A video of Rahul Gandhi has gone viral on social media. In the video, the Congress leader is seated inside an aeroplane when a woman asks him, “Little children aren’t able to go out. If they step out to look for each other, they are caught. My brother is a heart patient. He went out to look for his children. We were not told where he was for 10 days. We feel defeated in every way.”
Sharing these videos, it has been claimed that Kashmiri Pandits living abroad asked Rahul Gandhi why he was opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Kashmir issue. Twitter user Nikhil Rajput tweeted the video with this claim. (Archive link)
विदेश में रह रहे कश्मीरी पंडितों ने हवाई जहाज में यात्रा के दौरान Rahul Gandhi को घेर कर सवाल पूछे कि वो कश्मीर के मामलों पर मोदी का विरोध क्यों करते हैं?
इसका कोई जवाब राहुल गांधी नहीं दे पाया, राष्ट्रीय मीडिया शायद ही ये न्यूज़ दिखा पाए। pic.twitter.com/mgXRnXMvnk
— Nikhil Rajput 🗨️ (@Nikhilrajput21) July 1, 2022
Twitter handle ‘@AshishK_BJP’ also amplified the video and accompanying claim. (Archive link)
हवाई यात्रा के दौरान विदेश में रह रहे कश्मीरी पंडितों ने हवाई जहाज में @RahulGandhi को घेर कर सवाल पूछे कि वो कश्मीर के मामलों पर प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी का विरोध क्यों करते हैं..!!
देखिये कोई जबाव नहीं दे पाए कांग्रेस के राजकुमार..!! pic.twitter.com/IvZQOcpsPa
— Ashish kaushik (@AshishK_BJP) July 1, 2022
Dainik Bhaskar Jaipur editor Doonger Singh also shared the clip. (Archive link)
#राहुलजी_को_कश्मीरी_पंडितों_का_दर्द
समझ आया ही होगा। क्योंकि उनके पङदादा कश्मीर से ही थे
विदेश में रह रहे कश्मीरी पंडितों ने हवाई जहाज में यात्रा के दौरान @RahulGandhi
को घेर कर सवाल पूछे कि वो कश्मीर के मामलों पर मोदी का विरोध क्यों करते हैं।
@BJP4JnK @vivekagnihotri @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/HAr1MSRTqT— Doonger Singh (@dsrajpurohit291) July 1, 2022
RSS mouthpiece Organiser Weekly, film director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, RSS Hindi weekly magazine Panchjanya, BJP Delhi spokesperson Ajay Sehrawat, Panchjanya social media coordinator Shivam Dixit, and BJP-affiliated Dr Abhilash Pandey were also among those who tweeted the video with a similar claim.
The footage is widespread on Facebook and Twitter.
Fact-check
Alt News fact-checked this video back in August 2019 when it was circulating with a similar claim on social media.
An NDTV report dated August 26, 2019 states that the video was shot after Rahul Gandhi’s tour of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian government repealed the provisions of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019. Following this, local leaders were detained in Jammu and Kashmir and internet services were also shut down. Rahul Gandhi had flown to the valley at that time to meet with locals but was forced to return from Srinagar Airport. Meanwhile, a woman on his flight from Srinagar began talking with Gandhi, sharing the plight of the Kashmiri people. Scenes from the viral video appear at the 1:19 mark in the report below.
This video was tweeted by journalist Arun Kumar Singh of News18 on August 24, 2019. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also targeted the Indian government while retweeting Singh’s post.
How long is this going to continue?This is one out of millions of people who are being silenced and crushed in the name of “Nationalism”.
For those who accuse the opposition of ‘politicising’ this issue: https://t.co/IMLmnTtbLb
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) August 25, 2019
To sum it up, this video is from August 2019 when Section 370 was repealed in Jammu and Kashmir. The video features a woman telling Rahul Gandhi about the challenges faced by the people of Kashmir. It has now been shared with the false claim that she was questioning Gandhi’s opposition to PM Modi on the Kashmir issue.
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