Why the Vajpayee Government lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls

Sunday, June 2, 2024

No, every poll did not predict NDA winning in 2004. NDTV exit poll showed loss for NDA

[To read the full book "Why the Vajpayee Government lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls", open https://www.amazon.in/Vajpayee-Government-Sabha-polls-analysis-ebook/dp/B08PRW5BNH/ The below is some part of one chapter of it.]

Did ‘every’ exit poll show NDA winning in 2004?

It is often claimed that ‘every poll showed the Vajpayee Government coming back to power’ in 2004, but the actual results defied the polls. It is not true. Exit polls (or at least, some of them) indeed showed the NDA failing to form the Government, only issue was the number of seats.

The NDTV-Indian Express exit poll predicted 230-250 seats for the NDA, showing the ruling coalition short of a simply majority by at least 22 seats, and at most 42 seats. [https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/10exit.htm] This poll gave Congress and allies 190-205 seats, Left parties 40-50 and 60-70 to Others. Others included Samajwadi Party which would have been given 25-30 seats, BSP 20 seats (Samajwadi Party finally got 36, and BSP 19, and Left 59).

The final results were- Congress and allies 219, Left 59 (including only the 4 major Left parties of CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc, not including other LDF allies like JD(S) in Kerala) which gave a clear majority of 219 + 59 = 278 seats. The Samajwadi Party with 36 seats and BSP with 19 seats also supported the Government from outside, to make it 333 Lok Sabha seats for the UPA. Let us see the range of the NDTV’s exit poll. Its upper limit for the Congress and allies was 205, only 14 away from the final number of 219. Adding NDTV’s average numbers of Congress and allies (198), Left (45) and Samajwadi Party (30) it was already a majority for the Congress and allies. Adding the upper range of Congress and allies and Left (205 + 50 = 255), that itself was close to a majority at 255 seats, and only 23 short of what they actually got.

The problem was the bracketing of ‘Others’ as a separate entity and not seen as Congress supporters later. The Left had declared even before the polls were over that it would support the Congress. Had the Left tally been added to the Congress allies’ continuously, it would have been easy to see how close it was to majority.

While discussing this exit poll, NDTV panellists Prannoy Roy, Dorab Sopariwala and Rajdeep Sardesai expressed serious doubt over whether Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be the next Prime Minister. Rajdeep Sardesai said that if the Congress and allies, whose upper limit was given by NDTV as 205 seats, cross the NDA tally, whose lower limit was given as 230 seats, then they would come to power with Left support. That is exactly what happened.

However, Star News-C voter exit poll gave the NDA 263 to 275 seats and the Sahara-DRS survey put the BJP-led combine between 263-278. Both showed the Congress-led combine improving its performance over 1999 with the Star News poll projecting between 174 and 186 seats and the DRS poll giving it between 171 and 181 seats. Even these polls which showed the NDA close to majority, showed a big tally for the Congress and allies, namely 180 seats, and adding Left’s seats they would have been at a healthy 230 seats or so.

Here, while showing the final exit poll results, the Star News journalist (most likely he was psephologist Yashwant Deshmukh) said: “If the NDA’s vote share is just 1% more than predicted in this exit poll, its seat tally will be 301-313. But if it’s only 1% lesser than predicted, its seats will come down to 227-239.”

One must say that all polls do say that there is a range of + or – 3%. If the NDA’s seats decreased or increased by 36 to 38 seats with an increase or decrease of just 1% vote, one can assume that if the vote was 2 or 2.5% lesser than predicted by the exit polls, it’s seats would have been between 185-190, i.e. in the range of the actual 187. That would actually prove any critic of exit polls as correct, that this particular poll at least, had a very big range, from a big win for the NDA to a clear loss for it, with the upper limit being 300+ and lower limit being below 200. However, even this exit poll had indeed warned that even a decline of 1% vote would result in the NDA tally going down to 227-239.

Aaj Tak forecast a hung Lok Sabha giving the NDA 248 seats in the 543-member House, a loss of 54 from 1999, Congress and allies 189 and Others 105. Even here, adding Left’s 50 (say) and Samajwadi Party’s 30 would put the Congress and allies at 269 (i.e. 189 + 50 + 30 = 269), just 3 seats short of majority, and that’s not including other parties like JD(S) which won 2 seats in Karnataka and 1 in Kerala, and parties like BSP with 20 seats. The Zee-Taleem exit poll also projected a hung House with NDA getting only 249 seats and Congress and allies were pegged at 176 while ‘Others’ were expected to get 117 seats.

Where all the polls were indeed wrong was in giving NDA more than 200 seats, at least 230 seats, while it actually got only 187 seats. The state where every single exit poll was wrong was Uttar Pradesh, where the lowest being given to the BJP was 29 out of 80 (by Aaj Tak) while others gave 30-35 seats, and the party itself was expecting 40-45 seats, but the final result was 10 seats for BJP and 1 for ally JD(U) to make it 11.

The problem with these exit polls which showed the BJP-led NDA falling short of majority was that almost everyone who expressed their opinions had thought that they tended to under-estimate the BJP, because that is what they had done in the Gujarat Assembly elections in December 2002 and in the State Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi in December 2003. Though the exit polls got the winners right in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, most of them under-estimated the BJP massively everywhere, including in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Only one exit poll showed BJP winning 25 seats out of 70 in Delhi while it actually won 20. Some others gave it as low as 11 seats in Delhi. The Star News exit poll showed Congress winning 89 and BJP winning 91 seats out of 200 in Rajasthan, while the BJP actually won 120, which not a single exit poll showed. Nor did any poll show BJP winning 50 seats out of 90 in Chhattisgarh with 37 to the Congress, though India Today’s opinion poll in October/November 2003 showed both BJP and Congress in the range of 38-48 out of 90, saying it was ‘too close to call’.

So these polls underestimated the BJP’s performance. As a result, when these polls showed BJP-led NDA short of a majority, or barely touching majority, it was felt by many that they were under-estimating the BJP. The fact that they could be over-estimating the BJP and/or allies by the same margin was not expressed by anyone prominently on TV.

