A video of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge making a gaffe and saying "leaders like Rahul Gandhi laid their lives for the country, during a rally in poll bound Rajasthan is cropped. BOOM found that Kharge corrected himself just moments after making the faux pas after someone on stage alerted him.
Kharge was addressing a public meeting in Rajasthan on November 20, 2023 ahead of the November 25 voting in the state. The counting of votes and assembly election results will be declared on December 3.
The eight seconds video was posted by Bharatiya Janata Party's official X (formerly Twitter) handle, in which Kharge can be heard saying, "Leaders like Rahul Gandhi gave their life for the unity of this county"
The same video was also posted by BJP IT head chief Amit Malviya with the caption when translated reads, "It is not right to speak like this about those who made you the President, Kharge ji."
Several other verified X handles including Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) and Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) posted the same video with the misleading claim. BOOM has previously fact-checked these accounts for posting misinformation.
The same video is being also being shared on Facebook.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video has been cropped and in the original video Mallikarjun Kharge after making the faux pas, was alerted by someone on stage and he apoligised for making the mistake of saying Rahul Gandhi instead of Rajiv Gandhi.
We watched the full speech of Kharge in Rajasthan on November 20, 2023 which was broadcasted live on Congress's official YouTube account.
From the 11.15 minutes timestamp Kharge can be heard saying, "Our party has big leader like Indira Gandhi who sacrificed her life, and leaders like Rahul Gandhi laid their lives for the country", Soon after he said that he was interrupted by someone on stage alerting him and he corrected himself says 'Rajiv Gandhi'. He then apologises and says, "I'm sorry, to my friends in the media and other people", and then continues his speech saying, "Rajiv Gandhi gave his life for the unity of the country".
This part where he corrects himself and apologised has left out of the viral video which changes the context. The full speech can be seen below:
BJP's official X handle also recently posted a cropped video of Rahul Gandhi on November 19, 2023, falsely claiming that it showed the Congress leader making a derogatory remark by questioning the identity of 'Bharat Mata' or mother India. BOOM had found that in the original speech Gandhi answered his own question by explaining the term 'Bharat Mata' means the people of India.
BOOM has previously debunked similar gaffe videos, like a cropped video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the people of Chhattisgarh had to suffer because of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state was being shared in September 2023. However, it was a slip of tongue and he had corrected himself afterward.