Prasenjit K Basu, an Indian-origin economist and an author in Singapore has threatened to take the Congress to court over a tweet it posted of party president Rahul Gandhi's interaction at a university in the city state.
Basu, the author of Asia Reborn, said he will take a legal action against the Congress if the party doesn’t withdraw the video it tweeted of a public interaction between him and Gandhi.
The Congress tweeted a video in which Basu is seen asking a question to the Congress president during an interactive session.
“Why is it that during the years that your family ruled India, India’s per capita income was growing less than the world average? And yet, in the years since your family relinquished the prime ministership of India, India’s per capita income has grown substantially faster than the world average,” Basu is seen asking the question in the video.
The video, however, doesn't shows Rahul answer to Basu’s question. Rather, the video then cuts to another member of the audience who hails the Congress.
“I am a great admirer of you great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru and I think all the good things… wherever India is today is because of the Indian Congress Party. And even in the Constitution… your party has very successfully put the values of the Congress party into the Constitution.”
Gandhi is seen responding, saying: “You are both going to extremes. I mean give me something in the middle. I mean he (Basu) is saying I am the cause of every single problem. And you (second speaker) is saying I am the cause of every single solution. I mean, this is crazy.”
He adds: “This conversation shows you the polarisation. That gentleman (Basu) thinks that nothing has ever been done by the Congress party. This gentleman (second speaker) thinks that everything has been done by the Congress party. Let me tell you what the truth is. India’s success is hugely because of India’s people (which is followed by applause from the audience).
However, anybody in this room who thinks that the Congress is not part of that success, needs to write a new book (which is followed by a big applause from the audience).”
At the end of the video, Gandhi is seen inviting Basu for a “hug”.
The video, however, didn’t go down well with Basu.
Replying to the Congress’ tweet, Basu said: “This is a classic fake-news video. You are using my image to falsely advertise your politician, showing a sequence of events that did not occur. Withdraw this false video, or prepare for prosecution in Singapore’s courts!”
Basu later retweeted another video posted by another user, saying, “Here’s the full video of my succinct question to RaGa, and his repeated failure to answer.”
Defending the video, Congress leader Milind Deora told News18: “I don’t know what this gentleman (Basu) is talking about. But there were two questions. One questioned what the family had done and the other said that the Congress has contributed. Rahul answered both questions deftly. So I don’t know what the controversy is about.”
Launching an attack on the BJP, Gandhi also said there is a general atmosphere of "intimidation" in India where "nasty form of politics" of dividing people are being played to win elections.
Gandhi also said there is a challenge to the institutional structure of India.
"If you ask me what am I proud about my country...It is the idea of plurality. It's the idea that people in India can say anything they want, do anything they want and they won't face any problem and that is being challenged...," he said.
"There is a particular type of politics that's not only happening in India but in a number of places - of dividing people, of using (their) anger to win elections and that's what is happening in India," he told the audience at the school, which is part of the National University of Singapore.
Commenting on the recent controversy of four senior Supreme Court judges holding an unprecedented press conference, Gandhi said, "Normally in India, the people go to the judges for justice. For the first time in my life, I saw four Supreme Court judges actually go to the people for justice. They went to the press and said that they need the people to hear their voice as there is something that is fundamentally wrong."
(With PTI inputs)
