Today, one of India’s tallest political leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee departed on his final journey at the age of 93. However, even in his final hours, the usual suspects were caught using him, to shower adulation on the first family of India: The Gandhis. Now, even after his death, a rumour is being replanted.
This rumour is that Atalji had referred to Indira Gandhi as Durga. Senior journalist Nikhil Wagle tweeted this soon after the news of Vajpayee’s death broke:
Atalji was not afraid to praise his political opponents. He complimented Nehru for democratic values, described Indira as Durga after Bangladesh victory, praised Rajiv for big heart, supported V P Singh in his rebellion…He was never insecure!
— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) August 16, 2018
Social media users also reported that some TV panellists also used this line:
Alok Mehta just lied on LIVE TV on @aajtak. Atalji never called Indira Gandhi ‘Durga’ pic.twitter.com/3iN3AbWw63
— Rahul Kaushik (@kaushkrahul) August 16, 2018
Who is this idiot on @republic saying atalji called indira a durga while he categorically denied it !
— The Rathore (NaMo for 2019) (@rathore_025) August 16, 2018
Other portals also claimed the same:
भारत और भाजपा को शक्तिशाली बनाने वाले #AtalBihariVaajpayee के जीवन पर एक नजर, पूरा विडियो देखने के लिए क्लिक करें – https://t.co/uaVpwxEvka pic.twitter.com/3OcnLFrEea
— प्रभासाक्षी (@prabhasakshi) August 16, 2018
This rumour had surfaced earlier as well, on Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary. The fact of the matter is, Vajpayee had never called Indira Gandhi “Durga” and had himself used every possible platform to deny this
Today a lot of Liberals r taking liberty of callin Indira Gandhi as Durga in d name of Vajpayee, let‘s break this Modern Myth fr once & all pic.twitter.com/csRypF5qjc
— Yo Yo Funny Singh (@moronhumor) October 31, 2017
In the above video, Vajpayee explains how this line was attributed to him by the media, and how he had denied it from day one. Finally, when an author carried out researched on this, by looking into all the records, it was proved that he had never uttered the phrase.
Vajpayee ends the explanation in a lighter vein by saying: “lekin abhi bhi durga mere peeche hai” (Durga is still chasing me). His words from then, are true even today, after his death. At least now, people should respect his soul and stop this false propaganda, which they might be using, to again glorify the Gandhi family, using Vajpayee.
