Congress social media head Divya Spandana has tweeted a part of a video clip to suggest Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives pre-scripted interviews and that even insignificant details are meticulously planned in advance.
The clip, from an interview given to the television channel News Nation, shows Modi holding some sheets of paper, including one that has a poem typed in Hindi under a question marked No. 27.
The question typed on the paper is the same that the interviewer asks the Prime Minister.
Divya tweeted the video clip with this message: “So the @narendramodi interview with @NewsNationTV was *badly* scripted just like his other interviews, but here’s proof! Pause the video at 3 seconds & take a good look, it has the question & *ahem* the answers too! Now you know why no press conference or debate with @RahulGandhi.”
The video shows the interviewer asking this question: “I want to know from the poet Narendra Modi; have you written something in the last five years.”
In reply, Modi says he writes poems once in a while and asks for his file, which is handed to him. As he flips through the papers, the clip shows the poem — not handwritten but typed — just below the question asked by the interviewer.
Divya says in another tweet: “Here what you would see — question no 27. Unfortunately for Modi, it wasn’t cloudy. The radar picked this up.”
This was a reference to the Prime Minister’s controversial claim in the same interview about his suggestion to air force experts to carry out the Balakot air strike in bad weather as cloud cover would prevent Pakistani radars from detecting the IAF fighter planes.
The fact-checker Alt News, which analysed the video, confirmed that the Prime Minister did have papers with the question and the poem written on it.
That triggered another round of criticism and a large number of Twitter users heaped scorn on Modi for using pre-scripted texts even for simple questions.
Neither the channel nor the BJP had issued any clarification on the interview till late on Monday.
Divya rubbed the message in with more tweets: “Look forward to the unscripted interview (on the same channel News Nation) tonight at 9pm!”
She added: “You didn’t ask @rahulgandhi if he has a wallet, if he cooks, if he likes khichri, if he’s into photography, what his favourite meal is and how many times he eats, what sweets he likes, if he’s calorie conscious, if he’s fashion conscious? No? Ok then.”
She was obviously taunting the channel for the difference in its approach when it had interviewed the Congress chief.
While Modi was asked questions like if he carried a wallet or could cook khichdi, Rahul had been quizzed on the anti-Sikh riots, the Congress’s description of saffron terror, the Rafale deal and other serious political issues.
Rahul, however, didn’t carry any papers with him to the interview.
