In any country which has a sane opposition, a debate filled with arguments and counter-arguments would take place, if the opposition is critical of a certain move by the government. This is, of course, the most desirable action that must take place in a healthy democracy.

But not in India.

It all started with a suggestion from the PMO calling for a new method of allotting services to successful UPSC candidates. Further, feedback was sought from departments and they were also asked to examine the feasibility of such a move.

Like any other policy of the government, opinion was divided with many for and against this move. In the political realm, the voice for those against this move was obviously given by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, who have almost made it a habit to oppose anything and everything that the government does, irrespective of the merits of any move.

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Rahul Gandhi, whose Twitter handle features on the ‘Must Follow List’ of many a Lutyens’ journalists, reacted to the news, not with facts but rather with plain rhetoric. He appealed to students to rise up against the evil plans of the RSS to snatch away their rights, because what’s better than anarchy on the streets of India? The tweet was filled with paranoia and bombast.

Rise up students, your future is at risk! RSS wants what’s rightfully yours. The letter below reveals the PM’s plan to appoint officers of RSS’s choice into the Central Services, by manipulating the merit list using subjective criteria, instead of exam rankings. #ByeByeUPSC pic.twitter.com/VSElwErKqe — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 22, 2018

One is baffled after reading the tweet and is awestruck by this man who is endowed bountifully with the gift of imagination.

He says that the UPSC probationary officers will now be given appointments on the advice of the RSS. Even on multiple readings of the letter, I cannot make out anything that remotely has the same spelling as RSS. Then why exactly is Rahul Gandhi even creating unnecessary fear in the minds of people? This is especially dangerous since his tweets, powered by an all-mighty eco-system and bots from Kazaksthan and other places almost always manage to pop up on people’s Twitter timeline and soon starts to go viral.

He also used #ByeByeUPSC, as though the Government was completely doing away with the UPSC exams. Congress spokespersons and others soon jumped on the bandwagon with tweets like these.

After destroying most institutions of the country, now it’s time for UPSC. Civil service cadre allocation will now be on the basis of your proximity with the Modi Sarkar/RSS instead of your merits. Welcome to the New (read Authoritarian) India. #ByeByeUPSC — Hasiba B. Amin (@HasibaAmin) May 22, 2018

Modi doesn’t want to merit based system, he wants a Manuvad caste based system!#ByeByeUPSC — INC-Tharoorian (@Tharoorian_INC) 22 May 2018

A simple suggestion from the PMO soon became a weapon for the Congress to bash the RSS, bring in the caste system and of course, top it off with how India is now an autocratic country.

Hours later, another half-baked truth from Rahul Gandhi made itself out.

The gunning down by the police of 9 people in the #SterliteProtest in Tamil Nadu, is a brutal example of state sponsored terrorism. These citizens were murdered for protesting against injustice. My thoughts & prayers are with the families of these martyrs and the injured. — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 22, 2018

Rahul Gandhi claimed that the recent death of 9 civilians in TN is state-sponsored terrorism. This statement, devoid of facts and stuffed with hyperbole, is another example of how Gandhi manipulates a tragic incident into some sort of testament to how India is on its way to civil war. Rahul Gandhi never informed his followers the law and order was a state subject. That the RSS and BJP had nothing to do with what was being done by the state police in Tamil Nadu. He instead used lies to almost stir riots.

This twisting of facts by the Congress, to suit their agenda isn’t a one-off example. A few days back, when the Red Fort was adopted by the Dalmia Group, the official Twitter handle of the Congress posted this.

After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity? #IndiaSpeaks — Congress (@INCIndia) April 28, 2018

A brazen and outright lie.

Surely, a party whose most famous leader is given credit by people like Sagarika Ghose for educating Indians in English, would have had the knowledge to differentiate between adopting and leasing out. Here, it was merely an attempt by the Congress to malign the government by peddling outright lies. His newly minted ally, TMC, had actually supported this bill in the parliament earlier. There is no “selling” involved. But the lies have to be peddled by the party bereft of an agenda that might actually help the nation grow.

Nowhere has Rahul Gandhi or the Congress ever apologized for it. I don’t expect them to do so in the future.

Instead, he goes on spreading misinformation, gleefully helped by certain Youtubers and news outlets that publish hit-jobs.

But perhaps, the most well-known of Rahul Gandhi’s and indeed the Congress is that Modi would deposit 15 lakh in every citizen’s bank account. This has been repeated again and again, so much so that even common people on social media often bring one question to the forefront: Where is our 15 lakh? A classic example of how a lie, that has been repeated a thousand times, is eventually accepted as the truth.

Even though some aware citizens have pointed out that it the statement was twisted and that the PM had instead given an estimate of how much black money has been stashed abroad, Rahul Gandhi keeps reiterating the same outright lie. In fact, it is even carried by media houses without any sort of fact-checking at all.

This is all the more ironical since the Congress is now trying to lead a campaign called ‘Sach Bharat’ (Truthful India). But when Rahul Gandhi himself is a master of distorting facts which deceive gullible Indians, how can he masquerade around as the brand ambassador of India’s honesty?

These are just some of the examples. He lied to Karnataka traders. He lied in Gujarat. He lied about the Periyar statue vandalised in Tamil Nadu. He lied about Piyush Goyal. He is being sued for his lies about RSS, and the list is truly endless.

When Rahul Gandhi lies, it doesn’t become yet another lie. It almost becomes the truth, thanks to the many people who parrot whatever he says. He misleads people in the most brazen way, without any fear of backlash. This pattern of spreading fabrications, completely opposed to realities makes people unable to separate truth from falsehood. All this leads to paranoia, a state of fear in people’s minds which is definitely not desirable.

But what is even more troubling is that people buy whatever he says. That’s the power of the eco-system. People mindlessly believe all that Gandhi, has to say because it is being endorsed by his cheerleaders and then they form uninformed opinions. If one isn’t careful and does not point out publicly that Rahul Gandhi is lying, then 2019 may present difficulties.

Beware, as someone said, in the end, Truth triumphs but Lies get their turn first.