NEET, Agniveer, EVM: Three Falsehoods Peddled By The Rahul-Priyanka Duo In Last 24 Days

The Indian Army on Wednesday (3 July) night refuted claim made by Rahul Gandhi that compensation was not paid to the family of an Agniveer killed in the line of duty.

In a statement, the Army said that a compensation of over Rs 98 lakh has already been paid to the family of Agniveer Ajay Singh, who was killed in landmine blast in January.

It further said that a total amount of Rs 1.65 crore, including ex-gratia and other benefits amounting to Rs 67 lakhs, will be paid to the slain Agniveer's family.

This announcement came shortly after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh "lied" to parliament about a Rs 1 crore compensation being paid to the family of Agniveers killed in line of duty.

The Army's statement was released within two hours of a video message by Rahul Gandhi, reiterating his claim that no compensation had been paid to Agniveer Ajay Kumar's family.

"Protection of truth is the basis of every religion. But Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lied in Parliament about the assistance given to the family of martyred Agniveer. Agniveer Ajay Singh's father himself has told the truth about their lies. The Defence Minister should apologise to the Parliament, the country, the Army and the family of Agniveer Ajay Singh ji," said Gandhi.

This was not the first time that a statement made by Rahul Gandhi was debunked.

Earlier in June, the Congress leader had claimed that the BJP-ruled states have become the epicentre of paper leaks.

BJP responded to his allegations by reminding Rahul Gandhi about the paper leaks in Rajasthan.

While addressing a press conference on NEET exams fiasco, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on 20 June questioned PM Narendra Modi's "silence" over the NEET paper leak row accusing the BJP-ruled states of having "organised corruption" and being an "epicentre of paper leak".

This came after several people were arrested in Gujarat and Bihar over paper leak and cheating scandal.

Replying to the claim, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said "If you have some issue with an exam, you can point out its shortcomings but just because you have some personal issues with PM Modi, you make such big allegation against the youth of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat...if there is an epicentre for paper leak in the country, it was Congress' and Ashok Gehlot's govt in Rajasthan...".

Under the erstwhile Congress government, Rajasthan saw several instances of paper leaks. Rajasthan reportedly witnessed seven paper leak cases since 2019, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh.

Mumbai-based The Mid-Day newspaper on 16 June published a sensational report that claimed that a relative of newly elected Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Waikar was able to connect to EVMs using his mobile phone.

Vandana Suryavanshi, returning officer of the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency, rejected the report as “false news” and said a defamation notice had been issued to the publication.

Citing the newspaper report, Rahul Gandhi posted on X on 16 June, "EVMs in India are a "black box," and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability".

However, in a clarification issued on 17 June, Mid-Day said, "The report 'Waikar's kin had phone that unlocks EVM' (page 6, June 16) inadvertently erroneously mentioned that the accused person used his mobile phone to generate an OTP to unlock EVMs. The error is regretted".

Despite the clarification issued by the paper, Rahul Gandhi is yet to remove his post.

Besides Rahul, his sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also shared a false claim made by a NEET aspirant Ayushi Patel.

Priyanka on 10 June had posted on X a video of a NEET aspirant who had made claims about her result in NEET exam “including torn OMR, lesser marks being given to her”.

Sharing on X the video of Patel claiming some irregularities in declaration of her NEET result, Priyanka had demanded that the government will have to take serious steps to correct these irregularities.

BJP demanded an apology and legal action against Vadra after the Allahabad High Court said Patel, who had alleged in her petition that the National Testing Agency (NTA) failed to declare her result and that her OMR answer sheet was found torn, had submitted forged documents and the NTA can take legal action in the matter.

“Turns out this girl Ayushi Patel, who claimed her OMR was torn and marks were not correct, had provided fake documents even to court and made false claims about her OMR being torn,” he wrote on X, citing Priyanka Gandhi’s 10 June post on the micro-blogging site.

“I demand not only an apology by Priyanka Gandhi. But also legal action,” the BJP spokesperson said in another post on X.

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