Former journalist with The Wire, Vinod Dua is back again after molestation allegations, with a brazenly doctored video of Nitin Gadkari, also supplemented with a false context, so as to bolster the ongoing campaign sponsored by the opposition to drive a wedge within the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In the video shared by Dua in his show on his new platform HW news, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is seen talking, in an interview with HW news, about one of the ministries he leads (unspecified in the video). He is seen saying that when he took charge of the ministry, he found 403 projects that had remained stalled and some loans had become NPAs while others were on the verge of becoming NPAs and therefore, the situation was dire. He went on to say that 75 per cent of the fault in this matter was that of the government. Vinod Dua supplied the context that Gadkari was talking about the River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation ministry that he took charge of from Uma Bharti in 2017 after a cabinet reshuffle in the government, and claimed that Gadkari was discontent with his own government when he said that 75 per cent of the fault in the matter was that of the government.
https://www.facebook.com/238734830200028/videos/vb.238734830200028/228588578049633/?type=2&theater
However, this is a maliciously doctored video and Gadkari posted the original version of the interview on facebook, pointing out the lies of Vinod Dua, who is notorious for his dishonesty. In the video, right after Nitin Gadkari asserted that it was the fault of the government, he goes on to say “In the government of that period, the UPA government, for two and a half years no project clearance had been given, if environment-forest clearance is not given, then how will someone work?…”. This part of the interview was edited out to give rise to a completely different narrative which amounts to fake news. In the interview Nitin Gadkari went on to explain how he revived the ministry and at the end he asserted that the efforts of his ministry have saved Indian banks about 3 lakh crore rupees which would, otherwise, have turned into NPAs. The interview reveals that Nitin Gadkari was not talking about the River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation ministry but actually about the Road Transport and Highways Ministry.
The Transport Ministry has indeed registered one of the best performances in the last four years among other ministries. Nitin Gadkari elevated an ailing ministry left by the UPA to a robust department with infrastructure projects worth over a whopping 8 lakh crore rupees. The projects were revived, the NPA problem tackled diligently, and the entry of private players was ushered in to bolster road infrastructure projects. Today, India is constructing roads at a historical pace of over 28 kilometers per day.
While Nitin Gadkari could easily be labeled as of one of the most successful Union ministers in India’s history, journalist Vinod Dua has, yet again, taken to falsities to bring down a successful development oriented government by fabricating a sense among the people that there is a rift between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari.
Vinod Dua, who earlier worked with The Wire, had been accused of molestation by filmmaker Nishtha Jain followed by Sunita Thakur who accused Dua of sexually inappropriate behavior. He continued making videos for The Wire and even belittled women who bravely came out with their horrific experiences during the #MeToo movement. Also, his leftist views know no bounds and neither does his tendency to resort to fake news to peddle his narrative. We hope that he apologises for this latest deliberate gaffe that now lies exposed for all to see.
