On January 7, Republic TV hosted a debate on #JhootPolitics, segments of which has caused much disbelief among the Twitteratti. In a video clip that has gone viral, editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami can be seen taking on Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sudhanshu Trivedi.
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ContributeQuoting various examples, including manifesto promises, Goswami called out several lies propagated by the BJP. Giving an example, he said, “The biggest lie is forgery and impersonation. It is something for which one is sent to jail. One can’t think of a bigger lie. It’s incomprehensible to think that a political party will resort to this…impersonation. Your veteran leader Vasundhara Raje, who lost in the assembly elections. You lied about her signature in the Lalitgate documents.”
Speaking about the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Goswami said, “Every day you are lying about the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is topping the list of custodial deaths…People go to jail and are immediately killed. This is the situation right now. You have lied about everything. You are master liars…”
Goswami also addressed the Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir issue. He said, “In your 1996 manifesto, you said a magnificent Sri Ram Mandir will be a great tribute to Bharat Mata. You got 160-161 seats that year in Lok Sabha. You did absolutely nothing. You never did anything. Now you are peddling the same lie after 22 years.”
Goswami also accused the BJP of lying about the disrobing of a woman in West Bengal. “Haryana BJP leader Vijeta Malik officially shared a video of a woman being disrobed and said that this was the state of Hindus in West Bengal. It turned out later that the photo was a still shot taken from a Bhojpuri film… You think about the kind of lies you are spreading… Will you take responsibility if there’s a riot later because of this lie? No. You just want to spread lies. You take great pleasure in spreading lies.”
Goswami taking on Trivedi took many by surprise, with some even wondering if the debate took place in an alternative universe.
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