Vijay Rupani equates Narad Muni with Google: 9 bizarre things BJP MLAs said

Vijay Rupani said Narad Muni can be compared to Google because he had information about various happenings in different corners of the world

Days after Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb caused a flutter with his 'internet existed in the Mahabharata era' comments, his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani has equated mythological sage Narad with internet giant Google for having all information from across the world. "Google is a source of information. Narad Muni can be compared to Google, because he had information about various happenings in different corners of the world," Rupani said in Ahmedabad on Sunday at a programme organised by the Vishwa Samvad Kendra, an offshoot of the BJP's ideological mentor, the RSS.

He said Narad Muni used to deliver news to Balram (brother of Lord Krishna) during the Mahabharata period and also to others at various points in time.

"However, Narad Muni never did anything that could harm humanity, which is why we consider him as a sage. A sage is a person who thinks positive about humankind and inspires the people," he said.

Earlier this month, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had said that ancient Indians used internet and satellite technology millennia before these were invented in the West, drawing ridicule on social media platforms such as Twitter and from various opposition leaders.

"India has been using internet since ages. In Mahabharata, Sanjay was blind but he narrated what was happening in the battlefield to Dhritarashtra anyway. This was due to internet and technology. The satellite also existed during that period," he had said.

Despite the all-around ridicule, Deb defended his statement next day and said: "narrow-minded people find it tough to believe this as they want to belittle their own nation and think highly of other countries".

Before him, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Satyapal Singh had claimed in February that Indian mantras had 'codified' the laws of motion long before they were propounded by Newton.

Days after Deb's 'internet in Mahabharata era' comments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked the BJP MPs and MLAs to steer clear of making controversial statements and providing "masala" to the media.

In his speech yesterday, the Gujarat chief minister said unlike "negative news" which harms humanity, "positive news" does the opposite by encouraging humanity.

"Correct dissemination of information to ensure the overall well-being of humanity is a very important subject," Rupani said.

In Indian mythology, Narad is known as a Vedic era sage, a travelling musician and storyteller, who used to carry news.

Here are the top 10 bizarre things BJP MLAs have said:

1. Narad Muni like today's Google, says Gujarat CM: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has equated Sage Narad, the messenger of the gods in Hindu mythology, with internet search engine Google.

"Narada was a man who had information about everything happening in the whole world. This is relevant in today's time. Collecting information was his dharma (religion) for the betterment of the humankind, and it is very much required.

"Just like Narada, Google is the source of information," he said at an event organized by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Vishwa Samvad Kendra to celebrate Devrishi Narad Jayanti in Ahmadabad.

"Narada's character featured in both Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, and he was known for carrying information around the universe," Rupani added. 

2. Open paan shops or raise cows, don't chase govt jobs, says Biplab Deb: Tripura CM found kicked up a row with his bizarre career advice to the jobless youth of his state. Deb suggested that they should chase self-employment through setting up paan shops and rearing cows instead of going after government jobs. He asked the educated youth not to run behind politicians for government jobs and instead become “self-employed” for a better living.

According to the Tripura Chief Minister, the youth of Tripura can become self-employed by starting various projects under the animal resource sector with bank loans, under the Prime Minister's Mudra scheme.

It is interesting to note that Deb’s comments come despite and days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned all the BJP leaders to steer clear of controversies and not make irresponsible statements. 

"The youth here runs after political parties for several years to get a govt job and wastes the vital time of their life, had the same youth instead of running after parties set up a paan shop he would have by now had a bank balance of Rs 500,000," said Deb.

Deb also said that apart from paan shops, milking cows could also generate good employment among the youth. ANI tweeted: 

3. Narendra Modi sought to gag BJP's motormouth MPs, MLAs: Addressing BJP MPs and MLAs via video chat through the Narendra Modi, or NaMo, mobile app from his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on April 23, 2018, said that while BJP workers often said the media was doing this or that, their own mistakes sometimes provided the media with 'masala' (fodder). In what amounted to a gag order, ostensibly aimed at his party's members who were more prone to firmly jamming their foot in their mouth, Modi stressed that only the people trusted with the responsibility of speaking on a topic should interact with the media, adding that the issue got diverted if everyone started speaking on the topic. 

However, Modi did not explicitly censure the contents of the controversial remarks -- some of which sparked outrage while otyhers appeared plain silly -- made by his party's members. Neither endorsing nor rejecting BJP leaders' controversial positions on various subjects, in what seemed a step to manage the party's media image, Modi limited himself to ensuring that they would keep their thoughts to themselves. The prime minister said he had spoken to the particular motormouths and that the latter had mended their ways. 

4. Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb claimed India had internet thousands of years ago: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on April 17, 2018, claimed that Internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata.

"Internet and satellite communication had existed in the days of Mahabharata. Sanjaya (the charioteer of king Dhritarashtra) using the technology gave a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of Kurukshetra," Deb said while inaugurating a two-day workshop on computerisation of Public Distribution System (PDS).

The BJP leader said: "The Europeans and the Americans may claim that it is their invention, but it is actually our technology. Internet and satellite system had existed during the lakhs of year ago."

