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'They used to do wah, wah for me 24 hours, remember?' Rahul Gandhi on his image in media
In a video released by the Congress, Rahul Gandhi revealed the ‘truth’ of his image in media and said something changed after 2008-09.
When Rahul Gandhi joined politics, the media of the country continued praising him for at least 5-6 years but something changed after that, Rahul Gandhi said in a recent video released by the Congress amid its Bharat Jodo Yatra. "When I joined politics, all media of the country used to do 'wah, wah' for me 24 hours until 2008-09. You remember? Then I raised two issues and everything changed," Rahul Gandhi said in the video which is a collection of his Bharat Jodo speeches and also clips of his initial days in politics.
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"I raised two issues -- one was Niyamgiri and the second was Bhatta Parsaul. The moment I raised the question of land and the moment I started to defend the right of the poor people on the land is when the whole media tamasha started. We brought PESA Act for tribals and other laws for their land rights. And then the media started writing against me 24 hours," Rahul Gandhi said.
"The assets of India which originally belonged to Maharajas were given to the public through the Constitution. But BJP is doing the opposite of it. They are giving those assets back to 'maharajas' taking them from you," Rahul Gandhi added.
BJP spent thousands of crores to damage his image, Rahul Gandhi said adding, "The beauty of it is that it does not work. Truth has this nasty habit of poking its head from here and there. The more they spend to besmirch my image, they will be giving more strength to me because the truth can't be suppressed. When you fight a major force, you will be attacked personally. So I know when I am attacked personally that I am on the right track."
"This is my guru. This teaches me which side to choose. And I am going forward in my fight. As long as I am going forward, everything is fine," Rahul Gandhi said in the video.
Rahul Gandhi had protested Niyamgiri land acquisition for Vedanta's mining operation in Odisha calling it illegal The permission was finally denied. Bhatta, Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh witnessed a massive farmers' protest in 2011 over land acquisition. Rahul Gandhi had visited the farmers' protest against the then Mayawati government and it remained one of the remarkable moments of Rahul Gandhi's journey in politics.
