Congress-linked X handles share Puri Rath Yatra footage as crowd at Rahul Gandhi’s march

by Abira Das

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on January 14 kick-started his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra‘ from Manipur. Several social media users — many of those linked to Congress — have shared a video combining clips of large mass gatherings claiming that the footage shows the crowd at Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The 17-second viral video ends with the text “RG’s craze in Nagaland”.

Tagging Rahul Gandhi, the official handle of Rajasthan Youth Congress (@Rajasthan_PYC) shared the video on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “The Rahul Gandhi craze. @RahulGandhi.” The tweet has received over 1 Lakh views and 2,400 retweets. (Archive) 

The official handle of Maharashtra Youth Congress (@IYCMaha) also shared the video with the same claim.(Archive)

Sharing the same clip, Odisha Youth Congress on X wrote, “This craze for Rahul Gandhi in Assam. This is making the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma cry more!!” The bio of this handle says, “Official Handle of Odisha Pradesh Youth Congress”. (Archive)

A verified X account, @AmitYji127 shared the same video, stating, “The Rahul Gandhi craze @RahulGandhi #NyayYoddha #NyayYatraInAssam” The tweet received over 1,100 views, 139 likes and 14 retweets. (Archive)

A Facebook page titled ‘Ar Piyush Wakodikar‘ also posted the video with a similar caption. The video has been shared over 2,400 times.

Fact Check

A closer look at the viral video reveals that a watermark is visible on it at the 6th second. It says, ‘Ig- Rahulnairphotographyzz’. This led us to the Instagram handle – @rahulnairphotographyzz.

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Scrolling through the Instagram profile, we discovered a reel shared on June 21, 2023, with the caption, “Jai Jagannath #jaijagannath #jagannathpuri #jagannathrathyatra2023 #jagannathrathyatra”. The Instagram reel depicts the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri, and apart of it has been used in the first six seconds of the video which has gone viral on social media as the crowd at Rahul Gandhi’s march.

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We compared the visuals of the first six seconds of the viral video with the Instagram reel posted by @Rahulnairphotographyzz. The two clips match frame to frame. Buildings in the vicinity, including the ‘Bazaar’ mall and a VIP store are depicted in both the viral video and the reel.

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Hence, it is clear that the first six seconds of the video shared on social media by various Congress-linked accounts as showing Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Nagaland or Assam actually show the 2023 Rath Yatra crowd in Puri.

Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.

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