Pre-Truth — snappy, witty and significant snippets from the world of politics and government.
Rajasthan CM’s ‘left-handed’ compliment
Among the many tweets Union ministers and BJP chief ministers posted on the second anniversary of demonetisation Thursday, the one by Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje stood out. “The crucial decision has curbed corruption, terrorism and black money today,” she wrote congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “honest citizens” of the country. Given that the opposition parties have been pooh-poohing the demonetisation move citing its failure to attain any of these objectives, Raje’s tweet didn’t go down well with many of her party colleagues in Delhi. It read like a troll, many believed. It is no secret that Raje, who is close to party veteran L.K. Advani, doesn’t get along well with the party high command who, she believes, has been trying to undermine her.
Also read: Amit Shah keeps Vasundhara Raje out of Rajasthan rallies as their rift widens
Was there more to Rahul Gandhi’s b’day greeting to Advani?
On veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani’s 91st birthday Thursday, greetings poured in on social media for the seasoned politician. Among those to wish him was Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who put up a Facebook post wishing Advani, saying he prays for his health, long life and happiness. What, however, made many wonder if his greeting was an after-thought was the timing, as well as the choice of social media platform.
Gandhi’s Facebook post came well into the day, only after 2 pm. Moreover, Gandhi restricted his wishes for Advani to Facebook, and did not put up any post on Twitter — rather surprising, given how political leaders give much importance to Twitter and Gandhi himself is very active on the medium. In fact, the Congress president had wished Advani on Twitter on his last birthday, saying, “Happy Birthday, Advani ji. Have a lovely day.” Several in the BJP wondered if this was a genuine miss by Gandhi’s social media team or whether there was a subtext to this and he wanted to downplay his wishes to the BJP leader.
Ministers heap praise on Modi’s 59-minute loan scheme
In the cabinet meeting held Thursday evening, Union ministers were told to give their feedback on the latest scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 November, to help grant loan to small entrepreneurs in 59 minutes. Ministers spent some 20 minutes talking about the positive public feedback and how wherever they spoke about the scheme, it drew loud applause from the crowd. Union minister Uma Bharti went a step ahead and praised the PM’s 2 November speech where he reached out to small entrepreneurs in the micro, small and medium enterprise sector. According to sources, Bharti told her cabinet colleagues in the meeting that this was Modi’s best speech she had heard. Union minister Sushma Swaraj also lavished praises and said the scheme has been well received by the public.
Also read: No Twitter celebrations this year as BJP allies stay silent on demonetisation
Minister Vijay Goel builds his own ‘Ram temple’
Union minister Vijay Goel is known to have nose for news. So when his party colleagues are making headlines supporting the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya or by lighting lamps at the disputed site on Diwali, Goel found a novel way to make his presence felt. On Diwali, he had a mini Ram temple structure at his official residence and he and his wife lit diyas in front of it. The minister, however, found this Diwali lacklustre. “This year, Diwali didn’t feel like one,” he quipped. But he didn’t elaborate why.
CJI Gogoi’s disdain for PILs
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is usually full of disdain for PILs. Since he took office a month ago, the usual serial public interest litigators are missing in action. However, activist-lawyer and politician Ashwini Upadhyay is celebrating that he has filed 50 PILs in the past five years. Well wishers of the BJP spokesperson are seen congratulating him but are also whispering that this publicity might land him in trouble before Gogoi.
Also read: Be more proactive, am watching – new CJI Ranjan Gogoi tells high court chief justices
(Contributors: D.K. Singh, Ruhi Tewari, Moushumi Das Gupta, Apurva Vishwanath and Pragya Kaushika)