‘Does Rahul Even Know Marathi?’: Gadkari on ‘False Promise’ Quote

Nitin Gadkari had said in a Marathi TV show that the BJP had come to power by making false promises.

Nitin Gadkari had allegedly said in a Marathi TV show that the BJP had come to power by making false promises. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday, 10 October, slammed Congress President Rahul Gandhi for taking his comment on ‘false promises’ “out of context” and clarified the back story behind his remarks.

“Since when has Rahul Gandhi started understanding Marathi? He should have gotten it translated from someone first. Without understanding it, he congratulated me on Twitter as well. He has done this before. I want to tell you all that I have always delivered on my promises,” said Gadkari.

On a Marathi reality show, ‘Assal Pavhane, Irsal Namune’ , Gadkari, while speaking as a guest alongside Bollywood actor Nana Patekar, said that the BJP had come to power by making “false promises”.

“We didn’t expect to come to power. So we were advised to make tall promises...Now that we are in power, people remind us of the promises we made. But nowadays, we just laugh and move on.”

Nitin Gadkari

Gadkari's statement was aired on Colors in two parts on 4 and 5 October.

Gadkari on Wednesday narrated the backstory and explained the context behind his comments. Here is the full clarification:

“I was appearing on a show on the channel Colors Marathi. There was a discussion happening on poll promises. When there were Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra, Gopinath Munde and Devendra Fadnavis had told me that they want to announce that they will do away with tolls.

I told them not to say anything like that since it will have financial repercussions. Then they said to me that the BJP government is set to come to power. To which I said that if we do, we will have to solve the problem (deliver on the promise).

Then I said that since we've been on the Opposition for many years, we made certain promises in the poll memorandum, as we were not used to be in power.

This entire clip of the Marathi show is available with Manoj Wadekar. You can take it from him and get translated if you don’t understand.

I didn’t name Modiji in the meeting, neither did I name BJP. I also did not talk about the Rs 15 lakh promise. A Delhi based newspaper put out a completely baseless report.

Since when has Rahul Gandhi started understanding Marathi? He should have gotten it translated from someone first. Without understanding it, he congratulated me on Twitter as well. He has done this before. I want to tell you all that I have always delivered on my promises. The discussion that happened in the Marathi show about tolls, that too has been fulfilled by Fadnavis by eradicating tolls.

There was no reference to whatever was reported.”

The first part of the episode, titled “When politics meets cinema”, was aired on 4 October, the second part, “Comic banter between Nana and Nitin”, was available to viewers on 5 October.

Gadkari’s statement was also shared by the Congress on Twitter, with the message that the Union minister had just proved that the Modi government “was built on jumlas and fake promises”. Party President Rahul Gandhi also tweeted the video.