Video Of TV Anchor Viral As Congress Spokesperson Praising PM Modi

A video of journalist praising and calling Narendra Modi a hero while criticising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is viral with a false claim that he is a Congress spokesperson in support of the prime minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor in Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the assembly elections to be held in the state. The anchor and the man in the video talk about the recent inauguration and the religious optics of it and dive into the issue of Hindutva.

In the viral video, an anchor can be heard asking the person if Rahul Gandhi would be able to play the Hindu card better than PM Modi to which the man in the video replies hailing PM Modi as a hero and further adds saying that it would be hard for Gandhi to compete with Modi.

The video is being shared with the caption which translates to, "When Jagdish Chandra was asked by the journalist, can Rahul Gandhi compete with Narendra Modi? Then listen what the Congress spokesperson said about Modiji..."

(In Hindi - जब जगदीश चन्द्र से पत्रकार ने पूछा क्या नरेंद्र मोदी का मुकाबला राहुल गांधी कर सकते है? तब कांग्रेस प्रवक्ता ने मोदीजी के बारे में जो कहा, सुनिए...)

The video is also being shared across social media with the same misleading claim.

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FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the man in the viral video is Jagdeesh Chandra, editor and Chief Managing Director of First India News, and not a Congress spokesperson as being claimed.

A keyword search with a reverse image search on a keyframe from the video showed results for the original video uploaded by First India News's YouTube channel on December 14, 2021. At the 1.08 minutes mark the anchor introduces Jagadeesh Chandra and identifies him as the head of First India News. The viral section can be heard from the 55.37 minutes mark.

Additionally, First India News has previously tweeted video of Chandra, where he opines on various topic political issues.

Chandra is a Rajasthan based businessman and has formerly held several key positions in the state.