IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU SAY, BUT HOW YOU SAY IT

We all want to make an impact when we speak. Yet, there’s a simple rule many forget which can undermine the impression we create. It’s not just what you say that will have an effect but also how you say it. I’m prepared to bet the latter is often more important.

Two separate developments made me think of this last week. The first was Rahul Gandhi’s video that hiding the truth from the Indian people is an anti-national thing to do. It’s a credible argument and it’s politically clever because it hits at Prime Minister

(PM) Narendra Modi’s greatest strength whilst scratching at a recent lapse.

It’s now well recognised that when Mr Modi said “neither has anyone intruded across our border nor is anyone intruding”, that wasn’t the full truth. The Chinese are on Indian territory at multiple locations in Ladakh.

Even where they’ve retreated there are doubts they’ve fully vacated Indian territory. Mr Modi’s confused statement is interpreted as an attempt to hide the truth. By the same token, it also diminishes his 56-inch strongman image and his promise to defend India’s national interests.

It’s this twin target Rahul Gandhi wanted to hit. But read what he actually said and ask if it’s an impressive way of making his point. Doesn’t it reveal more of his own immature manner than the PM’S contradictions?

“If you want me to lie that the Chinese have not entered this country,

I’m not gonna lie. I simply will not do it. I don’t care if my whole career goes to hell. I’m not going to lie. So, frankly, I don’t care if it costs me politically. I don’t care if I have no political career at all after that. But I’m going to say the truth as far as Indian territory is concerned.”

If Rahul Gandhi had carefully considered what he wanted to say and

Business Standard