Politics of Conspiracy vs Government of Truth

A fresh political row has emerged in Uttar Pradesh over allegations that recent incidents were amplified on social media to target the Yogi Adityanath government. In this opinion piece Avneesh Tyagi points to the Varanasi sewer controversy and a viral press conference video while calling for greater fact-checking in political discourse.

In a democracy, everyone has the right to disagree and protest, but when that protest blurs the line between truth and falsehood and becomes a weapon to malign the government, it is a dangerous sign. What has happened in Uttar Pradesh over the past few days is evidence of this very dangerous tendency. In a planned manner, incidents were fabricated to malign the government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, which has done remarkable work on several fronts, from law and order to development, and attempts were then made to mislead the public through social media. This is not merely an attack on a government, but an attack on the image of the state and the trust of the general public; at the very least, those doing this should examine themselves in their own mirror.

First, let us talk about Kashi, where the incident is no less serious. During the cleaning of sewer lines in around half a dozen wards, including Shivala, Sarainandan, and Nagwa, workers recovered sacks of sand and cement, wood shavings, stones, plywood, and plastic materials from inside the main sewer lines. Sacks of cement and sand inside a sewer? Does that seem normal? This clearly appears to be a deliberate attempt to block the sewer lines. The cement-filled sacks clearly point towards a larger conspiracy. The objective is also clear: when the sewer line on the main road gets blocked, water will overflow into the adjoining lanes, creating an opportunity to........

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