From Red Fort to campaign trail: PM Modi's factually incorrect claims

I have said and written in the past and I will not tire of saying it again: Narendra Modi is one of the tallest leaders that the country has produced. Even his detractors will agree that he is decisive and effective. Then why does he make incorrect statements, some of which are even politically incorrect, repeatedly, I say what I say on the basis of my personal experience, some of which get outlined in my recently released book, “Encounters with Politicians”.

The recent incident relates to what PM Modi narrated from the ramparts of Red Fort on 15^th August this year. He spoke at length about Birsa Munda, the redoubtable tribal freedom fighter but he got all his dates wrong. Whereas Modi credited Birsa Munda’s contribution to freedom struggle ‘even before 1857’, he was born only in 1875. I recall a similar faux pas in 2017 and the occasion was same. The PM spoke about Project Monitoring Group (PMG) and stated that it was set up by the NDA government. This was factually incorrect as the UPA government had set up the PMG in 2013 to fast-track clearances to promote investment and I was the first Chairman of this Group in the Cabinet Secretariat. The list of such statements is a long one and shouldn’t its repeated recurrence be a cause for concern?

Then, there are other statements that to my understanding do more damage to him personally and politically but he keeps making them. Some of the statements that he made during electioneering in 2024 do enormous disservice to him personally and as a political leader. I can’t recall any Prime Minister of India making such statements. The ‘bhains’ and ‘mangalsutra’ statements were below the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister.  It is difficult to fathom what political benefit was he hoping to derive when he made statement about Ambani and Adani ferrying ill-gotten wealth on a tempo to other parties.

Three years ago, the PM ridiculed the Indian Administrative Service officers in the Parliament: “Sab kuch babu hi karenege. IAS ban gaye matlab woh fertilizer ka kaarkhana bhi chalayega. Yeh kaun si badi takat bana kar rakh di humne? Babuon ke haath mein desh de karke hum kya karne waale hain?” What purpose did it serve except demoralizing youngsters in the IAS. Yes, there could be a lot of wrong with the Service but was it the right forum to make such a statement? After all, Prime Minister is the Chief Executive of the country and the IAS officers are his team members. It goes against all the principles of leadership to do what he did.  Ironically, no appointment of an IAS officer to a post of Joint Secretary and above can be made without his approval and his own Secretariat is headed by an IAS officer who is assisted by another set of IAS officers. He has appointed a number of former IAS officers to important positions and continues to do so. The list includes Union Ministers and even RBI Governor and extended his tenure when he could have opted for a non-IAS officer. If he is apparently so fond of them, why ridicule them publicly?

There are just a few of the many examples of PM Modi making inexplicable statements. Being an admirer of his decisive and effective skills, I tried to bring to the notice of the then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister about the factually incorrect statements that the PM was making. I also reminded the Principal Secretary that we (in 1991, he and I were in the Secretariat of Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister,UP) brought to the notice of the Chief Minister about any factually incorrect statement he made and also our views on other issues freely and frankly. I distinctly remember sending Principal Secretary messages on 15^th August, 2017 about the incorrect statements the PM made on that date. I don’t know whether such factually incorrect statements were brought to the notice of the PM. My hunch is that they weren’t as he continued to make such statements.

Why does an accomplished leader like Narendra Modi make factually and politically incorrect statement?

A Prime Minister can’t be expected either to know all the facts or verify them personally. It is his Secretariat that has to do the job. I never worked in the Prime Minister’s Office but I have had the experience of working in Chief Minister’s Office. It was our job to verify and present facts. Despite that, there were occasions when the CM did make factually incorrect statement. As mentioned earlier, we then brought to his notice the incorrect nature of the statement. It was taken in the right spirit. Perhaps Kalyan Singh realized that making a factually incorrect statement would not even benefit him politically.

Moreover, the Kalyan Singh I knew would never make a factually incorrect statement consciously. I don’t know Narendra Modi that well but I would believe that even he would not make a factually wrong statement consciously. Hence, isn’t it the job of his Secretariat to bring to his notice such statements? Are they doing it? Is there someone around who has the courage to tell him? If the PM believes that a factually incorrect statement is politically necessary, it can’t be helped but it is difficult to believe that he would believe all such statements would be politically beneficial. The Secretariat can’t say much about purely political statements (like the ‘tempo’ one) but they can and should bring to his notice statements that are factually incorrect. Shouldn’t they?

The story has been originally published on Repeated Faux pas by PM Modi - indica News