After the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj exposed BJP’s attempt to create a fake Yamuna for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Chhath Puja photoshoot, the Prime Minister was forced to cancel his event. Calling it a case of “Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate,” (a famous bollywood song) the senior AAP leader revealed that the BJP’s grand plan to showcase a clean Yamuna before the Bihar elections collapsed after the truth came out. With even the PMO’s inspected arrangements scrapped and the leadership left embarrassed, he said this episode proved once again that the power of the people is greater than that of governments — when truth stands firm, lies crumble.
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader and Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj displayed some pictures to the tune of the old Hindi film song ‘Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate,’ and said, “For the past several days, the BJP government made every possible attempt to create a fake Yamuna and send a message to the world that the river had become clean and its water now resembled filtered or mineral water.”
He explained, “All this was done with the intention of organising a photoshoot of the Prime Minister offering ‘arghya’ to the Sun God during Chhath Puja, a week before the Bihar elections. Only selected media persons were to be allowed entry at the Vasudev Ghat, and as per BJP’s instructions, cameras were to be placed only where they wanted them to be. This propaganda was designed to run for months, showing that the Prime Minister and the BJP government had cleaned the Yamuna in Delhi.”
Describing the preparations, Saurabh Bharadwaj continued, “By Monday evening, all arrangements had been completed. Protocols were finalised, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had inspected the site, and BJP ministers had visited it several times. Yet, the Prime Minister did not come. Later, speculations arose that he would offer arghya to the rising sun on the morning of 28 October. Television anchors were ready and kept asking their reporters when the Prime Minister would arrive, saying the atmosphere was grand. But the Prime Minister did not come.”
Calling it a major lesson for the BJP government and the country, he emphasised, “The power of the people is still greater than the power of governments, and the strength of social media is immense. When social media and truthful people take a pledge to spread the truth, truth prevails and lies collapse. The truth triumphed on social media, and the planned photoshoot before the Bihar elections had to be cancelled by the Prime Minister’s Office.”
“It is being heard that the BJP leadership is deeply embarrassed by CM Rekha Gupta’s government, which completely ruined the plan. The Prime Minister’s embarrassment has made people doubt all the data released by the BJP government. Earlier, there were debates over whether the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures were correct or not, or if the method of calculation was proper. That debate has resurfaced. Now, even the unemployment figures are being questioned. The government claims that employment is rising, but most of the youth around us is unemployed,” asserted the senior AAP leader.
He further said, “During Diwali, normal firecrackers were illegally sold and burst with the connivance of the police, despite the Supreme Court’s directions for only green crackers. There was a blatant violation of the Court’s orders. On Diwali night, Air Quality Index (AQI) monitors were deliberately switched off so that the BJP government could push its false narrative that though crackers were burnt, pollution did not rise. When public pressure forced the monitors to be switched on, the Aam Aadmi Party exposed that water was being sprayed at monitoring stations non-stop. Trucks were circling day and night, diesel was being wasted, and smog machines were installed to artificially lower AQI readings.”
Referring to earlier incidents of political showmanship, Saurabh Bharadwaj added, “Before the Gujarat elections, the school that the Prime Minister visited was fake. Its classroom was false, and its windows were painted. Recently, when PM Modi went to a tailor’s house, that hut too was reportedly fake. It had a new mat, new sewing machine, and the woman sitting at it wore an ID card around her neck. What kind of drama is this?”
Appealing to citizens, he continued, “Even today, truth shines bright in this country and stands taller than lies. Therefore, everyone should strive to bring out and amplify the truth on social media. Over the past three days, many people, including opposition parties, have exposed BJP’s lies. I thank them all, because this proves ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (truth alone triumphs). Do not lose courage — the truth ultimately wins.”
Displaying video clips of news reports that had announced PM Modi’s visit to Vasudev Ghat for Chhath Puja, Saurabh Bharadwaj stated, “The BJP is piling lie upon lie. Now, senior BJP leaders are claiming that the Prime Minister was never supposed to visit Vasudev Ghat. But the truth is that the Prime Minister was indeed scheduled to come, and his favoured television channels ran the news continuously till the last minute. On 26 October, almost all major channels reported that on Chhath, PM Modi would reach Vasudev Ghat in Delhi and take part in the celebrations. This news was the prominent broadcast everywhere on 26 October itself.”
Citing minute-by-minute details, he revealed, “Even till 6:29 a.m., the BJP and its affiliated channels were saying that all security arrangements for the Prime Minister were in place and that he could arrive any moment. The Sun God rose, but the Prime Minister did not. Before the Bihar elections, the Chhath photoshoot for the Prime Minister was very important, and it got cancelled. This is far bigger than the claim of a clean Yamuna — the cancellation of his photoshoot itself is the bigger story. Over the past three days, the Prime Minister’s Office must have tried in different rivers to somehow arrange a Chhath photoshoot for him, but it could not be done.”
Calling it a matter of national embarrassment, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “It is shameful and proof of the BJP government’s incompetence that despite being in power at the Centre for 11 years and spending thousands of crores of rupees under the Namami Gange project, the Prime Minister could not find even a single riverbank in the entire country where he could show clean water to the world while offering arghya to the Sun God, claiming that pollution had been eliminated. This is the irony of 11 years of this government — not a single river’s pollution has been cleaned through their work. Eventually, even the Prime Minister’s PR department failed to arrange his Chhath Puja programme. This will serve as a major lesson for the BJP and for all those young people across the country who were fanning propaganda on social media.”
