10th July 2017, “It’s my job to be informed of critical issues”, thundered Rahul Gandhi on twitter. At the height of Doklam crisis, because Rahul Gandhi wanted to do his “job of being informed of critical issues”, he met the Chinese Ambassador, Bhutan Ambassador, India’s ex NSA, and Congress leaders from the North East. Except anyone from our own government, Rahul Gandhi met everyone else so that he can be “informed of critical issues”.
Subsequently, the Doklam issue was resolved between India and China. However, that hasn’t stopped Rahul Gandhi from continuously saying that “China is still there in Doklam”. For the past year, he has been continuously trying to create an impression that China has occupied Indian territory. So everywhere he goes, he merely repeats ad nauseam that “China is still in Doklam”.
On August 24, 2018, a foreign journalist finally mustered the courage to pose the obvious question to Rahul Gandhi – What would you have done differently about Doklam?
Rahul Gandhi’s answer should jolt you, if you are still harbouring any ambition of wanting him to see him in a position of responsibility.
“(fumbling) I don’t know the details of Doklam, so I cannot answer your question”
In a different world, this answer would have made headlines across the media. Not in ours. In today’s day and age, our media is still thinking they can hide information from the public. Sample today’s front page of The Hindu (Incidentally, filed by the daughter of N.Ram) – “Chinese are still in Doklam: Rahul Gandhi”.
Front page folks, front page. And not a single mention of Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that he doesn’t even know about Doklam.
Scan any news report in the English media today. None of them tell you about this gaffe. Actually, it’s not even a gaffe – it’s an admission of misleading the gullible people of his country. It still beats me as to how this cannot be a serious issue of debate across the news media. If not for social media, we wouldn’t even have known that Rahul Gandhi has simply been bluffing all along.
Thanks to social media, we also came to know that Rahul Gandhi is part of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs! We also came to know that the government and the army gave a full-fledged briefing to this committee. Yet, he is travelling around the world telling them that India is still at fault. How exactly does Rahul Gandhi want to get away with mindless rhetoric and blatant lies?
The Doklam issue began in June 2017. And was resolved with diplomatic maturity by August 28, 2017. Writing for MyInd Makers then, Ramaharitha Pusarla commented that this standoff episode would rank as a “new milestone in Indian Diplomacy under Narendra Modi.” The article details well how the Chinese tried every trick in the book to put India on the backfoot and yet how we have come out on the top. For the uninitiated, Doklam is an old issue between India, China and Bhutan. When China wanted to unilaterally build roads in disputed areas of this region, India stood in solidarity with Bhutan and sent its troops to stop the Chinese activity. After a 2 month standoff, the Chinese backed off. If this is not a victory for our country, then what is?
Even after this new milestone, our media didn’t find the heart to praise the Modi government. Instead they have continuously sought to amplify fake news even months after the issue was resolved. OpIndia did a commendable job documenting all these instances of the Indian media playing to the tune of the Chinese propaganda even after the issue was resolved. It is this mischievous propaganda that Rahul Gandhi has latched on to and repeated it ad nauseam. Now, he is doing it in international forums. What kind of pleasure does the President of the Indian National Congress derive, in deriding his own country at international forums? Am sure if this question is put to him, he will say, “I don’t know”!
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