After some exit polls were broadcast in the initial phases of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, which did show NDA losing ground, the exact above thoughts were mentioned by many, like Arun Nehru (1944-2013) on Aaj Tak. Organiser (2 May 2004) reported in an article by R Balashankar:

“NDA the clear winner

But psephologists prop a Congress ‘catch up’

Exit polls have given a clear edge to NDA, but they have generously consoled the Congress of catching up. In modern day politics, psephology has replaced astrology for clairvoyance. Psephologists like astrologers, only give us the trend, the sign board, it may or may not take up to the destination.

In the coalition era, election is more arithmetic and less chemistry. But ask the psephologist. He will give you, like an astrologer, an explanation for any result, real or perceived. But there are some clear patterns. If we analyse all the opinion polls and exit polls in the recent past, the prediction for the BJP was always less than what they actually got, and the projection for Congress was always higher than what they finally got. Why does this happen?

There is a huge lobby in Indian politics that thrives on instability, hung outcome and uncertainty. The common pattern that emerges in all exit polls point to this: a carnival of this hung lobby….

A quick analysis of the track record of exit polls indicates that in the last round of assembly elections, none of the exit polls saw the clear victory of BJP in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The landslide BJP victory in MP was predicted at best as ‘BJP has an edge’. The only state where they saw a clear verdict was Delhi, where incidentally the Congress was winning. It becomes obvious that wherever the NDA alliance was winning, the exit polls kept the final verdict hanging. They suggested neck and neck, close, tough fights. And the ‘winner is’ hung house!...

To polls-Phase-II

Congressmen never tire of pointing out that the exit polls for the last assembly elections were off the mark and so it would be this time. The early trend of the exit polls indicates a NDA comeback, though all polls contradict one another substantially.

Opinion polls and exit polls may be scientific and correct elsewhere in the world, where there is homogeneity in socio-political parameters. In India they vary from region to region.

In the last three elections, six weeks before polls the pollsters pegged NDA at the top of the chart and the battered Congress at the bottom. Midway through, the Congress graph climbs, the NDA plunges, with the forecasts suggesting (only suggesting) the NDA slowing down, peaking early and Congress fast catching up. This pitch is maintained until the final results are out. Polls-exit or opinion are like the astrology columns in daily newspapers. Read it for a tickle and leave it in the dustbin. And like astrologers they have those wide elbow room-the undecided and the 5 per cent error margin. In a rational analysis psephology is so much astrology as astrology is so much science. Time and other data are crucial for both. And they will predict ‘other things remaining the same’-this will be the result. We all know other things never remain the same…

Like astrologers pollsters are known to give predictions to please their client. Taking the veil of 3-5 per cent error margin and undecided they go about browbeating the political marketplace. How else does one explain the huge variations in the exit poll figures from channel to channel. If it is science such variations have no place...”

https://www.organiser.org/archives/dynamic/modulesc9f4.html?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=21&page=2 or https://organiser.org/2004/05/02/27252/general/r9c4aac1a/

Although NDTV’s exit poll showed Congress & allies, Left and Samajwadi Party winning a majority of the seats, there were discussions that in case the NDA fell short of a majority, Congress allies who were ex-NDA allies too could return to the NDA fold. Rajdeep Sardesai said on NDTV that “DMK, MDMK, PMK were with NDA till December 2003. They may be the first to return to the NDA in case it is found short of numbers.” A correspondent of Star News said that except Congress, Left, RJD and Muslim League, any party can support the BJP.

As a result, even though the NDTV exit poll actually showed something else, the feeling that Atal Bihari Vajpayee will become Prime Minister again remained. On NDTV the panelists also felt that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) which they showed as winning 5 seats contesting in alliance with Congress, could support the BJP if the NDA fell short of numbers, as ‘the BJP has ideologically always supported Telangana.’ Though it is a fact that the BJP has ideologically always supported Telangana, it had to drop that demand due to pressure from TDP, with which it entered into an alliance, which was against bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

After the last phase of polling, one BJP leader Yashwant Sinha (1937-) was asked on TV about his prediction of the final results, and he said: “240 seats for the BJP, and 340 seats for the NDA”. This appeared to be a genuine belief on the face of it, because India Today’s survey in the ‘Mood of the Nation’ poll of January 2004 had shown the NDA winning 330-340 seats. While all exit polls were showing the NDA at 230 to 278, this leader (like many others) expected that they under-estimated the NDA by 60-70 seats at least. They actually over-estimated the NDA by that number of seats.

[Above is a part of the book “Why the Vajpayee Government lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls- An analysis” This book on the 2004 Lok Sabha polls exposes a lot more media propaganda, particularly before the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, and before the 2002 Gujarat State Assembly polls. To read the full book "Why the Vajpayee Government lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls", open https://www.amazon.in/Vajpayee-Government-Sabha-polls-analysis-ebook/dp/B08PRW5BNH/ ]

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Chap 5- Maligning and defaming NDA leaders

There is, or rather, was one great virtue of the leaders of the Sangh Parivar. They were a respected lot and their character assassination was not easy. RSS stalwarts like Balasaheb Deoras (1915-1996, who was RSS chief from 1973-1994) and Rajendra Singh (1922-2003, who was RSS chief from 1994-2000) commanded far more respect than even leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and exercised great influence over the BJP. They were highly respected even by the anti- Sangh Parivar media. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, was seen in April 1999 or so by many as ‘an opportunistic power hungry politician who used reckless language to criticize Hindu leaders’.

Sonia Gandhi was made the Congress President on 14 March 1998. She, even overlooking her Italian origins, had absolutely no experience of leading a party and had to be taught every move. Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray said, “If you want to import a Prime Minister, why not ask the British to come to India? They don’t need to be taught everything. They know how to rule unlike Sonia Gandhi who has to be taught how to rule a country and lead a party.”

As ‘India Today’ dated 2 December 2002 put it:

“…Her (Sonia’s) inexperience and sheer fear of making a mistake leading her to, ironically, commit error after error. She fell into the trap of short-sighted political foxes like (Arjun) Singh and H.S. Surjeet, the wily communist, when she decided to pull down the first NDA government in 1999.

