A video of Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is going viral on social media (here, here, and here). The video clip shows Rahul Gandhi discussing taking action against certain individuals once the BJP loses power. The claim accompanying the video suggests that Gandhi made these statements specifically about Hindus and that he said strict action would be taken against Hindus once his party came to power. This article aims to fact-check the claims made in the post.
Claim: Video showing Rahul Gandhi making comments about taking action against Hindus once the BJP loses power.
Fact: The viral video is incomplete and being shared out of context. In the extended version of the video, Rahul Gandhi is seen making comments about central investigative agencies. In March 2024, Gandhi made these statements in response to the Income Tax Department issuing a notice to the Congress party to pay Rs. 1,823 crore due to alleged discrepancies in tax returns. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon closely examining the viral video clip, it is clear that the video is incomplete. The clip also displays text featuring the CNBC Awaaz name and logo. To gather more information about the video, we conducted a relevant keyword search that led us to the same video posted on CNBC Awaaz’s official X (Twitter) account on 15 March 2024. The caption of the video reads: “Rahul Gandhi’s statement on electoral bonds.” (Translation from Hindi to English). This indicates that in the video clip, Rahul Gandhi was discussing the issue of electoral bonds.
We further discovered an extended version of this viral video posted on Rahul Gandhi’s official X (Twitter) account on 29 March 2024. The caption of the video reads: “When the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who ‘disrobed democracy’! And such action will be taken that no one will dare to do this again. This is my guarantee.” (Translation from Hindi to English). In the video, Rahul Gandhi says, “If these institutions had done their work, if the CBI had done its work, if the ED had done its work, then this would not have happened. They should also think that whatever they are doing, someday the BJP government will change and then action will be taken, and such action will be taken that I guarantee that this will never happen again.” (Translation from Hindi to English).
Subsequently, we found several media reports about these statements made by Rahul Gandhi in March 2024. According to these reports, Gandhi made these statements in response to the Income Tax Department issuing a notice to the Congress party to pay Rs. 1,823 crore due to alleged discrepancies in tax returns (here, here, and here). From this information, it is clear that Rahul Gandhi’s statement was not about Hindus but about central investigative agencies.
To sum up, an incomplete video of Rahul Gandhi is being shared out of context as if he made comments against Hindus.
