Be it the Congress campaign 'Chowkidaar chor hai' or the claim that Facebook is removing Congress-leaning handles, they have been unmasking the lies of the grand old party. In the process, making the life a tad easier for the BJP.

1. Meenakshi Lekhi

On April 10, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had unanimously dismissed the Centre’s objections to review petitions seeking an inquiry into the Rafale deal. This happened after the government had asked for the pleas to be dismissed, claiming they were based on “secret files”, back in March. But Congress president chose to portray it otherwise.

Rahul Gandhi had said, “The entire country is saying that chowkidar has committed theft. It is a day of celebration that the Supreme Court has talked about justice.”

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi dragged Gandhi to the court which in turn asked Gandhi to reply. And in a massive embarrassment and a big set back to Congress' poll campaign, Rahul told the apex court that he regretted making the statement.

The Congress president was forced to apologise because a contempt plea was filed against him by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi.

2. Subramanian Swamy

Over the past decade, Swamy has been a strident critic of the Nehru-Gandhi family and has led the BJP's charge in the National Herald case against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul. It's his pursuit for justice that ensured both mother-and-son Gandhi are customarily arrested and released on bail.

The issue of Rahul Gandhi's alleged British nationality, raised for the first time by Swamy, has now snowballed into a big political controversy.


In 2016, Rahul had claimed Swamy was “misleading” the nation by floating that narrative. Only after Swamy raised the issue, BJP MP Maheish Girri complained to the ethics committee of parliament in January 2016.

But with general elections around, Swamy resurrected the issue of British company law papers that allegedly showed Rahul as being a British national in the documents of a company that is now virtually non-defunct. He not only posted a series of tweets but the matter reached the election commission that is inspecting Gandhi's nomination papers afresh.

3. Anand Ranganathan

Since the Modi government came to power, one big complaint of the Congress has been an alleged assault on people’s freedom of expression. A narrative was carefully curated that 'the idea of India' is under threat as 'freedom of expression' was under threat. Many intellectuals jumped on the bandwagon.

But when Shashi Tharoor joined in, Anand Ranganathan took it upon himself to bust the lie. He started a thread to expose Then it was this young scientist who took it upon himself to call them out on a twitter thread.


Be it how Pt Nehru brought the 1st Amendment as a response to Romesh Thapar vs State of Madras or how poet Majrooh Sultanpuri had to spend one year in jail for writing a poem critical or Nehru, Anand posted facts with precise links to back his claim. In many recent examples, he cited how Siddharamaiah as chief minister of Karnataka got a youth arrested for his alleged anti-Siddharamaiah comment on Facebook.

 

 

4. Abhijit Iyer-Mitra

The year 2019 has been one when the Congress cried foul over the multi-crore Rafale fighter jets deal. Rahul Gandhi called it a scam in spite of both Rafale and French president rubbishing his claims. He claimed it was sealed to help business tycoons like Anil Ambani.

It was defence expert and senior research fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Study (IPCS) Abhijit Iyer-Mitra who took it upon himself to rebut him every time. Backed with facts, figures and aviation technicalities, Iyer-Mitra fact-checked the Congress relentlessly, up to this date.

Also Read: Congress’ allegations on Rafale deal bogus, says defence expert Abhijit Iyer-Mitra

Talking about the price, Iyer-Mitra clarified, “Rs 670 crore is the price of not just one unit, but the entire package which includes training, weapons, infrastructure, maintenance, and logistics.”

As for Reliance getting a chunk, he cleared Reliance is not the only beneficiary but one of the many beneficiaries of the offset clause. Further, the defence analyst explained to Congress, that it was not for the Indian government but for the manufacturer that is Dassault Aviation in this case, which reserves the right to choose who does it want to partner with in India.

5. Ishkaran Bhandari

Twitter is known for its alleged leftist bias. Particularly as India was getting poll ready, the alleged systematic targeting of right-wing twitter handles created a major row in India. It was this young lawyer and a close aide of BJP MP Subramanian Swamy wrote a letter to Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh on January 28 regarding the discriminatory and unfair practices by Twitter Inc that he calls a 'national security threat'.


“I bring this issue to you with much urgency as social media online platforms are instrumental in mobilizing and moulding of public opinion,” he wrote in his letter to MHA. He suggested Twitter was censoring or acting unfairly based on the user's religious, ideological or political views. Needless to say, it could have electoral ramification which would suit the Congress. He urged the MHA to act on Twitter to protect the sanctity of electoral fairness.

As India goes to polls, narratives play a decisive factor. Every political party, be it the Congress of the BJP tries to weave one to suit its political agenda. But as long as these five lie busters and their ilk are around, every Congress narrative that is built on falsehood stands a chance of getting exposed.