Disturbing public postures

In public life leaders often end up making statements that are not true to fact. These could be because of their mind playing tricks in the heat of the moment, or perhaps even mischievous advisers. They could be dismissed as bona fide errors. Then there are claims and declarations that are not true to fact, yet are peddled occasionally by leaders, knowingly, because it suits a certain narrative. Often these are pardoned as “untruths”; a concession may be made in view of political, or electoral, compulsions. But a disturbing question arises what to call indiscretions that involve telling wrongs facts, repeatedly, and come from those in high offices. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion at a public rally in Karnataka that Congress leaders never met Bhagat Singh in prison is contrary to what is recorded about Nehru visiting the national hero in Lahore jail. During the same campaign, Modi was also heard making statements regarding Field Marshall Cariappa and General Thimayya that were countered by some veteran soldiers. In his latest foray, Tripura CM Biplab Deb has, wrongly, declared that “Rabindranath Tagore returned his Nobel Prize in protest against the British”. While the BJP chief minister may be dismissed by some as a Johnny-come-lately, it cannot be ignored that the government at the Centre, too, has laid out many figures on the economy (GDP, demonetisation, employment) that came from use of statistics that did not necessarily present a picture in the language that people understood. All of these can be called taking liberties with facts. “Rs 15 lakh in accounts”, of course, was dismissed as an electoral jumla.

The irony, however, is that Narendera Modi rose from the office of chief minister to prime minister on the back of a huge trust quotient, which was magnified especially in contrast to the corruption-marred UPA-II. In public life, it is hard to retain trust. Every statement — not fully backed with facts no matter under what compulsion — eats into the cache. Modi may have gained a few points by electoral rhetoric, but loses plenty. Hope he has done the maths.