Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and supporters shared a cropped video of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, to falsely show it as Gandhi admitting to pushing BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi at the parliament.
BOOM watched a longer version of Gandhi’s comments to the media, and found that a certain portion of it has been mischievously edited out to falsely purport it as Gandhi admitting to have pushed Sarangi, an MP from the Balasore constituency. A longer version of his comments reveal that he was accusing BJP leaders of pushing him, and his fellow party members Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, to prevent them from entering the parliament.
As tensions mounted between BJP and Congress during the ongoing winter session of the parliament, a few scuffles reportedly broke out between members of either side. BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi accused Rahul Gandhi of pushing another MP, who then fell on him, and left him injured. Gandhi on the other hand accused the BJP of having pushed him, to allegedly prevent him from entering the parliament.
The 16-second-long clip shows Gandhi saying in Hindi, "No no. See, see! Yes, yes, have done, have done. But it is alright. Such pushing does not matter to me." Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur shared this clip on X and Facebook, with a Hindi caption, that translates to, "Rahul Gandhi himself is admitting that he has pushed, and is shamelessly saying that nothing is achieved by pushing. Due to his push, a senior MP's head got fractured, two MPs are admitted in hospital and Rahul ji is saying that nothing happens due to push. Arrogance, tyranny and dictatorship run in the veins of the Gandhi family…shameful."
Click here to view his post on X, and here to view his post on Facebook.
Fellow BJP MP Tejasvi Surya (archive) and BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya (archive) also posted the same.
This was also shared by a number of other users on X and Facebook.
Fact Check
BOOM searched for longer videos of Gandhi's interactions with the media from the parliament, and found several different video reports showing a longer version of his statement being shared by Thakur.
Following the ruckus at the parliament, BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi accused Gandhi of pushing a BJP MP, and starting a chain reaction, which led to him getting injured. "I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi pushed an MP, who then fell on me, causing me to fall as well," Sarangi told the media. Sarangi was Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal's Odisha state unit chief in 1999, when his outfit was convicted of burning Australian Christian Missionary Graham Staines and his two minor.
Gandhi then interacted with the media, which has been published by PTI and ANI, and is the source of the viral video. This videos show Rahul Gandhi accusing BJP MPs of restricting his access to the parliament, and pushing him in doing so.
Here is a transcription of Gandhi's interaction with the media, according to the PTI and ANI reports:
Journalist: The BJP MP has alleged that you pushed him?
Rahul Gandhi: No, no, no... Look... Calm down... I think you will have this on camera... (Pointing finger at Parliament). This is the entrance to Parliament. I was trying to enter this way. Around then, some BJP MP was trying to stop me... pushing and threatening me... So that's what happened.
Journalist: Khargeji (Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge) and Priyanka were also pushed...
Rahul Gandhi: No, no... Look... Yes, have done, have done. But... okay... We are not hurt by the pushing. But this is the entrance to parliament. And we have the right to enter. BJP members were stopping us while we were entering.
A journalist: Rahul ji, is this the central issue, based on which you are demanding resignation?
Rahul Gandhi: The central problem is that they are attacking the Constitution. And insulting the memory of Ambedkar ji."
BOOM could not independently confirm who pushed whom. However, the video being shared is not evidence of Gandhi admitting to pushing. Instead he talks about him, and his fellow party members Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra being pushed by BJP MPs.
