"Satyameva Jayate" (Truth Alone Triumphs) is India's national motto. It is inscribed on our national emblem, the Lion Capital of Sarnath, below the Dharma Chakra or Ashoka Chakra, which also finds pride of place on our national flag. Even though these were adopted by our sagacious Constitution makers after India became independent in 1947 and declared itself a Republic in 1950, the motto and the emblem proclaim our motherland's civilisational antiquity.Not many know that our national motto is an abridgement of a line that says: "Satyameva Jayate naanritam". It is taken from a sacred mantra in the Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.6), which reads: "Satyameva jayate naanritam / Satyena pantha vitato devayanah (Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood. Through Truth the divine path is spread out)."The message of "Satyameva Jayate" is further reinforced by "naanritam" which means "Falsehood shall never prevail". This is a profoundly philosophical affirmation, a law applicable to the working of both the entire cosmos and the entire humanity. 'Rta' connotes Truth or the right order of things and events in Nature and in the wider universe. The sages of ancient India extrapolated the concept of 'rta' from the non-human to the human domain by establishing the principle of Dharma - the law that secures the moral order in human life. The Dharma Chakra, a holy symbol that links us to our Buddhist past, declares the same ethical message - the Wheel of the Law of Truth turns eternally and tolerates no obstruction.Thus, the greatness of our Constitution lies in the fact that it has tied the life and affairs of our Republic to certain timeless verities. If India has to survive and thrive, and if India has to become a 'Vishwa Guru' (a teacher and exemplar to the rest of the world) - a favorite phrase of the RSS, the BJP's mother and mentor organization - neither our society, much less the Indian state, should follow the ways of asatya (falsehood) and adharma (unethical). When the king resorts to lies and trickery, chaos in the country is inevitable.Sadly and shockingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi abandoned the virtue of self-restraint expected of the high constitutional office he holds and fell to the temptation of a blatant falsehood while campaigning for his party's victory in the Gujarat election. With not a shred of evidence to back his grave charge, he has accused former prime minister and his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Dr Hamid Ansari, and others who attended a dinner meeting at the residence of Mani Shankar Aiyar in the national capital on December 6 of conspiring with Pakistan to influence the outcome of the Gujarat polls.At an election rally on December 10, he alleged that a day after the three-hour-long "secret meeting with the Pakistani High Commissioner", Aiyar called him "neech" (low-level) and "insulted Gujarat". He deliberately twisted "neech" to mean "neech jaati" (low caste) just to seek electoral advantage. He went on to ask: "What was the reason for holding such a secret meeting, especially when an election is going on in Gujarat?" Furthermore, he alleged, "A former Pakistan army director general, Arshad Rafique, had said Ahmed Patel (Congress leader and a close aide of outgoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi) should be the Chief Minister of Gujarat."Modi's lies can be nailed on several counts. First of all, there was nothing "secret" - hence conspiratorial - about the dinner meeting at Aiyar's place. Aiyar had hosted it in honour of Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, former foreign minister of Pakistan, who is his longtime friend and also a well-known friend of India. As India's self-proclaimed "chowkidar", the Prime Minister could have easily satisfied himself, with information from his intelligence agencies about the guest list, that this was not a secret meeting. Second, as has now been made public by the media and also by Dr Manmohan Singh himself in his scalding reposte to Modi's accusation, the meeting was attended, among others, by a former Indian army chief, a former foreign minister, a former foreign secretary and four former Indian High Commissioners to Pakistan. It is ridiculous, also malicious, for the prime minister to suggest that all these eminent public servants attended a "secret meeting" with Pakistan's former foreign minister and Pakistan's current high commissioner Sohail Mahmood to discuss the desired (anti-BJP) outcome of Gujarat elections. Third, several participants in the dinner meeting have publicly countered the PM by saying that its sole agenda was a discussion on India-Pakistan relations, and not Gujarat elections.Modi has not said that making Ahmed Patel was discussed at this meeting. However, he used innuendo to link this meeting with "Pakistan's retired army chief's interference in Gujarat's election". Obviously, Modi's intent was to create, and exploit anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan sentiments among voters, hoping that such polarisation would boost the chances of the BJP's victory in the elections.As a matter of fact, Kasuri, during his stay in Delhi, also participated in two other public events whose agenda was how to improve India-Pakistan relations. I attended one of them, organised by O.P. Shah (a non-political activist working for Indo-Pak peace and peace in Kashmir), on December 8. Aiyar and many intellectuals were present, and so was Pakistan's high commissioner. There was no discussion on Gujarat.I must nail another lie and insinuation by the prime minister. At an earlier election rally in Gujarat, Modi said, "After I became prime minister, this man (Aiyar) went to Pakistan and met some Pakistanis. In that meeting, he is seen discussing with Pakistanis that "jab tak Modi ko raaste se hataya nahi jata (until Modi is removed from the way)", the relationship between India and Pakistan cannot improve. ...Someone tell me what is the meaning of '"raaste se hatana"? You had gone to Pakistan to give Modi's 'supari' (contract killing)."Aiyar had made this remark on Pakistani TV on a show in which I too was interviewed. (Both of us had gone to Karachi in 2015 to participate in the launch of Kasuri's book Neither a Hawk nor a Dove.) I did not endorse Aiyar's indiscreet remark. (I have also publicly criticised as "deplorable" his "neech" comment about the prime minister.) However, nothing that the recently suspended Congress leader said in Pakistan can be remotely construed as giving a "supari" for Modi's physical "removal".How can sane people in BJP-RSS defend the PM?The BJP may well win in Gujarat again. However, it does not behove a prime minister, who has taken an oath to uphold the highest principles and ideals of the Indian constitution, to utter falsehoods and twist his political opponents' remarks to convey an impression that they are anti-nationals, traitors, and stooges of the "enemy" nation Pakistan. His disrespect for truth, and for others who have held high constitutional offices, has invited a stinging criticism from mild-mannered Dr Manmohan Singh. A former PM demanding an apology from an incumbent PM is unprecedented in India's history. And so is an official rebuke from Pakistan - "India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible."Hasn't all this dishonoured the august office of India's prime minister? Hasn't this lowered the international community's admiration for India's democracy? And if the prime minister himself makes "Asatyameva Jayate" his motto, just to win a state election, shouldn't sane leaders in the BJP and RSS, who dream of India as a "Vishwa Guru'", sit up and worry about what is going on?

(The writer was an aide to India's former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.)