Cheering for foreign interference in the internal matters of India appears to be the latest fad among liberal circles and opposition political parties. After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other politicians from Canada commented on the protests currently underway in India, there appears to be a rush of liberals over willing to either defend the Canadian meddling or going to the extent of welcoming the same. The latest to join the fray is senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
In his eagerness to justify the Canadian meddling in Indian internal matters, the Congress leader relied on the popular hoax that is repeated over and over again by opposition politicians to target Prime Minister Modi. Jairam Ramesh appears to argue that since Narendra Modi had said ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkaar’ at Houston, foreign interference in Indian internal matters is also justified.
Quite obviously, Narendra Modi did not say ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkar’ in the way that Jairam Ramesh claims he did. At the mega ‘Howdy Modi’ event held in Houston in September last year, Prime Minister Modi had reminded the audience as to how during the 2016 US Presidential campaigning, Donald Trump had said ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkar’ while appealing to Indian diaspora in the US.
PM Modi said, “We in India have connected well with President Trump, the words of candidate Trump, ‘Abki baar Trump sarkar’, rang loud and clear.” In October 2016, during the US Presidential campaigning, the then Presidential candidate Trump had said that the Indian and Hindu community in the US will have a ‘friend’ in the White House. Then, using Prime Minister Modi’s 2014 popular election slogan “Abki baar, Modi Sarkar”, Donald Trump had said, “Abki baar, Trump Sarkar” (This time, it will be a Trump government).
While addressing the Indian diaspora in the US, Prime Minister Modi had recalled the above campaign slogan by Trump, contrary to the claim that he was endorsing Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 US elections.
Consequently, Congress politicians, their friends in the media and politicians from other political parties had run with the narrative that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had endorsed Donald Trump for the presidential elections when he obviously did not. Despite repeated fact-checks, they did not let facts get in the way of their dedicated agenda. And now, after the lies have been debunked several times over, Congress leaders are using the hoax to justify foreign meddling in Indian internal matters.
Pro-AAP blogger Dhruv Rathee has called for foreign powers to interfere in India’s internal affairs as well, in order to dethrone the democratically elected government and alter the political landscape of the country. His justification for it was that Indian institutions have been hijacked and have become puppets of the Government and therefore, foreign interference could be a good thing.