Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday used examples of renown successful American entrepreneurs to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies, however he took the analogies too far by describing the founder of Coca-Cola as a ‘shinkanji seller’ and that of McDonald as ‘dhaba wala’.
His remarks created a buzz on social media with people trolling him under the hashtag #AccordingToRahulGandhi. The trend became viral and one of the top Indian trends on Twitter.
Moreover, the Wikipedia page has no mention of Coca-Cola owner John Pemberton ever being involved in the lemonade business. Rather it describes Pemberton, who lived from July 8, 1831 to August 16, 1888, as a pharmacist who in May 1886 developed an early version of a beverage that would later become popular as Coca-Cola.
Some people also edited John Pemberton’s Wikipedia page by adding the statement: “He used to sell lemonade (Shikhanji) in his earlier days along with Gandhi family.” This fake addition was removed shortly afterwards. Also, someone also edited the Wikipedia page of the Coca-Cola company and added that it is a ‘American shikanji corporation’. This addition was also deleted later.
“Everyone must have heard about the Coca-Cola company. Who started this company. Who was he, does anyone know? I will tell you who he was. The person who started the Coca-Cola company was one who sold ‘shikanji’. He used to sell ‘shikanji’ in America. He used to mix sugar in water. His experience and talent was honoured and he got money and started the Coca-Cola company,” Rahul Gandhi had said in his address.
He also said that the founders of Ford, Mercedes and Honda were ‘mechanics’ whose skills were recognised by the meritocratic system in their countries and allowed them to prosper.