A post is being shared on social media with a claim that Rahul Gandhi asked farmers to grow chips and ketchup in place of potatoes and tomatoes. The post also claims that Rajiv Gandhi made a similar comment on chillies. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi asked farmers to grow chips and ketchup in place of potatoes and tomatoes.
Fact: In his recent speech at a rally in Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Rahul Gandhi was trying to convey that whatever one produces, everything can be manufactured in the food parks, be it potato chips or tomato ketchup. He mistakenly jumbled the words and later corrected himself to go onto say – “You will produce material on your land – you will directly take it to a food processing unit – potato, tomato, chillies, anything you produce – directly you will get money in your pocket”. Only a part of his speech on food-processing has been shared in the post. Hence, the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched on the internet to check if Rahul Gandhi made any such comments, many news articles regarding his similar comments at a recent rally in Hoshiarpur (Punjab) were found in the search results. ‘ANI’ has tweeted a clip from Rahul Gandhi’s speech at the rally and quoted him (English translation) – “…Whatever you grow in food park, be it potato chips or tomato ketchup, everything can be manufactured by directly transferring your produce from farms to food processing unit“. If one observes the video, Rahul Gandhi spoke with some pauses. He was trying to convey that whatever one produces, everything can be manufactured in the food parks, be it potato chips or tomato ketchup. He mistakenly jumbled the words and later corrected himself to go onto say – “You will produce material on your land – you will directly take it to food-processing unit – potato, tomato, chillies, anything you produce – directly you will get money in your pocket” (English translation). Rahul Gandhi’s full speech at the Hoshiarpur rally can be watched here.
Coming to Rajiv Gandhi’s comments mentioned in the post, while we could not find any authentic old evidence, many recent news articles mentioned his comments on chillies. PM Modi also mentioned it indirectly in one of his speeches. According to ‘ANI’, Rajiv Gandhi was once told that red chillies are costlier than green chillies, so he reportedly asked the farmers – “Why are you growing ‘green’ chilli pepper when it is the red variety that can fetch you higher margins?“
To sum it up, Rahul Gandhi made comments regarding potato chips and tomato ketchup in the context of food processing units.