Sonia was then made to believe that the majority in the Lok Sabha was with her and she would be asked to lead a Congress government that the non-NDA opposition would back. The alternative arrangement was a myth. Already misled, Sonia lost further credibility when she claimed in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan that she had the support of 272 MPs, half the strength of the Lok Sabha…

…In placing national interest above party ambition, Sonia displayed a statesman-like quality. This helped efface from public memory the April 1999 image of a power-hungry politician who brought down the Vajpayee government by one vote and claimed the non-existent support of 272 MPs.”

As for Sonia’s old speak, (i.e. 1998-99) she said, reported in India Today dated 2 December 2002, “BJP blames the nation’s present problems on the previous Congress Governments. Did we create this unwieldy coalition? Naach na jaane aangan teda” (December 1998). She said, “I tell you Atal Bihariji has told a complete lie.” (February 1998) and she also said, “Whoever does such acts (of trading with Pakistan during the Kargil war) of a traitor cannot be a patriot.” (September 1999).

She also linked BJP and RSS with the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi. These are just a few examples. The list is much more. [Link for Sonia’s statements: https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19980302-how-sonia-gandhi-scores-political-points-with-personal-issues-825818-1998-03-02]

Sonia Gandhi then simply could not be compared with the then RSS chief Professor Rajendra Singh (1922-2003), who was the sarsanghachalak of RSS from 1994 to 2000. Rajendra Singh, better known as Rajju Bhaiyya was a great scientist and a leader of high stature. He could have in fact become another A.P.J.Abdul Kalam (1931-2015) if he had wanted to, but he preferred to give his life to the RSS. This was the situation in 1998-99-2000. A large section of the media tried its best, and succeeded remarkably, in changing this perception.

With the then VHP leaders like Dr Praveen Togadia, who, some believe, lost their mental balance on appearing before the electronic media, giving it the right chance to indulge in character assassination, the media played its part exceedingly well. The process of reversing the 1999 situation began in February-March 2002 during the Ayodhya agitation of the VHP. At that time, TV sets were full of sadhus going to Ayodhya. And as ‘India Today’ put it in its issue of 17 February 2003:

“(In February-March 2002) With their shrill statements, VHP leaders like President Ashok Singhal hadn't helped their cause. By clamping down on them, the court seemed to reflect prevalent public mood.”

This was when the Supreme Court refused to allow ‘puja’ on the undisputed land in Ayodhya, in its judgment dated 13 March 2002.

With such a firm background, the media could hardly miss a chance to defame other leaders of the Sangh Parivar. While the then VHP Senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore (1920-2014) remained extremely balanced and composed on TV, and was a relatively respected person, the same could not be said of some other VHP leaders.

After the BJP’s win in the state assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in December 2003, the question repeatedly asked was, “Atal vs. who?” and it was repeatedly said that Sonia Gandhi is no match for Vajpayee, which is true. The media then tried to gain sympathy for Sonia Gandhi, whose party spokesmen were foul-mouthed and arrogant, which was completely ignored by the BJP leaders.

In January 2004, BJP leader the late Pramod Mahajan was quoted as saying something offensive against Sonia Gandhi when he said absolutely nothing objectionable at a public meeting in Nagpur on 18 January. He said, “Prime Ministership should be open only to those born of Indian parents.” NDTV and company duly went into service inviting leaders like Omar Abdullah (1970-) and others on TV and no one from the BJP and maligning and condemning Pramod Mahajan with no one from BJP there to defend him. The Congress’ cadres burnt his effigies and raised slogans against him for his comments which was given a lot of publicity. Thus started the hate, slander campaign against BJP and to gain sympathy for Sonia Gandhi and the Congress. And if Sonia Gandhi is an Indian citizen, and not an Italian then what was there for the Congress Party to object, in Pramod Mahajan’s remarks?

After this, Ganesh Kanate, a horribly anti-BJP man, wrote in his weekly column in the English daily ‘The Hitavada’ published from Nagpur, “BJP leaders like Mahajan are foul-mouthed... They should show some respect to a widow like Sonia Gandhi… True, Sonia Gandhi is no match for Atal Bihari Vajpayee…But should the BJP stoop to such levels?” Reading his article, one would get huge sympathy for the Gandhi family and develop hatred for the BJP as if BJP people are a bunch of uncivilized fanatics targeting ‘victimized widows like Sonia Gandhi’.

Ganesh Kanate did not specify precisely what objectionable thing Pramod Mahajan said in Nagpur, at his meeting in Kasturchand Park. But wrote as if he had committed a great sin.

From then on, the situation began improving for the anti-BJP industry. Narendra Modi was skillfully vilified. He has been the media’s hate figure right since 2002. He was horribly attacked. Narendra Modi, while campaigning for his party for the state assembly elections in Gujarat in December 2002 had called the then Pakistan President as ‘Miyan Musharraf’. This resulted in stomachache for the ‘secularist’ media people, because they had far more love for Pakistan than for Narendra Modi. Some of them were more pro-Pakistani than US at that time and in between India and Pakistan they would prefer Pakistan, and not utter a word against it. Between Sangh Parivar and Pakistan, they would prefer Pakistan. If the Sangh Parivar claimed that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is an integral part of India, while Pakistan claimed it is disputed territory, they would have backed Pakistan and argued in favor of donating Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to Pakistan on a silver plate.

Narendra Modi’s remark in December 2002 about the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met with severe protests from the Congress and also the pro-Pakistan elements in the Indian media. The reason as implied by some people for this was that using such a word for the then Pakistan President Musharraf could irritate a section of the Indian Muslims voting en bloc for the Congress, which enabled it to rule India. But the BJP suffered because of its minority card in April-May 2004, because at that time, the words ‘Musharraf’ and ‘Pakistan’ themselves were no longer dirty words. BJP claimed of ‘thawing’ relations with Pakistan. And hence the media’s open pro-Pakistan bias was not met with any opposition. And the media went full steam condemning Modi.

And look at what Hindi NDTV (i.e. NDTV India) said in its news bulletin carried for two days continuously by a woman reporter,

“Narendra Modi has changed from calling the President of Pakistan ‘Miya Musharraf’ to ‘Bhaiyya Musharraf’…”

The report kept condemning Narendra Modi all along and it was shown for two days continuously. It then carried another news bulletin report also for two complete days, saying that,

“Modi’s foul language has reached an unbelievable level. He said while campaigning that Priyanka Vadra is the daughter of the daughter of Italy and statements against Rahul Gandhi".

