Because the entire universe is conspiring to expose the “in-depth” interview of Rahul Gandhi with the India Today group, we all missed out on the awesome opportunity to soak in the mammoth 15-minute interview that Rahul Gandhi gave to alleged in house channel, NDTV!
We have all been witness to how “sources” kept on telling us that Priyanka Gandhi will contest against Prime Minister Modi in Varanasi. Taking a cue, the entire Lutyens media cabal started telling us how this is the mother of all battles; how Priyanka has come off age, etc! And when the moment came, the Congress party simply announced that Mr. Ajay Rai will be contesting against the PM and not Priyanka Gandhi! The disappointment and meltdown in the entire Lutyens was to be seen to be believed!
Naturally, NDTV put out the question to Rahul:
Sreenivasan Jain: Two more questions I wanted to ask you: One question was on Priyanka pulling out of Varanasi, why was that?
For brevity sake (and because I don’t want you to go through the torture of reading Rahul’s long winding replies), I will paste only relevant portions (emphasis mine):
Rahul Gandhi: I told you the decision has been made already and that was a decision made long before… Priyanka was not going to fight from Varanasi. …. I said I will hold you in suspense and that is what we did.
Let this soak in folks! Brother and sister decided long ago that the sister will not contest elections. But then they also decided to hold us all in “suspense” and therefore let the rumors fly thick. Whilst their entire cabal was elated with these rumors, looks the family was happily sipping away mocktails while simultaneously mocking their support base! I mean, who does childish stuff like this?
In the interview, NDTV also endorses Rahul Gandhi’s lie that the PM is not “able to talk about jobs”. Sreenivasan Jain endorses this with a “fair enough” comment.
Sreenivasan Jain: Rahul you are saying Prime Minister is no longer able to talk about jobs and so on fair enough… But don’t you believe that the narrative he is going to the people with is also working for him…? Whether it is to do with Pakistan, Balakot, surgical strikes…
Dear Sreenivasan Jain – the Prime Minister has been speaking about jobs for a long time. He spoke about it in interviews to ZEE News (in 2018), Times NOW, Hindustan Times etc. I don’t have to tell you that in 2018 there were no parliamentary general elections in the corner too. And then in every interview since the election was announced, he has been asked to respond to this repetitive lie, and yet he has responded in detail. In an interview to India Today, he has even explained as to how we need new methodologies to calculate jobs.
The PM’s narrative has been multi-fold. Well, you would have known this if you had spent time watching or reading his speeches. Instead, you endorse Rahul Gandhi’s lie that the PM is not talking about jobs! You have zero counter questions to his long rant on jobs. What explains this soft peddling of Rahul Gandhi, especially when you had him for only 15 minutes?
Dear Sreenivasan Jain – on your shows (or for that matter any NDTV show), you are prompt in cutting off speakers when you feel they are lying. Why couldn’t you do that to Rahul Gandhi? Why couldn’t you stop him right when he said: “Over a 100 million euros paid to Anil Ambani by the French government on the taxes, two days after the Rafale contract has been signed.”? Why couldn’t you point out to him how blatant he is lying? How can Rahul Gandhi casually say that the French government paid money to Anil Ambani?!
Instead, NDTV kept prodding Rahul Gandhi on how he is not able to counter PM Modi’s campaign effectively. To me, this sounded more like a conversation where NDTV was conveying the displeasure of their ilk as to how could Rahul let go of an opportunity to have an alliance with the awesome (p)AAP, the respected BSP and the friendly SP, thereby conceding votes that will help the BJP in turn!
The interview was just for 15 minutes. Would one want to focus on his repeated lies or would you pull him up for not being mature enough with alliances? Would you focus on tough questions or would you soft-ball him with questions on if he is willing to be Prime Minister. NDTV’s choice was clear. Thankfully, the voter’s choice also seems to be very clear!