A video showing Rahul Gandhi speaking about how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unites the country and the Congress divides it is viral online.
BOOM found that the video has been clipped and shared out of context to make the false claim. The original video shows Rahul Gandhi making the opposite statement and saying that the Congress is trying to unite the country while the BJP is creating divide.
On March 2, 2024, Rahul Gandhi addressed a crowd in Madhya Pradesh as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which began in Manipur on January 14, 2024 and will conclude in Mumbai on March 20, 2024.
In the viral clip, Gandhi can be heard saying in Hindi, "On one hand, the BJP is trying to bring everyone together, and on the other hand, the Congress is dividing one religion from the other, one caste from the other, and one state from the other."
Chief Minister of Assam Himana Biswa Sarma shared the video on X with the caption, "I had said that Rahul Gandhi ji is our star campaigner and this alone is enough to make BJP win. So there is no need to divide on the basis of caste and religion, this time it will cross 400."
(Original text in Hindi: "मैं कहा था ना कि राहुल गाँधी जी हमारा स्टार प्रचारक है और ये अकेला बीजेपी को जिताने के लिए काफी है l तो जाति, धर्म में नहीं बांटना है, अबकि बार 400 पार")
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A user on Facebook shared the video with the caption, "Honest speech😂"
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that Rahul Gandhi's original speech has been clipped and edited to make the false claim, the original video shows him making the opposite statement and criticising the BJP for dividing the country.
We ran a keyword search in Hindi using bits from Gandhi's statement and found several Facebook videos shared by verified Congress pages. This video shared by the Indian National Congress' Madhya Pradesh page on March 2 carried visuals resembling the viral video.
The caption carried an excerpt from Gandhi's address to the public, including the portion from the viral video. It read, "'Last year we did 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', in which thousands of people walked with us. Today, the opposition does not appear in the media, so we went directly to the public and expressed our views through the yatra. Today there is a fight between the ideologies of hate and love in the country. On one hand, BJP is dividing people in the name of caste and religion, while on the other hand, Congress party is trying to bring everyone together.' -Rahul Gandhi"
Taking a clue from this, we looked for a longer version of Gandhi's speech on YouTube and found a livestream from March 2 on the Indian National Congress' verified handle. The video was titled 'तुम लोग ज्यादा बकवास मत करो, इधर बैठो...' | Madhya Pradesh में गरजे Rahul Gandhi | Kamalnath | BJP'
The longer version of the video confirmed that Gandhi did not praise the BJP but criticised it for dividing the country.
While speaking about why the Congress decided to conduct the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi said at the 2:29 mark, "On one hand, the people of BJP are trying to divide one religion from the other, one caste from the other, and one state from the other. On the other hand, the Congress is trying to bring everyone together. With this Yatra, the Congress' objective has become clear: Open a shop of love in this market of hate."