Yogendra Yadav used ‘aag lag jayegi’ only in context of Narendra Modi: Express reporter clarifies

AAM Aadmi party leader in Haryana and its candidate from Gurgaon Lok Sabha Constituency Professor Yogendra Yadav has clarified that today’s coverage in The Indian Express of his corner meetings in Mewat have unfairly misrepresented the meaning by joining different part of his speeches. He said that the headline of the story “:If Modi becomes PM…Aag lag jayegi” is the result of juxtaposition of two different statements.

Professor Yadav said in his meetings he was warning against the dangers of majoritarian politics where the voice of the voiceless and the issues of the marginalized sections get suppressed. He said the communal and majoritarian interpretation of politics runs the risk of raking up long settled issues of the aftermath of the country’s partition with disastrous consequences. He said even though The Indian Express could have reported the event broadly factually but the meaning got unfairly misrepresented due to joining of unconnected sentences in the headline and blurb on the front page.

The reporter responds:

At the crossing at Mahuchopra village Yadav said, “If he becomes prime minister, one community could become thekedaar, aag lag jayegi. We have seen Sri Lanka burn before, and India could too. We have to decide if we want to walk on Gandhi’s path or Modi’s path.”
This indeed was repeated by Yadav at various other stops during his Mewat campaign. At absolutely no point, were the words “aag lag jayegi” used in any other context other than Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister. The story itself gives the entire context in which Yogendra Yadav said the words “aag lag jayegi.” Paragraph 4 of the story mentions the entire context in which he made the remarks. There is no unfair representation in the headline or in the story whatsoever.