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Thursday, May 26, 2005
The Times of India v Prakash Karat
Yesterday I'd linked to a report by the Times of India in which they'd stated that Nepal's Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, had recently met Prakash Karat, the communist leader. Well, Karat has denied today that any such meeting took place.
ToI had reported: "When contacted, Karat confirmed the meeting, although he did not share details."
Karat has said in a statement: "No such meeting was held."
One of them is lying. And I'd love for the truth to be out, and for the liar, whoever it is, to be held accountable. I hope the matter does not fizzle out here, and that there is an aftermath.
Update (May 27): Michael Higgins writes in to say that one needs to read between the lines here. He writes:
ToI had reported: "When contacted, Karat confirmed the meeting, although he did not share details."
Karat has said in a statement: "No such meeting was held."
One of them is lying. And I'd love for the truth to be out, and for the liar, whoever it is, to be held accountable. I hope the matter does not fizzle out here, and that there is an aftermath.
Update (May 27): Michael Higgins writes in to say that one needs to read between the lines here. He writes:
Actually this is what the Hindu wrote:Indeed. So did Karat meet Bhattarai or not? Why is nobody in MSM (yet) asking that question?The report that "I have met a Maoist leader from Nepal in a meeting arranged by the Indian security agencies is untrue," Karat said in a statement here.This is the key phrase: "in a meeting arranged by the Indian security agencies".
"No such meeting was held," he said.
Why did he have to add this phrase? [Probably] because he did meet with the Maoist leader but the meeting was arranged by someone else, not the Indian security agencies. The ToI got that part wrong. Karat is using this mistake to, in effect, deny any meeting.
Politicians are like lawyers, they are very sly with words.
