The wire and Swati Chaturvedi spread lies about PM Modi's role in Ekta Yatra in 1992. PM Modi was the convenor of the Yatra, not just a party worker participating in the event as claimed by The Wire.
A quite old video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking about his Yatra to Lal Chowk in 1992 has surfaced on the internet and gaining a lot of attention from social media users. The video has not been labeled with any date, event or place. It is a 2:24 seconds video and it seems to be a small extract from one of PM Modi’s old speeches. It is hard to trace the accurate source of the video of Narendra Modi speaking about his Yatra experience but it was uploaded on Youtube on April 22, 2012.
It resurfaced on social media recently and many users appreciated Modi’s patriotism and bravery. Several Social media users also tweeted and shared this event recently.
One of our readers tagged us on a Facebook post to verify the authenticity of the claim.
Several news agencies have covered this event then and recently brought it back to light. In the early hours of the morning on January 26th, 1992, the then leader of the BJP party Murli Manohar Joshi and few other party members, including Narendra Modi hoisted the Tricolour at Clock Tower which is present in the heart of Lal Chowk city. This hoisting of the flag was started as the ‘Ekta Yatra’ from Kanyakumari on December 11, 1991. The significance of the event, however, lies on the fact that few militants had sent threats claiming that they would attack if anyone hoisted the Tricolour flag in Lal Chowk. But Joshi and his BJP colleagues went to the clock tower and hoisted the flag amidst high security. There were two or three bomb explosions in the vicinity but Joshi, Modi and the others did their intended work, addressed a press gathering and left.
Source: Kashmir INK
According to a few critics, especially The Wire had a lot to say against Modi and his actions. In that 2 minutes video, it can be seen that Modi is talking about his experience hoisting the flag in Lal Chowk. He talks about how he did not wear even a bulletproof jacket and went to the event with the Tricolour in his hand. Throughout the extracted video, it can be seen that Modi is talking about his experience and not mentioning Joshi who mainly lead the Yatra and hence got a lot of backlash for that. Some felt as though Modi disrespected Joshi by not mentioning him at all. But it is evident that the video posted on youtube is just a small extract of his speech and there might have been instances where he would’ve mentioned Joshi. The Wire in their article mentioned that Joshi was supposedly very infuriated by Modi’s actions and sent the video to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and asked him to check why the prime minister is “indulging in fantasy”. The Wire also mentioned that according to ‘sources’, Bhagawat was upset and promised Joshi that all such videos will be deleted. But as of now, no sources have been mentioned and thus it’s authenticity cannot be trusted. It was also claimed by them that Modi was a full-time BJP worker but did not mention Joshi (in the video) who led the Yatra. But it is all evident that Modi was a prominent member of the party and not once has he said that he took up the Yatra on his own. On January 26th, 1992, after the hoisting of the tricolor Joshi and his party members addressed a media gathering in a secured visitors’ room at the helipad of Badami Bagh Cantonment. There, Joshi introduced Modi as an “energetic and promising” party leader of BJP. It was also noted that Modi had planned and organised the Yatra as an active party member and not just a participating member and he was important to the party as he was a part of the National Election Committee of the party. He was designated as the convenor of the Yatra, not just a party worker participating in the event. Thus Modi was not an insignificant member and the Yatra was led by Joshi because obviously, he was the leader of the party then.
Thus, until the sources of The Wire supporting their claims are mentioned, it is not ethical to accuse Modi. It can also be seen that several authentic media houses have covered this event even before it was brought back recently. Hence it is definitely not a hoax. The Tribune published an article about this event on January 26th, 2016. An article covered by News18 illustrating the story of a man who housed and accompanied Modi on his visit to Kashmir was published on September 2, 2018. All these articles prove that this event did occur and the authenticity of the happenings on that day can be verified by seeing the similar coverages by all the above-mentioned news platforms.
Conclusion:
Modi along with Joshi and few other BJP colleagues did hoist the Tricolor on January 26th, 1992 at Lal Chowk and the claims about how he spoke only of himself and did not mention Joshi can only be confirmed if the full footage from that speech is released. Also, The Wire’s claim of Joshi and Bhagawat being upset by Modi’s actions and planning on taking down the videos of the speech can be proven true only if there are sources available to support their claim.
The topic was also covered by OpIndia.
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Samyuktha Mirra
Contact: @@Samyuktha_Mirra
Bachelors of Journalism, psychology and English from Christ University
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