NDTV India never showed Narendra Modi actually speaking these sentences in either Gujarati or Hindi and hence it still can’t be said whether Narendra Modi actually said all that. But continuous broadcasting of this report for two whole days resulted in the creation of a standard reference called “Modi’s language”. NDTV English and Hindi both reported on 4^th April 2004:

“Stepping up its attack on BJP for reported derogatory remarks on Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, Congress today termed it as indecent and stooping language and a well-thought-of, well-planned strategy of that party’s top brass.

“The use of such indecent and low level talk is a well-thought-of and well-planned strategy by BJP top brass, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Prime Minister) and his deputy L.K.Advani …it is their policy,” said AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.

“Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is not an exception to this policy as VHP leader Praveen Togadia and Vinay Katiyar have also used such language,” Singhvi alleged.

The Congress leader accused L.K.Advani of encouraging Modi through his silence on the issue. “Unfortunately, those who have the bride in their hands are themselves encouraging him (Modi),” he said.

“It is unfortunate that in this land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel there is a person like Modi, who does not understand the culture of politeness and hospitality of Gujarat,” Singhvi claimed.” (Courtesy: NDTV web)

Narendra Modi then clarified in NDTV’s “Walk the Talk” with The Indian Express Editor Shekhar Gupta in March-April 2004 on being asked about his language,

“See, I give four or five speeches a day for the past two years. With so many speeches for many days, I speak so many sentences. A couple of sentences slip out in public meetings unintentionally… A bowler bowling 50 overs in a Test match lets slip a couple of no-balls…”

In this interview, Modi also said that he will try not to let slip any more no-balls.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar also said, as reported by India Today in early 2004,

“You don’t take everything said in public meetings seriously. Some jokes and lighter things are also necessary”.

But statements given in press conferences by party spokespersons are intentional, and deliberate. People know what they are talking and the statements are for the media. But in public meetings, they are for the enthusiastic crowds in front. But Hindi NDTV kept condemning Narendra Modi for his language repeatedly, and so did all other TV channels like ‘Aaj Tak’. And of course ignoring Sonia Gandhi’s language, deliberate and intentional in the past. And such attempts to gain sympathy for the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra (whom the media called Priyanka ‘Gandhi’, while she herself is on record saying that her name is Priyanka Vadra, not Gandhi) succeeded and succeeded remarkably. [ Link for Priyanka herself saying that her name is Priyanka Vadra, not Gandhi: https://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/24uppoll3.htm]

Among other leaders, Vinay Katiyar (1954-), the then Uttar Pradesh BJP chief, was also targeted. A former and the first Bajrang Dal president, Vinay Katiyar was always an object of hate for the media. He was quoted as using foul language against Sonia Gandhi in a public meeting in his constituency of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. Vinay Katiyar clarified the next day that all he was saying was, “Sonia Gandhi is not the only daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi also is. Varun Gandhi also is her grandson.” All through the hate campaign (This one, for a change, started by ‘Aaj Tak’ instead of NDTV) none of the TV channels actually showed Vinay Katiyar’s full statement. They simply showed him speaking at that meeting and then targeted him accusing him of using ‘foul language’. After that when he gave an explanation of the full statement made by him, I found nothing objectionable spoken by him, and he seemed to have been quoted selectively and out of context.

This was devastating for the BJP and its allies. Overconfidence of imminent victory resulted in BJP leaders ignoring all this and not understanding the damage caused by this. And what is the truth? The truth is, leaders of the BJP and the RSS, like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K.Advani, Balasaheb Deoras, Rajendra Singh have all along used correct language. But the real foul language has been used by someone else, and that someone else is Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her foul-mouthed party spokespersons. [Link for foul language and wild allegations made by Congress leaders: http://dishonestpolitcians.blogspot.com/2014/02/congress-leaders-wild-and-foul.html ]

Sonia Gandhi’s father was reportedly an admirer of the original Italian fascist Mussolini and served in his army. In an interview with Outlook in February 1998, her father Stefano Maino candidly admitted his unwavering and unapologetic loyalty to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945). [Link: https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/meeting-mr-maino/205112] Ignoring Sonia’s own language, look at the language of other Congress leaders in public meetings. During the Gujarat Assembly polls of December 2002 many Congress leaders of other states campaigned there and showed their true colours. The state Congress unit chief Shankersinh Vaghela told a Vadodara crowd in the presence of party chief Sonia Gandhi:

“(The then Prime Minister) Vajpayee needs a special injection in his knees to enable him to curb terrorism.”

Weekly ‘India Today’ in its issue dated 16 December 2002 reported this. Now, if the TV channels were a bit less anti-BJP, they would have shown Vaghela speaking this for two days continuously and criticized it and made his language a standard reference as “Shankersinh Vaghela’s language” like they did in case of Narendra Modi. That same issue of ‘India Today’ also says, “(Ajit) Jogi [1946-2020] (the then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, who was in that position from 2000 to 2003) tore into Vajpayee for his failure to neutralise the Pakistan threat. There was none of the genteel left-liberalism the Congress reserves for its press conferences in Delhi.” God knows how many more foul words the Congress leaders used while campaigning in that elections passed unnoticed and unreported by the mainstream media!

Looking back at the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress undoubtedly gained from the ‘sympathy for the underdog’ factor. Now let us look at the sort of language used by Congress leaders in press conferences, in full knowledge and with complete deliberate intent and see if the Congress deserved sympathy. In February 2004, a Karnataka Congress leader said,

“Advani is a Pakistani. Someone who was born in Karachi has no right to accuse Sonia Gandhi of being an Italian.”

The TV channels and NDTV ignored this of course, because they knew that reporting such statements would be disastrous for the Congress Party! It was only reported by some English language newspapers, and a Marathi daily from Nagpur. When the reporter asked the Congress leader if it was not illogical to call Advani a ‘Pakistani’ since he was born in undivided India, the Congressman said, “He got Indian citizenship only in 1947.”