"How could Dhritarashtra see through Sanjay's eyes? There was technology available at that time... Internet was there, satellite communication was there," the 47-year-old Chief Minister said very confidentially and repeatedly.

Deb heads the BJP-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura coalition government that came in power last month after defeating the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front first time in 25 years.

When his remarks were called out for being hilarious at best and seeking to rewrite history at worst, Deb refused to back down and stuck to his guns. 

5. Satyapal Singh claimed ‘mantras’ codified laws of motion before Newton: Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satyapal Singh had claimed on February 28, 2018, that 'mantras' had codified laws of motion before Isaac Newton, even as he sought to clarify his earlier remarks on Darwin's theory that had raised eyebrows, saying it was his "personal opinion".

At a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which was chaired by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, the IPS-turned-politician had said that "certain 'mantras' codified the laws of motion much before they were discovered by Isaac Newton, according to the minutes of the meeting held in January.

Singh had also suggested that Vaastu compliance of educational buildings was important for learning.

CABE is the government’s highest advisory body for policy making in education.

6. Darwin's theory of evolution wrong, claimed Singh: Satyapal Singh had drawn flak in January when he claimed that Darwin's theory of evolution was incorrect and should not be taught in schools and colleges.

The crux of Singh's argument was that no one ever saw an "ape turning into a man", and he decided to put it forth, along with his foot in his mouth, when he told assembled reporters that the theory of evolution was "scientifically wrong" and that it needed to be struck off from the text books. 

"Since man is seen on Earth he has always been a man," he said, adding, "Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man... No books we have read or the tales told to us by our grandparents had such a mention." 

Prakash Singh Javadekar had asked Singh to refrain from making such comments and leave the science to scientists as it is their domain.

7.  For BJP's Santosh Gangwar, 1-2 rapes 'not a big deal': Modi's gag order came barely hours after Union Minister Santosh Gangwar on Sunday waded into a controversy, saying that "brouhaha" should not be created over one or two rape cases in a big country like India. The errant remarks come at a time when the country is witnessing public outrage over the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua and the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao, which involves a BJP MLA as the key accused. Gangwar, who is BJP MP from Bareilly, holds protfolio of Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment.  

"Such incidents (rape cases) are unfortunate situation...But sometimes you can't stop them. Government is active everywhere and taking action which is visible to everyone, " he told reporters in Bareilly. "In a big country like ours, if one or two incidents take place, brouhaha should not be created over it. This is not fair...Government is taking effective steps...Whatever is necessary will be done," he said. 

8. BJP's Sanjay Patil 'communalises' Karnataka polls: While Gangwar's comment, as callous as it appeared, was not linked to any upcoming electoral battle, one BJP lawmakers decided to give the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections 2018 a decidedly communal colour with his remarks. Last week, BJP MLA Sanjay Patil sparked a row, saying that the Karnataka polls were "not about roads and drinking water but about Hindu-Muslim incidents". Addressing a gathering in Karnataka's Belagavi, Patil said, "This election is not about roads, water or other issues. This election is about Hindus versus Muslims... Ram Mandir versus Babri Masjid." 

Continuing his speech, Patil said, "I am Sanjay Patil, I am Hindu, this is a Hindu Rashtra (nation) and we intend to build Ram temple." He added, "Lakshmi Hebbalikar (the Congress' candidate in the Belgaum constituency) wants to build Babri Masjid. Whoever wants Babri Masjid and Tippu Jayanthi, they should vote Congress... those who want Shivaji Maharaj and Ram Mandir should vote for BJP." Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member Assembly. 

9. On Unnao rape case, BJP's Surendra Singh said 'no one can rape mother of three children': Coming back to more damaging and damning comments, one particular BJP leader found that he could not stay quiet on the Unnao rape case, which involves a BJP MLA as the key accused. Earlier this month, BJP's Bairia district MLA Surendra Singh came out in support of BJP's Unnao MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is facing rape charges in the Unnao case. Singh made a bizarre statement while defending Sengar. He said that no one can rape a mother of three children.

"I am speaking from psychological point of view; no one can rape a mother of three children. It is not possible, this is a conspiracy against him (Kuldeep Singh Sengar)," Surendra Singh told news agencies, adding, "Yes maybe her father was thrashed by some people but I refuse to believe rape charge." 

10. BJP's Surendra Singh struck twice, with no rest in between: Surendra Singh, not deterred by the outrage over his remarks regarding the Unnao rape case, decided to jam his foot further down his throat. Barely two days after appearing to defend Unnao rape accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the saffron party legislator from Bairia said that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections would be fought on the lines of "Islam versus Bhagwan" and "Pakistan versus India".  

During a public meeting, Singh said, "The 2019 poll are going to be on the lines of Pakistan versus Bharat... Islam versus Bhagwan and so the respected people of the country you have to decide whether it will be Islam which will win or Bhagwan." 

"(You have to) decide if it is the dishonest that will be victorious or (Narendra) Modi's sincerity," he said. The lawmaker said that this time if the BJP won, the people of the country would rejoice, and if the Opposition managed to make its government, drums and trumpets would be played in Pakistan. "People have to decide if they are with Bhagwan or Islam," Singh said. "It will be Bharat 'bhakti' will take on 'vibhakti' (divisive forces)," he added.