A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying that ‘if you use India’s labourers, farmers and workers you will not have to use Indian army and air force to protect India from China’ is being shared implying that he is suggesting replacing the Indian Army with weavers, farmers, and labourers. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi stated that the Indian Army could be replaced by workers, farmers, and laborers to protect India from China.
Fact: This video shows Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with the weaver community in Tamil Nadu on 24 January 2021. In his address, Rahul Gandhi implied that China’s transgressions on our borders were due to India’s economic vulnerability and suggested that by empowering the working class and strengthening our economy, China would be less likely to challenge India. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On performing a relevant keyword search regarding the claim made, we found a news article and a full version of Gandhi’s address on the Indian National Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel. It is the video of Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with the weaver community in Tamil Nadu on 24 January 2021.
We found that the video was trimmed at 36:29 to 36:54 timestamp and shared on social media. From the full video, we learned that Gandhi did not advocate for replacing India’s defence forces with workers, labourers, and farmers. Instead, he implied that China’s transgressions on our borders were due to India’s economic vulnerability. He suggested that by empowering the working class and strengthening our economy, China would be less likely to challenge us. He made these statements in the context of empowering India’s workers economically.
To sum up, an old video is being shared falsely suggesting that Rahul Gandhi proposed replacing the Indian army with workers, farmers, and weavers.
