“Speak the truth, do not be scared of speaking the truth.” This was Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s message to the editor of National Herald, which was re-launched in its new avatar in Bengaluru on Monday.
With the portrait of his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru in the background, Rahul reaffirmed the spirit of the Herald, by stating that truth will not be “manufactured” by the publication. He said that the Herald, unlike most media houses in the nation, would enjoy the freedom of speech. It would be given the liberty to even write against the Congress and and its leaders, as it was important for the leadership to hear them, he said.
The paper, founded by Nehru in 1938 as a tool to win India’s independence, is now being brought back to life at a time when Karnataka is all set to face the 2018 Assembly polls. Congress’s decision to launch its newspaper in Bengaluru is seen as a strategic move - it’s become imperative for the party to retain power in the State.
Rahul, who addressed a gathering of Congressmen assembled in large numbers, played to the gallery, by attacking the Narendra Modi-led government for muzzling the voice of the nation.
“Anybody who attempts to stand for the truth is pushed aside in different forms. Dalits are beaten up, minorities are frightened, while journalists and bureaucrats are threatened. Power will manufacture truth - everybody knows the truth, but they are scared to speak up,” he said.
Elaborating the significance of the two swords representing ‘peeri’ and ‘meeri’ in Sikhism, Rahul said that ‘peeri’ meant ‘power of truth’, while ‘meeri’ meant ‘truth of power’. “The crossed swords represents justice. It is an interesting and powerful concept. However, there is a disbalance between these two forces in India today. The power of truth has been completely replaced by the truth of power,” he said.
Recounting his latest tryst with the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Rahul said that though there was no law to stop him, policemen had done so. “When I asked a policeman why I was being stopped from entering Uttar Pradesh, he said that there was no law against my entry. But, he was doing so only because he was asked to. This is basically what is being done in India,” he said.
The junior Gandhi said that the Herald had a “strong spirit”, and that it would not be silenced. “A soviet poet once said that when truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie. The government is forcing everyone into silence. Thousands of journalists are not being allowed to write what they want. But the National Herald has a strong spirit. It is not going to be silent,” he added.