Priyanka Gandhi addressed a rally at Sirsa, Uttar Pradesh as part of her campaign in the state for the Congress party. In her speech, she spoke a lie that has acquired the status of folk legend among Opposition parties.
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She accused Prime Minister Modi of making false promises about giving Rs. 15 lakh to people. It has been repeated over and over again by numerous political opponents of Narendra Modi for the past 5 years.
The Congress party has spoken the same lie on numerous occasions in the past. Even today, Congress President and Priyanka’s brother, Rahul Gandhi, spoke the same lie at a rally in Karnataka.
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In reality, the Prime Minister never made such a promise. The comments which were twisted by the Opposition were made at a rally he had addressed at Chhattisgarh’s Kanker on the 7th of November while campaigning for the party.
While speaking about Black Money stashed abroad, Modi said rhetorically that the amount stashed abroad is so large that if the Indian government could succeed in bringing back all of that, then every citizen would get 15 lakh rupees in their account.
Modi said, “The whole world says that crooks in India deposit their money in banks abroad. Black money is hoarded abroad in banks. My brothers and sisters of Kanker, tell me, this stolen money should be brought back or not? Should we take back every penny hoarded by these crooks? Doesn’t the public have a right over this money? Should this money not be utilized for the welfare of the people? If even once, the money hoarded by these crooks in banks abroad, even if we bring only that back, every poor Indian would get free of cost Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakhs, just like that. There’s so much money.”
Quite clearly, Narendra Modi was making a rhetorical point about the amount of black money stashed abroad and was hinting towards the strict measures his government would take when it came to power. He was not actually promising to deliver 15 lakh rupees in every citizen’s account.
However, due to misrepresentation by propagandists in the media and political leaders, it has become an Urban Legend of sorts. Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi appears to have picked up some skills from her brother, Rahul Gandhi, who has acquired a stellar reputation as a liar in recent times.