In August 2003, in Hyderabad, the Mahila Congress charged that both the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani are of foreign origin and have no right to rule the country. All India Mahila Congress secretary Kamakshi Sharma said that Advani is a Pakistani national and questioned his holding the important home portfolio. The link for this report is:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Advani-Vajpayee-are-firangis-Mahila-Congress/articleshow/119704.cms

She called Vajpayee an ‘Aryan’ and said ‘According to history, Aryans are foreigners’. To what level the Mahila Congress went! It also exposed its shallow knowledge of history, citing the theory of 'Aryan invasion' which is only a theory and has been proved to be wrong. To defend Sonia Gandhi, the Mahila Congess went to the level of calling a nearly 79-year old Atal Bihari Vajpayee a 'foreigner' and a nearly 76-year old Advani a 'Pakistani', insulting with him the millions of Hindus and Sikhs who came to India from the territory which is now Pakistan and Bangladesh, including people like former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (1932-), former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu (1914-2010), etc.

What sort of level did the Congress leaders stooped to, to defend Sonia Gandhi and what sort of language to attack opponents! This allegation also shows lack of nationalism. Accusing Advani of being a Pakistani would mean accepting that Pakistan was never a part of India, and that the two nations existed since the beginning. If calling Advani a Pakistani is right, then the millions of Hindus who came to India along with Advani in 1947 are also Pakistanis. For appeasing the Italian-born party chief, the Congress leaders would stoop to this level, and maybe throw out all Hindu refugees from the North West Frontier Province to the “wolves” in Pakistan calling them Pakistanis. And all this was not found worth broadcasting or criticizing by any of the channels!

Congress spokesman and an extremely foul-mouthed and arrogant person Kapil Sibal (1948-) also said the same thing on TV. Doordarshan luckily showed what he spoke for just one minute, which luckily I saw. He kept calling Advani a ‘Pakistani’ and finally said,

“Lekin Advaniji ghabarate kyun hein? 13 tarikh ko chunaav jitney ke baad hum unki citizenship nikalne thode hi vale hein.” (“But why does Advaniji fear? After winning the election on 13th May, we are not going to remove his Indian citizenship.”)

This was also in a press conference and in full knowledge. Any guesses why NDTV’s both Hindi and English channels, or ‘Aaj Tak’ or Star News did not carry this press conference and the above language for two days continuously and make ‘Kapil Sibal’s language’ a standard reference? Unfortunately for the media, Kapil Sibal in his numerous press conferences was equally arrogant and foul-mouthed and his true face was exposed to a large extent.

But the point to be noted here is that Kapil Sibal was not merely a party leader but also a party spokesman. Whatever he said in the press conference of the Congress Party is the official stance of the Congress Party. And hence it is the Congress Party which called Advani a ‘Pakistani’ and told him not to fear since it would not revoke his citizenship (And not send him to Pakistan?) after winning the elections on 13 May 2004. And who in the Congress Party takes the official stand? Of how many people did the party High Command consist of, in April 2004? Sonia Gandhi of course! So, in the absence of any distancing by the party on this statement, it had to be concluded that it was Sonia Gandhi who called Advani a ‘Pakistani’ and used all foul language. Far from asking the party for its clarification on the above language, the media chose to suppress and cover it up.

Looking at 5 of the Congress party’s spokespersons in April-May 2004 namely Anand Sharma (1953-), Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi (1959-), Jaipal Reddy (1942-2019), and Satyavrata Chaturvedi (1950-) all of them were arrogant. And only Singhvi and Chaturvedi were not foul-mouthed. Look at what Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy had to say after L.K.Advani became the Deputy Prime Minister of India in July 2002, “This is more of Vajpayee’s demotion instead of Advani’s promotion.” He also declared Advani guilty of demolishing the Babri Mosque despite the court acquitting him on 19 September 2003, after the court’s verdict.

Around March-April 2004, there were shown videos, allegedly made and promoted by the Congress, showing the 1942 Quit India movement in black and white. The videos also showed the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a police informer during the movement. The charge against Mr Vajpayee, of being a British informer in 1942, was officially leveled by mainstream parties like the CPI(M) as well in March-April 2004. In fact this charge was reported so widely, that Mr. Vajpayee had to publicly deny it. PTI reported on 5 April 2004:

“Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today hit back at his detractors accusing him of being a British informer during freedom struggle even as CPI(M) revived the charge against him. "Would I have been able to face you had I committed the shameful act? I would have renounced everything and left," an emotional Vajpayee told an election rally in his Lok Sabha constituency here.

"I was arrested as a student. I had just finished my High School in Gwalior and joined the Quit India Movement (in 1942). My family thought I would be arrested and sent me to my village Bateshwar.

"The Movement had spread even there. I was ready to face it (the case) but there was no evidence against me. I was not an informer," he told the rally after welcoming Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's Bharat Uday Yatra here.

Coming down on Congress, he said "there is a limit to character assassination for winning election. They have crossed all the limits. One should maintain dignity and decorum. Whoever crosses the limit is wrong," he said.

Even as Vajpayee denied the allegations, CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury and Nilotpal Basu charged him with "betraying" the Quit India Movement by "naming the participants" in a protest action in his own Bateshwar village in Uttar Pradesh on August 27, 1942.

Releasing to the press in New Delhi photo copies of a statement purported to have been made by Vajpayee in front of a magistrate on September one, 1942, they said "it is more than apparent that Vajpayee not only did not participate in the freedom struggle incident but falsely kept claiming the contrary.” [Link: https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/vajpayee-hits-back-at-critics-questioning-his-role-in-freedom-struggle/212804 ]

Even after this, the mudslinging by the Congress and its allies continued. PTI reported on 13 April 2004:

“Madhya Pradesh Congress on Tuesday decided to launch an effective campaign among the people against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his alleged role of an "informer" for the British government during the 1942 Quit India Movement.

In a resolution adopted by the newly-appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee meeting here, it decided to make people aware about the role played by Vajpayee during the period by "tendering an apology and turning an informer of the then British government." [Link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/cong-to-target-vajpayee-s-role-as-colonial-spy/story-JIzmLUt6ODSLdwrSJzAnyK.html ]

Arrogant Congress spokesman Anand Sharma was asked on SAB TV by the anchor Swati Chaturvedi about the videos made, describing Vajpayee as a police informer in 1942, to which he claimed that the Congress has nothing to do with the video. When she asked if it was correct to show such a video repeatedly, Sharma kept on saying, “I do not need to take any position”, and he never once condemned such malicious propaganda against the BJP and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. How could he, when his own party made such charges publicly?

