A great man once said, ‘Clothes don’t make a man’. If he were alive today, he needed to visit the India of today to know how wrong he was. In modern India, people do judge one by the clothes he/she is wearing, and God forbid if anyone is spotted wearing the saffron colors, they’ll be looked down upon to the extent as if they’ve committed a grave sin by wearing saffron clothes.
Probably this is one of the main reasons why despite being a brilliant orator, an able campaigner as well as an extremely successful administrator, the current CM of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, has never been the darling of the media. Leaving no stone unturned in discrediting his existence, the media finds more pleasure in pointing out the manufactured flaws than the accomplishments he has achieved as the incumbent CM of UP in barely a year.
In their latest hit job aimed at CM Yogi, the media tried to create another Gorakhpur for him, in the sense that Yogi shirks responsibilities and is downplaying the sentiments of the aggrieved peasants and the masses. Before going deeper into the mess, let’s have a look at the incident that gave ammunition to the media to create mountain of a molehill.
In Kushinagar, the place where Shri Gautama Buddha attained Nirvana, a school van collided with a speeding train at an unmanned railway crossing. A ‘Gate Mitra’, who is a man deputed with the responsibility of informing commuters at unmanned crossings, tried to stop the van but in vain. At least 13 kids, aged between 7 -12 years, died on the spot and four kids, along with the driver, were injured. As of now, they’re being treated at the BRD hospital at Gorakhpur.
Not the one to take such incidents lying down, CM Yogi quickly sent for an accident relief train from Gorakhpur to the crash site. He immediately landed down for a first base report from ground zero about the incident and had a word with all the survivors. He issued the following orders with immediate effect:-
Spoke to Railway minister. Prima facie appears to be mistake of van driver, he had earphones on & there are questions over his age too. There are rules in place, inquiry will be conducted as to why they were not followed. Strict action will be taken: CM on #Kushinagar accident pic.twitter.com/PkQLtX6riy
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 26, 2018
This, however, wasn’t enough for the media, who had thought they’d received unlimited ammunition to corner the firebrand CM. Putting absurd conspiracy theories on the table, they tried to frame CM Yogi Adityanath when he issued the following statement:-
Spoke to Railway minister. Prima facie appears to be mistake of van driver, he had earphones on & there are questions over his age too. There are rules in place, inquiry will be conducted as to why they were not followed. Strict action will be taken: CM on #Kushinagar accident pic.twitter.com/PkQLtX6riy
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 26, 2018
Even a layman would understand that CM Yogi has given this statement on the basis of the immediate testimonials as conveyed to him. Besides, it can’t be that the driver was all ears, and yet he failed to see a speeding train on an unmanned crossing. Even a survivor, who was injured in the leg, confirmed to the fact. To quote him, “We were shouting and asking driver uncle to stop the van but he didn’t as he was busy talking on his phone and was not able to hear us………….Driver uncle went very close to the train. When I gained consciousness, I was among others who were lying on the ground and not moving.” said the young survivor whose 10-year-old sister is in critical condition.
Yet, the media twisted these facts to suit their narrative. They tried to peddle the lie that just like the Gorakhpur hospital case and the Unnao rape case, CM Yogi is shielding the real criminals and shirking from responsibilities, something which is both hilarious and absurd to even think of given his quick reactions.
If this was not enough, the media also spread another white lie: Yogi deriding the local protesters post incident, terming it as ‘nautanki’. Fortunately, this lie was busted, when BJP spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi issued a quick video of the actual site where CM Yogi Adityanath issued a warning to his supporters urging them not to continue with ‘their nautanki’.
देखिए, एक बड़े झूठ का ख़ुलासा, कुशीनगर के दर्दनाक हादसे के बाद जब योगी जी कड़ी धूप में अस्पतालों से लेकर गाँवों तक भाग रहे थे, तब कुछ लोगों ने चापलूसी में ज़िंदाबाद के नारे लगाए, इस पर योगी जी ने उनको फटकार लगाई, पर ख़बर ये बनाई गई कि योगी जी ने विरोध कर रहे पीड़ितों को डाँटा !! pic.twitter.com/sCVrDNv3Mq
— Dr. Shalabh Mani Tripathi (मोदी का परिवार) (@shalabhmani) April 26, 2018
Surprisingly, led by Republic TV, the media once tried to twist the statement, making the locals who had gathered to have a glimpse of Yogi as the recipients of the ‘nautanki’ statement instead of his supporters.
Though it’s good that the lies were busted before they could take wings, yet it proves that the media is dead-set against a CM whose only ‘mistake’ is to not toe the line of the liberal intelligentsia. If we’re not diligent enough, they’ll continue to peddle such lies in the name of news, and not everyone will be wise enough to dig into the narrative to expose their malicious agenda.
