No, Ashok Gehlot Did Not Say Generating Hydroelectricity Makes Water Useless
BOOM found that Ashok Gehlot was referring to a misconception dating back to the construction of the Bhakra dam and referring to Jawaharlal Nehru in the original video.
An old and edited video of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot saying water which produces hydroelectricity is useless for agricultural purposes is circulating online with netizens taking at dig at the Congress leader.
BOOM found the video has been clipped and shared out of context. The original video shows Gehlot talking about an alleged propaganda campaign against Jawaharlal Nehru by Jan Sangh workers when the Bhakra dam was being constructed.
In the viral video Gehlot can be heard saying in Hindi, "...a dam is being constructed and a power plant will be made on it... but when electricity will be removed from water and the water will go to your agricultural lands, such water will lose its power and become useless for your farming."
The video is sarcastically captioned as, "Agreed CM Sahaab".
Click here to view the post.
Fact Check
BOOM performed a keyword search for "Ashok Gehlot video water electricity" and found a Hindustan Times report from June 6, 2018, about the same remarks of Gehlot on water generated electricity .
The article stated that the same edited video went viral in 2018 with the hashtag #ScientistGehlot after which Gehlot took to Twitter to call out the false claims against him posting a longer version of the video.
We then searched for Gehlot's tweet carrying the longer version of the video original video and found that the viral video is a clipped version of a press conference by the veteran Congress leader.
Click here to view the tweet.
In the original video, Gehlot says, "I remember, during my childhood, when Jan Sangh was there, and Bhakra Dam was constructed, these Jan Sangh people used to campaign that Pandit Nehru has become mad, and he is making a dam and will make a power plant on it... but when electricity will be removed from water and the water will go to your agricultural lands, such water will lose its power and become useless for your farming."
He further adds, "Modiji and his party's tradition and culture has been made based on these Jan Sangh people".
On May 26, 2018, Gehlot posted the longer version of the press conference on his official Facebook page.
We also found another video from December 10, 2012, where Gehlot can be seen making a similar allegation against the BJP.
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