But the TV channels’ biggest crime was here. After the release of the BJP’s vision document in April 2004, Kapil Sibal, party spokesman commented on it holding a copy of it in his hand. He said,

“See the back of the manifesto. It has photos of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and Mahatma Gandhi. Who killed Mahatma Gandhi? RSS did.”

After this statement on the RSS, the TV channel which was showing his press conference live, immediately switched it off and turned to other reporting. (May have been Hindi NDTV, I don’t recollect).

Now, in normal circumstances this would have been one of the biggest news in India. Accusing the RSS of murdering Mahatma Gandhi, something which was done by Kapil Sibal and hence Sonia Gandhi since she was the president of the Congress party, is a major news. This statement of Kapil Sibal should have been shown repeatedly on TV by all TV channels including DD, NDTV, Aaj Tak, Star News for three days continuously along with the news, “Congress accuses RSS of murdering Mahatma Gandhi.” But this was completely ignored and not broadcast by any TV channel. The reason is simple. This would have been counter productive.

The RSS of 2004 was not the RSS of 1984 (yes 1984, not 1948) which did not file defamation suits. The RSS would have definitely sued the Congress Party and won the defamation suit. RSS already sued ‘The Statesman’ for its editorial dated 29 May 2000, in which it called the RSS as ‘The organization that killed Mahatma Gandhi’ and won the defamation suit in a Haryana court in October 2003. Finally ‘The Statesman’ had to give a front-paged apology in its issue dated 11 October 2003. The RSS suing the Congress would have made the public angry with the Congress and resulted in huge sympathy for the BJP-RSS. In fact, the damage caused to the Congress may well have been irreparable. And hence the TV channels and the print media completely ignored this. God knows how many other such statements by various other Congress leaders were completely ignored by the media. And these people maligned the image of Vinay Katiyar for absolutely nothing, and unfairly attacked Narendra Modi, their favorite hate-boy.

The rubbish, biased reporting of the media went unexposed all along with no one bothering at all. This should have been exposed sooner or later. But among the stark lies spread by the media, if at all NDTV can be called ‘media’ and not a ‘de facto organ of staunch anti-BJP parties’ one which needs to be immediately exposed is this.

In its opinion poll on the Lok Sabha 2004’s outcome along with ‘The Indian Express’ carried in the last week of March 2004 which gave 287-307 seats to the BJP-led NDA, BJP was given 24 out of the 26 seats in Gujarat. [Link for this opinion poll: https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/mar/26poll.htm ] But while reporting on it, Prannoy Roy who was discussing the findings of the poll along with Yogendra Yadav, Rajdeep Sardesai and Dorab Sopariwala said:

“But here there is a fear factor. People who oppose Narendra Modi cannot have the courage to say so publicly. But let that remain 24 out of 26 for the time being…”

In its next opinion poll on the Lok Sabha elections’ outcome, carried in April 2004, NDTV-Indian Express gave the BJP led NDA 260-280 seats. [Link: http://aghilham.com/news/india-election/20040418a.html] It gave 22 out of 26 seats in Gujarat, to the BJP. And here, NDTV Chairman Prannoy Roy said:

“Last time, we did not ask this question despite the fear factor. But this time we did. The question was asked, “Will you be afraid to speak against Narendra Modi?” And 59% said, “Yes” and 41 % said “No.” This was said by those people who still had the courage to speak against Modi. So the real number may be even higher. There may be many who said ‘No’ because they are afraid to say, ‘Yes’.”

What shamelessness!

Mr Prannoy Roy, I have devoted a complete chapter to expose you and your channel, why fear?

Who does not know that the entire thing was rubbish and completely concocted? In Gujarat, the Opposition Congress lived and conducted rallies and public meetings. Nobody can ever believe that the people were afraid to oppose Narendra Modi there. The BJP’s own state unit and a section of the BJP Legislative wing had a faction opposing Narendra Modi and wanted Keshubhai Patel as the Chief Minister at that time in 2004.

Now look at the percentage. The survey predicted 22 out of the 26 seats in Gujarat for the BJP. As a result, the people surveyed must have been mostly BJP supporters. If 60 out of 100 are BJP supporters, will they ever say that they are afraid to oppose Narendra Modi, if they will not oppose him at all? As for the remaining who will oppose Narendra Modi, if we assume 60% will be afraid to do so, then 60% of 40% will be 24%. And of the 24%, 40% will be courageous enough to say so, which will come down to 10% of the total sample.

In any case, all this is utter rubbish. Nobody in the right frame of mind can ever say that there is any such factor in Gujarat. Not even Gujarat Congress or its cunning leader S. S. Vaghela had made any such claims. All the above were forcible attempts of NDTV to malign Narendra Modi and call him a “Hitler”. And Rajdeep Sardesai who is not a Communist and had left NDTV in April 2005 was equally guilty of lying through his teeth here. This has not awakened the BJP even today and such malicious lies continue to be spread by NDTV and company.

In 2004, before the Lok Sabha polls, there were many TV channels and many magazines doing surveys and opinion polls, like Zee News, Star News, Aaj Tak etc. No other anti-BJP channel ever mentioned the existence of any such ‘fear factor’ in Gujarat, except NDTV, in 2004. Perhaps overconfidence of ‘imminent victory’ in 2004 and inability to counter media lies, passiveness and lack of aggressiveness on part of the BJP led to the party ignoring all such malicious acts by NDTV.

As for the ‘fear factor’, massive electoral malpractices, frightening opponents, were all rampant in West Bengal in 2004, ruled by the Marxists at that time and in Bihar then ruled by Lalu Yadav (1948-). To see criminals and elements like Taslimuddin (1943-2017), Mohammad Shahabuddin (1967-) fighting Lok Sabha elections (and winning from Kishanganj and Siwan respectively) one can know immediately who frightens the opponents.

