A video claiming that Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was the first political party to successfully establish prestigious colleges such as IIT, IIIT, NIT, IIM, and AIIMS in India is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Amit Shah stated that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was the first political party to successfully establish prestigious institutes such as IIT, IIIT, NIT, IIM, and AIIMS in India.
Fact: The viral video was created by editing the original at different timestamps. At 10:39, Shah claims Congress left Chhattisgarh in a poor state before BJP took over in 2003. At 10:47, he continues to say that transforming Chhattisgarh into an education, power, and healthcare hub, NIT, IIT, IIIT, IIM, AIIMS, and Livelihood Colleges in Chhattisgarh were established by the BJP. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On conducting a relevant keyword search, we discovered an extended version of the viral video on the official YouTube channel of the Home Minister, Amit Shah. We found that the video is from ‘Parivartan Sankalp Mahasabha’ in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh held on 16 October 2023.
After reviewing the entire video, it became evident that the viral video was created by editing the original video at different timestamps. We found that at the 10:39 timestamp, Shah asserts that the Congress, currently in power in the state, left Chhattisgarh in a bad state before the BJP took charge in 2003. At 10:47, Shah stated “We transformed Chhattisgarh into a hub for education, power, cement, and a substantial center for healthcare. The BJP established NIT, IIT, IIIT, IIM, AIIMS, and Livelihood College.” Here, it implies that Shah was referring to the establishment of these institutions specifically in Chhattisgarh, not in India as such.
Subsequent research about the institutes spoken about by Amit Shah found that IIT Bhilai in Chhattisgarh was founded in 2016, and inaugurated by then Chief Minister and BJP leader Raman Singh. IIM Raipur, established in 2010, also operated during Raman Singh’s tenure. IIIT Naya Raipur was established through a collaboration between NTPC and the state government under the IIIT University Act, of 2013. AIIMS Raipur was established in 2012 under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. The concept of skill development centers was proposed by the state government led by the BJP in 2013. However, NIT-Raipur was established in 1956 by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1963. It gained recognition as an NIT in 2005.
To sum up, a clipped video of Amit Shah’s speech on IIT, IIM, IIIT, and AIIMS is being shared out of context
