‘Amethi Rae Bareli Ki Kahani’ targets BJP on Facebook
LUCKNOW : The title may suggest ‘Amethi Rae Bareli Ki Kahani’ is all about the stories of Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituencies of Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi and party chief Sonia Gandhi. But the reality is otherwise.
In fact, it’s a Facebook page that counters propaganda against the Congress and runs an aggressive campaign against the BJP and its leaders.
The page has a picture of Rahul Gandhi with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (wearing a garland).
The slogan ‘Of, By, For Amethi and Rae Bareli,’ appears beneath the title ‘Amethi Rae Bareli Ki Kahani’.
Though Congress leaders quote and appear to enjoy the anti-BJP focus of the page, they say they are not aware of the ownership of the page.
“There are groups of volunteers supporting the Congress ideology who run such campaigns. We are not aware who runs or funds such campaigns and creates these pages,” says a Congress leader who does not wish to be named.
The Facebook page has a following of 228,333 with 213,921 likes. Sample this. A video posted on the page on Tuesday targets the BJP’s much hyped Gujarat model of development.
A post with the link #VikasGoneCrazy reads: “Gujarat main vikas aspatal se sidhe garba pandal pahuncha (Development has reached a garba enclosure straight from hospital).”
It shows a man with multiple fractures limping as others enjoy ‘garba’ in the video.
There are also a number of video clips of reporters shown on news channels targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders.
A senior Congress leader said: “Yes, there are videos showing an aggressive campaign against the saffron brigade on the social media.”
Yet, there are also posts that question the title of the page. “Bechare Amethi aur Rae Bareli tak hi simat gaye hain to kahn ki kahani sunayen (They have been confined to Amethi and Rae Bareli. What other tales can they narrate?),” reads a post by Vivek Kumar, who introduces himself as ‘self-employed’.
Another video posted on the F acebook page refers to India’s war with Pakistan and how the then PM the late Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the go-ahead to the Indian Army to cross the IndiaPakistan border from Punjab.
The title of the video reads: “Lahore tak jhande garhne wala pradhan mantri (The prime minister who hoisted India’s flag in Lahore).” Some picture captions say Shastri’s decision changed the course of history.
Another caption says: “60 saal main Congress ka yogdan. Jab Modiji paida bhi nahin hue the, tab tak desh pakistan se ek yudh jeet chukka tha” (Contribution of Congress in 60 years. India had won a war against Pakistan when Modi was not even born.”
A post questions BJP president Amit Shah’s statement that the Gujarat assembly polls will be held in the first week of December. “Is it fixed? The Election Commission has not declared any dates,” reads the post, quoting a Hindi newspaper report. Some posts mention how Narendra Modi changed his stance as Gujarat chief minister and as prime minister on issues ranging from implementation of the Goods and Services Tax to foreign direct investment (FDI) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).