Belgium-based world-famous scholar Dr Koenraad Elst (1959-) has written in his book “BJP vis-à-vis Hindu Resurgence” (Voice of India, 1997): “The Islamic bomb attacks on Sangh centres in Chennai [in August 1993] and elsewhere, the murders of BJP politicians in UP, Mumbai and elsewhere [in the mid-1990s], they all have not provoked any counter-attacks. Anti-Hindu governments in Bihar (of Laloo Yadav from 1990-2005) and West Bengal (of Left Front from 1977-2011) have achieved some success in preventing the growth of sizable RSS chapters by means of ruthless intimidation and violence, all without having to fear any RSS retaliation…When in ca. 1990, and again in 1996, Communist militants started killing RSS men in Kerala, the RSS was very slow to react in kind.”

Lalu Yadav’s rule was similar in Bihar (1990-2005). Ruthless intimidation and violence prevented the growth of a sizeable RSS unit there in Bihar, just like in West Bengal. But all this did not bother our ‘secular’ TV channels, especially NDTV, they were glad it was so since RSS and therefore, BJP was suffering.

The cases of CPI(M) killing RSS and BJP men in Kerala are so many that an entire encyclopedia can be written on that. Just a few cases are being given. Actually, more than 100 RSS/BJP men were killed. [Link: https://indianleftists.blogspot.com/2013/10/indian-lefts-corruption-and-criminal.html] As just an example 2 RSS men were killed in Kerala on 28 May 2010 by suspected CPI(M) workers. [Link: http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/may/28/violence-rocks-kannur-two-rss-men-killed.htm]

As for Kerala, the district of Kannur which is a Red bastion is horribly gripped by this. RSS men, BJP men and also Congressmen were brutally murdered by the CPM cadres in those days, and the Congress had to organize a huge rally in this place addressed by its state unit chief in October 2005 in which he said that the true face of the CPM lies in Kannur. BJP too alleged the same. In 1996 BJP’s Kannur district secretary Panniyan Chandran was killed by alleged CPM cadres in front of his wife. BJP suffered a major setback after the murder of Panniyan Chandran. In 2012, CPM district secretary and now Minister in the Kerala Government M M Mani openly boasted as to how CPM had killed enemies of the CPM in the past. [Link: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/we-have-killed-enemies-of-cpm-boasts-mm-mani-103496-2012-05-27]

On 1 December 1999, the very popular BJYM Kerala state Vice-President was murdered. KT Jayakrishnan, a school teacher, was hacked to death on 1 December 1999 in his classroom in front of his tiny tot students by a group of 7 CPM workers, who did not even hide their faces in the attack. The tiny tots suffered a severe shock and had to be counselled later. The Additional Sessions Judge K K Chandra Das gave the verdict on the case in Aug 2003, which had created a storm in the state political circles. 5 CPM cadres were given the death penalty. The CPI(M) workers staged a demonstration outside the court complex to protest against the sentence!

This was also confirmed by the High Court in July 2005. The court confirmed the sentences and observed that the murder was committed inside a classroom in front of the students. The accused had not made any attempt to conceal their identities. The Kerala High Court judge said, “the accused trespassed into the classroom and translated their evil design into action by committing the murder of K.T. Jayakrishnan in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting and dastardly manner”. [Link: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/death-sentence-for-five-cpim-activists-upheld/article27437086.ece]

CPM activists demonstrated in front of the Sessions Court and High Court after the verdict. They shouted slogans against the judges and even threatened to kill them. This CPM, which gives long lectures to BJP and RSS on honouring court verdicts openly burnt the effigies of the judge throughout the state (Kerala) in 2005. After this NDTV and its functionaries related to the Communists were unmoved.

There used to be rigging and booth capturing too along with the murdering of opponents by the CPM even in Kannur, which was not found worth mentioning by any of the TV channels, especially NDTV. NDTV covered up CPM’s ‘scientific rigging’ and violence in West Bengal in 2004 but reported an imaginary ‘fear factor’ in Gujarat!

As for West Bengal, the 2006 state Assembly polls may have been fair and relatively freer (I will still not say ‘free and fair’). But prior to that the Marxists rigged many elections in the state since 1987. The Communists had murderous cadres (who cut noses and ears of BJP cadres in West Bengal in 2002 which was mentioned by the then BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu in 2003). The 2001 polls here were also badly rigged by the Communists. The results in some booths in some constituencies are as follows, reported by Bengali daily ‘Bartaman’ dated 19 May 2001. Here there was an alliance between the Trinamool Congress and Congress for this election, against the Left Front.

Raniganj Assembly constituency. (CPM candidate and minister won the election by a huge margin here). The booth no and votes are given below:

Booth No CPI(M) Congress

64 678 2

143 662 6

144 700 8

148 502 8

166 358 3

200 962 24

63 476 12

128 556 17

229 534 17

127 776 18

138 409 11

197 659 12

195 673 15

139 740 16

140 767 15

196 533 15

114 580 15

143 301 29

107 407 17

198-A 581 27

Obviously the CPM cadres after capturing the booths pressed the button a few times for the Congress nominee, so that the result would not appear to be that blatant. But in some booths, even this ‘minimum courtesy’ was not shown. Results in some booths in Jamuria constituency, adjacent to Raniganj. (Courtesy: Weekly ‘Organiser’ dated 3 June 2001)

Booth No CPI(M) Trinamool

(TC)

207 830 0

129 678 0

112 351 1

12 623 3

178 534 3

14 509 4

46 754 6

142 462 6

45 673 7

28 428 9

264 691 10

157 1004 11

54 888 12

97 983 13

181 436 15

73 199 15

70 360 17

As for Bihar the less said the better. The RJD government rigged both 1995 and 2000 assembly polls. In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Lalu rigged polls in his VIP seat of Chhapra, where he was pitied against BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who was then a Union Minister. The BJP submitted videotapes of poll rigging, both to the Election Commission and also to the media. And the TV channels like NDTV did not find it worth criticizing the rigging of the RJD. Finally, Chhapra became the first Lok Sabha seat for which repoll was ordered in the entire constituency, not just in a few booths. [Link: https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/10bihar.htm] If in a high-profile seat like Chhapra involving contests between VIPs complete repoll was needed to have been ordered, what must the RJD have done in other seats in Bihar, which were not high profile? Did NDTV and company not feel the need to investigate that? Or ask that same question, which they bluffed about asking in Gujarat, in West Bengal where BJP, Congress and Trinamool Congress voters are not allowed to vote due to fear of violence by the CPM goons?

