BOOM

Trending Searches

    SUPPORT
    BOOM

    Trending News

      • Fact Check 
        • Fast Check
        • Politics
        • Business
        • Entertainment
        • Social
        • Sports
        • World
      • Law
      • Explainers
      • News 
        • All News
      • Decode 
        • Impact
        • Scamcheck
        • Life
        • Voices
      • Media Buddhi 
        • Digital Buddhi
        • Senior Citizens
        • Videos
      • Web Stories
      • BOOM Research
      • BOOM Labs
      • Deepfake Tracker
      • Videos 
        • Facts Neeti
      • Home-icon
        Home
      • About Us-icon
        About Us
      • Authors-icon
        Authors
      • Team-icon
        Team
      • Careers-icon
        Careers
      • Internship-icon
        Internship
      • Contact Us-icon
        Contact Us
      • Methodology-icon
        Methodology
      • Correction Policy-icon
        Correction Policy
      • Non-Partnership Policy-icon
        Non-Partnership Policy
      • Cookie Policy-icon
        Cookie Policy
      • Grievance Redressal-icon
        Grievance Redressal
      • Republishing Guidelines-icon
        Republishing Guidelines
      • Fact Check-icon
        Fact Check
        Fast Check
        Politics
        Business
        Entertainment
        Social
        Sports
        World
      • Law-icon
        Law
      • Explainers-icon
        Explainers
      • News-icon
        News
        All News
      • Decode-icon
        Decode
        Impact
        Scamcheck
        Life
        Voices
      • Media Buddhi-icon
        Media Buddhi
        Digital Buddhi
        Senior Citizens
        Videos
      • Web Stories-icon
        Web Stories
      • BOOM Research-icon
        BOOM Research
      • BOOM Labs-icon
        BOOM Labs
      • Deepfake Tracker-icon
        Deepfake Tracker
      • Videos-icon
        Videos
        Facts Neeti
      Trending Tags
      TRENDING
      • #Operation Sindoor
      • #Pahalgam Terror Attack
      • #Narendra Modi
      • #Rahul Gandhi
      • #Waqf Amendment Bill
      • #Arvind Kejriwal
      • #Deepfake
      • #Artificial Intelligence
      • Home
      • Fact Check
      • The Truth About Maneka Gandhi...
      Fact Check

      The Truth About Maneka Gandhi Calling Sonia Gandhi 'World's 6th Richest Woman'

      A four-year-old video shows Maneka Gandhi questioning how Sonia Gandhi became 'the world's sixth richest woman'. But a fact-check shows the ranking has dubious origins.

      By - Sumit Usha |
      Published -  8 Jan 2019 4:47 PM IST
    • Boomlive

      Screengrab from original video

      A four-year-old video of Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi reiterating a fake claim about Sonia Gandhi being 'the sixth richest woman in the world', has resurfaced on social media again.

      In this 33-second-long video, Maneka Gandhi can be seen saying, "A person whom the nation loved so much, embraced, today is the sixth richest woman in the world. What I ask is, she didn't bring this money in dowry...so if she is the sixth richest woman in this world, where did the money come from? From schools, roads, electricity, our lives, future of our kids? Hasn't this money gone in the loot? Where else would the money have come from?"

      The video was shared by Facebook page 'The India Eye' on January 4, 2019.


      It was also posted on the page 'Zee news fans club' on December 31, 2018 and been shared over 18,500 times at the time of writing this story. An archived version of the post can be accessed here.

      What's The Claim About?

      To understand the claim we have to go back in time. While similar claims have been made over the years on social media, the ranking given to the former Congress president as well as the lists have differed.

      The original claim was about Sonia Gandhi being listed as the fourth richest politician in the world and not sixth richest woman in the world.

      Sample this, in a post shared from the Facebook page 'I Support Modiji and BJP' on September 27, 2018, Sonia Gandhi was called the fourth richest politician globally. The post included a newspaper clipping to support its claim.

