Rahul Gandhi is a 'congenital liar' who is 'hallucinating conversations', claims Smriti Irani in Facebook post

Union minister Smriti Irani on Thursday called Congress president Rahul Gandhi a “congenital liar” who engages in “hallucinating conversations” about issues such as the Rafale deal. In a Facebook post titled “Is the dynast a congenital liar — India’s first post-truth politician”, Irani said “there is no place for merit, commitment and ability to deliver in a dynastic democracy”, adding that dynastic governments will always defend past “blunders”.

She cited an example of the Congress defending “the Kashmir blunder and the China war disaster during the Nehruvian era”. “These aberrations have become a part of their ideology,” she wrote. Zeroing her attack in on Rahul, she said politicians are “realising that it is dangerous to even maintain social contact” with him because of his “lies” regarding the Rafale deal and his “hallucinating conversations” with Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar and others. “He concocted a conversation where he alleged that Manohar Parrikar distanced himself from Rafale… Earlier, he had concocted a pleasantry exchanged between him and Sushma Swaraj as a conversation with a political slant. He had similarly, in the past, concocted a conversation with Arun Jaitley, claiming that the minister had told him that he knew very little about Jammu and Kashmir.” She further accused Rahul of suffering from “psychiatric aberrations”, adding that in an ideal world, behaviour like his “would rule a person unfit for public life”. “Persons suffering from them need help and not political rewards,” she said. Subtly hinting at Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi being put in charge of the Congress’ unit in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the minister said that the Opposition’s current poll strategy appears to be: “If one dynasty member cannot deliver, keep a back-up ready.” She contrasted the Congress’ pitfalls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whom she called “persons of merit coming from humble backgrounds”. “They succeeded where others were reluctant to tread upon,” she said.