In 2004, before the Lok Sabha polls, CPM leader Comrade Biman Basu (1940-) was caught on camera asking CPM cadres to attack Election Commission people in protest against a decision which CPM did not like. Left Front West Bengal chairman Biman Basu called upon the party cadres to ‘attack’ the Central observers and ‘teach’ them a lesson for ‘siding with the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in the campaigning against the CPI(M)’. Basu, who was also a member of the CPI(M) politburo, in a public statement on 8 May 2004 incited the party workers and supporters against some Central observers. Some Central observers alleged to the CEC that their lives were in danger following a threat by some CPI(M) workers who were opposing them to act impartially for ensuring a free and fair poll in West Bengal. They wanted adequate protection during their stay in the state so that they could work freely and independently. These observers also registered a formal complaint with the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Mr Basudev Bandopadhyya, in this connection.

Reacting to Mr Basu’s threat to the Central observers, the Trinamool Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee (1955-), demanded that Mr Basu would be arrested forthwith for intimidating the Central election observers. The BJP president, Mr Tathagata Roy (1945-), alleged that Mr Basu had gone out of the way in inciting the party cadres against the observers since they were now finding it difficult to rig the poll in their traditional methods. Mr Roy demanded police action against Mr Basu. The Congress also criticised the front chairman’s public statement against the Central observers.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040510/nation.htm#11

This was not given due publicity by the TV channels. They were only interested in imaginary fear created by the BJP in Gujarat. Now let us see the Election Commission’s report on the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. Needless to say, even this report was almost completely ignored by the media-NDTV and also others and only found a mention in ‘The Pioneer.’ Weekly ‘Organiser’ dated 31 July 2005 mentions this report.

“Last year’s Parliamentary election in West Bengal was a farce and Election Commission should reject the poll process. The top leaders of the CPM and key persons of state administration had acted themselves as a barricade to have a free and fair polling. If Election Commission can appoint a chief election officer from outside West Bengal who knows Bengali language only then free and fair election will be possible in West Bengal.”

This was from the report of special observer Afzal Amanulla appointed by the Election Commission, submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, T.S.Krishnamoorthy. Incidentally, this report was by a Muslim officer. Years later, in 2019, Amanulla confirmed the same while talking to the media. West Bengal did see fair polls and also relatively freer polls in May 2006 and the Left Front won a huge majority of 235 seats out of the 294 of the state. But that doesn’t mean that the Left Front did not rig earlier elections. And by the same logic, even if the Left Front had lost the elections of May 2006, which were fair and relatively freer, this still wouldn’t mean that they won all previous elections by rigging. What happened in earlier elections is what happened in earlier elections. It cannot be judged by the performance of the Left Front in the first fair and relatively freer election in the state.

A top Congress leader had described the Communists’ rigging in West Bengal as ‘scientific rigging’. Even in May 2003, the Left Front won more than 30% seats in the Panchayat elections in West Bengal uncontested, as sheer violence and threat of violence prevented opponents from even filing nominations. India Today reported this on 12 May 2003 in a report titled “CPM forces opposition candidates to withdraw nominations, ensure win”. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/states/story/20030512-bengal-panchayat-polls-cpm-forces-opposition-candidates-to-withdraw-nominations-ensure-win-793744-2003-05-12

The media almost completely ignored the anti-woman J&K Bill, which gave inferior treatment to women, passed by the State Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir in March 2004, supported by the Congress. When BJP leader Arun Jaitley raised the issue, an embarrassed Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy was virtually left fumbling for words and said “We do not agree with the state unit on this issue”. On its part, the BJP did not raise this issue effectively to put the Congress on the defensive perhaps and most likely because of overconfidence of victory. https://www.rediff.com/news/2004/mar/08jk1.htm

To malign the BJP, a large section of the media gave an inflated, exaggerated cost of the ‘India Shining’ campaign (which peaked too soon), and said that Rs 700 crore of the taxpayers were wasted over this, when the real cost was Rs 65 crore. The BJP leader Pramod Mahajan clarified this on NDTV on 20 March 2004. But the inflated cost cited by the media again strengthened the NDA’s elitist image, which harmed the alliance. NDTV English reported on 3^rd March 2004 (Courtesy: NDTV web):

“Accused by the Opposition of spending over Rs 700 crores of the taxpayers money on the campaign, the government will now have to give details of its total expenditure on the publicity drive.

The government will now have to respond to the opposition charge that the prime ministers office issued instructions to 16 different ministries to release advertisements as part of the India Shining campaign…”

A similar lie was made out in early 2015, about the suit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi costing Rs 10 lakh. Lies were put on Twitter by anti-BJP people that ‘Rs 10 lakh of the tax-payers’ money was wasted on the suit’. In reality, it cost far lesser than that, and it was gifted to the Prime Minister, not out of any tax-payer’s money. [Link: https://www.opindia.com/2015/02/how-media-calculated-the-figure-of-rs-10-lakh-for-modi-suit-without-caring-for-facts/] But, the damage was done, and it certainly cost BJP in the February 2015 Delhi Assembly polls. Old tactics, new details!

NDTV’s ace reporter Rajdeep Sardesai interviewed RJD chief Lalu Yadav at his house at night one day in April or May 2004 and asked him if RJD would join a government in which Mulayam Singh Yadav (1939-) was a part, to which he said bluntly, “No.” At that time, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav were bitter enemies. This was shown live on English NDTV. Rajdeep was shocked at this, and wanted Lalu to say ‘Yes’ or at least give an ambiguous answer, which would keep the hope of an alternative (non-NDA) government alive, but Lalu didn’t say so. And Rajdeep kept on asking this question, to which he kept on getting “No” as an answer. At that time, NDA’s agenda that political instability will grip the country if the NDA loses was finding many takers. And hence NDTV completely ignored this statement of Lalu Yadav later. It was only shown because it was live. Publicity to this statement would have meant more takers for the NDA’s argument of political instability, and people would have supported the NDA for political stability. And hence NDTV completely blacked this out later.

On and on did the TV channels go. And they succeeded in removing the NDA government from power (at least a part of the reason was the media reporting).

[To read the full book "Why the Vajpayee Government lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls", open https://www.amazon.in/Vajpayee-Government-Sabha-polls-analysis-ebook/dp/B08PRW5BNH/ The below is one chapter of it.]