      When BOOM searched with keywords from the post, we came across several news reports including those published in Dainik Jagran and Aaj Tak.

      Fact Check

      The Dainik Jagran article, which claims Sonia Gandhi is the fourth richest politician in the world, attributes Business Insider as its source. The Jagran report reads, "American website Business Insider made this claim. As per the site, Sonia Gandhi has a net worth of between US$ 2-19 billion."

      Sonia Gandhi in Dainik Jagran report

      When BOOM looked for Business Insider's list, we found an article titled 'Meet The 23 Richest Politicians In The World.'

      The report, published on March 2, 2012, ranks Sonia Gandhi at number 4 with a net worth somewhere between $2 and $19 billion.

      It is worthy to note that range of $2 billion to $19 billion is an extremely wide range.

      Sonia Gandhi in Business Insider article

      Business Insider's article cites a certain 'World Luxury Guide' as its source. However, the URL for the page provided in the article no longer works.

      Meanwhile, when we checked the names listed by Word Luxury Guide (namely opensecret.org, forbes.com, bloomberg.com, wikipedia.org and guardian.co.uk) as its source for preparing the list, here's what we found.

      Forbes

      The Forbes' list of richest Indians published November 20, 2012, has no mention of Sonia Gandhi. However, the list does mention Savitri Jindal as a business tycoon at number 7, the same position the Business Insider article ranks her, albeit under a 'politician' category.

      Forbes' list of 100 richest Indians, published in 2011, also did not mention Sonia Gandhi.

      Gandhi also does not appear in an article published in Forbes in 2012 titled The World's Richest Politicians Are Worth Billions, Mitt Romney Is Not.

      The Guardian

      The Guardian article, titled Who are the wealthiest world leaders?, published on October 26, 2012, too has no mention, either of Sonia Gandhi or Savitri Jindal.

      OpenSecrets

      A search for Sonia Gandhi on the website OpenSecrets.org showed no results as well.

      National election watch data

      Meanwhile, the data provided on the National Election Watch website states Gandhi's total assets, declared by her ahead of 2014 elections, at 9 crore rupees (Rs. 9,28,95,288). The total assets declared by her in 2009 was 1 crore rupees (Rs 1,37,94,768) while that in 2004 was 85 lakh rupees (Rs 85,68,694), as per the data. Click here to view the data.

      Here's the scanned copy of the affidavit filed by Sonia Gandhi before the returning officer ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to Rae Barelli parlieamentary constituency.

      Interestingly, the Huffington Post in its article published in 2013 had listed Sonia Gandhi as the 12th richest politician in the world. Huffington Post later removed Gandhi's name from the list and issued a clarification.

      Note the clarification issued by the Huffington Post

      Huffington Post's story was also fact-checked by IndiaToday in 2013.

      The claim of Sonia Gandhi being the fourth richest politician in the world was also debunked by Alt News, in the past.

      A little arithmetic shows that there is a stark difference between the figures provided by the Business Insider and National Election Watch, as well as the affidavit filed by Gandhi.

      Tags

      4th richest woman6th richest womanfeaturedForbesForbes Billionaires ListManeka Gandhirichest politicialIndiaIndian National Congress
      Read Full Article
      Claim :   Maneka Gandhi raises question on how did Sonia Gandhi become sixth richest woman in the world
      Claimed By :  Facebook
      Fact Check :  Misleading
      Next Story
      Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
      Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker. Please reload after ad blocker is disabled.
      X

      Subscribe to BOOM Newsletters

      👉 No spam, no paywall — but verified insights.

      Please enter a Email Address
      Subscribe for free!

      Stay Ahead of Misinformation!

      Please enter a Email Address
      Subscribe Now🛡️ 100% Privacy Protected | No Spam, Just Facts
      By subscribing, you agree with the Terms & conditions and Privacy Policy connected to the offer

      Thank you for subscribing!

      You’re now part of the BOOM community.

      Or, Subscribe to receive latest news via email
      Subscribed Successfully...
      Copy HTMLHTML is copied!
      There's no data to copy!