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| - Fact Check: No, PM Modi did not rock his own boat on Gujarat coast, misleading tweet causes storm
PM Narendra Modi's statement has been causing confusion wherein it is said that he dissed his own regime in Gujarat while he was the chief minister.
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India Today Fact Check
PM Modi did not criticise governance during his tenure as Gujarat CM while talking about the development of the state’s coastline. NDTV’s original tweet was misleading.
To give a head start to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 29 visited poll-bound Gujarat. During his two-day tour, he inaugurated the 36th National Games and several projects in his home state.
As the media covered his speeches and campaigning, a screenshot of the NDTV tweet quoting him was widely shared online.
"Gujarat has the longest coastline, but no efforts are made to develop it: PM Modi” read the now-deleted tweet followed by a link to the news report. Sharing the screenshot, many took digs at Modi, claiming that perhaps the PM did not remember that he was the Gujarat CM for more than a decade, and thus responsible for the state’s supposed lack of development.
AFWA found that the statement causing the confusion was incomplete. In his speech, PM Modi actually blamed previous governments. He further elaborated on how the BJP regime in the state developed the coastline.
NDTV, while reporting the speech, shortened PM Modi’s quote for brevity. However, this led to confusion about what Modi intended to say. When the screenshot of its tweet went viral, NDTV deleted it and later issued a revised one.
The archived version of NDTV’s deleted tweet can be seen here.
AFWA PROBE
The September 29 NDTV news article — syndicated by the Press Trust of India — that was shared along with the tweet contained the PM’s full statement.
PM Modi said, "Gujarat has the longest coastline in the country, but no attention was paid to its development for decades after India gained independence. As a result, the coastline created challenges for the people living along it.”
"We have developed many ports and modernised several others. Today, there are three LNG terminals and a petro-chemical hub on the Gujarat coast. Apart from playing a crucial role in the export and import sector, Gujarat's coastline has created employment opportunities for lakhs of youths," added Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.
We also found a video of Modi’s full speech on the PM’s official YouTube channel titled, “PM Modi's speech at the launch of development projects in Bhavnagar, Gujarat”. Five minutes and 24 seconds into the video, Modi talked about the past and how his administration took steps to develop the coastline of Gujarat.
NDTV tweeted the report again on September 30, this time with a revised caption. It now said, “Despite Longest Coastline, No Efforts Made To Develop Gujarat Since Independence: PM Modi."
Despite Longest Coastline, No Efforts Made To Develop Gujarat Since Independence: PM Modi https://t.co/YTocPQ6Qdl pic.twitter.com/tHqJaFvOR6 — NDTV (@ndtv) September 30, 2022
Thus, it is clear that PM Modi did not criticise governance during his tenure as Gujarat CM while talking about the development of the state’s coastline.
(Written by Yash Mittal)
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