2021 video shared as recent visuals of Ashok Gehlot expressing fear of rising Hindutva atmosphere - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 11, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot acknowledging the rising Hindutva atmosphere in Rajasthan and expressing the fear of not getting votes in the upcoming elections. In the wake of the recent Karauli and Jodhpur communal riots in Rajasthan, social media users are sharing this as a recent video. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Ashok Gehlot acknowledging the rising Hindutva atmosphere in Rajasthan.
Fact: The video shared in the post was shot in 2021, when Ashok Gehlot was virtually addressing the NSUI on the occasion of the NSUI’s 51 Foundation day. Pointing out the Hindutva ideology spread by BJP and RSS, Ashok Gehlot advised Congress workers to believe in the party ideology of Democracy and Secularism and campaign aggressively to gain the trust of the people. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the recent communal riots in Karauli and Jodhpur. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched to check whether Ashok Gehlot had made any such statement about the rising Hindutva atmosphere spreading in Rajasthan, we found a few news articles published in 2021, attributing a similar statement to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. They can be seen here and here. These news articles reported that Ashok Gehlot has alerted Congress workers about the rising Hindutva atmosphere in Rajasthan while virtually addressing the NSUI’s 51 Foundation day ceremony. Ashok Gehlot reportedly acknowledged that the rising Hindutva atmosphere in the state has created a fear of vote bank for the Congress Party.
Ashok Gehlot’s full speech during the NSUI’s 51 Foundation day ceremony can be seen here. At 27:01 minute of the video, Ashok Gehlot said, “people who joined the Congress Party will obey the constitution. Follow the ideology of Democracy, Secularism and Socialism. BJP and RSS will only talk only about the Hindutva ideology. The atmosphere here has become Hindutva. We are also scared that people will not vote. But, there is no need to panic. You should campaign aggressively by believing the party ideology”.
Following the recent Jodhpur riots, Ashok Gehlot accused BJP of inciting communal tensions in the state. Ashok Gehlot called Jodhpur communal violence a BJP conspiracy and appealed to people to maintain peace. Recently, Ashok Gehlot did not make any statement expressing his fear of the Hindutva spread in Rajasthan.
To sum it up, old video from 2021 is being shared as recent visuals of Ashok Gehlot acknowledging the rising Hindutva atmosphere in Rajasthan.