Clipped video viral with false claim that Rahul Gandhi wants to leave India and settle abroad - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
14th October 2019 / 5:49 pm / Last updated: 16th October 2019
A short 11 second clip of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi where he can be heard saying, “कुछ नहीं होने वाला मैं तो लंदन चला जाऊंगा, मेरे बच्चे तो जाके अमेरिका में पढेंगे । मेरा हिंदुस्तान से कुछ लेन-देना नहीं है, मेरे पास हजारों करोड़ रुपय हैं मैं तो कभी भी चला जाऊंगा। (Nothing will happen, I will go to London. My children will go and study in America. I have nothing to do with India. I have thousands of crores of rupees. I will leave anytime -translated)”, is circulating on social media. It was tweeted by BJP Mahila Morcha national in-charge of social media Priti Gandhi.
Namaste London!! ;)) pic.twitter.com/467zWGfRHz
— Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) October 13, 2019
Akali Dal MLA Manjinder S Sirsa also tweeted the same video with the message, “बस इसलिए भारत की जनता को तुम पसंद नहीं हो (For this reason, the people of India do not like you -translated)”. At the time of writing this article, Sirsa’s tweet garnered close to 700 retweets.
बस इसलिए भारत की जनता को तुम पसंद नहीं हो @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/FrDzc22JiO
— Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) October 13, 2019
The same clip is being shared on Facebook with a similar narrative. “ये हैं गांधी परिवार की असलियत! ये जनता को अपने बाप की अमानत समझ के रखे है, और धमकी दे रहे है कि मैं लंदन चला जाऊंगा और मेरे बच्चे अमेरिका में पढ़ेंगे! इनको आज ही लंदन भेज दो! या तो सबसे अच्छा इनके असली घर पाकिस्तान ही भेज दो! (This is the reality of Gandhi family, They think that people are their father’s property, and is threatening that he’ll go to London and his children will study in America. It’s best to send them to their real home Pakistan -translated)”, reads the text shared with the video.
Alt News found that the clip viral on social media is part of Rahul Gandhi’s full speech in Latur, Maharastra on October 13, 2019, where he was referring to the declared fugitive businessmen Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi. The duo is under the scanner of the Indian authorities for their alleged involvement in the Rs 14,000 crore Punjab National Bank scam.
At 15:10 mins in the video posted below, Gandhi can be heard saying, “Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, they take a good sleep without any fear. Nothing will happen, I will go to London. My children will go and study in America. I have nothing to do with India. I am friends with Narendra Modi. I have thousands of crores of rupees. I’ll leave anytime. This is the reality of India.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0tzBxQPbaI?start=909]
The part where he referred to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi was clipped to suggest that he was speaking about himself. “I am friends with Narendra Modi”, was clipped out to remove the context from the statement.
In conclusion, a clipped video of Rahul Gandhi was shared on social media to falsely suggest that he wished to leave India and settle abroad. However, Gandhi was not talking about himself but referring to fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
[Update: This article referred to Priti Gandhi as the national social media in-charge of BJP. She is the national social in-charge of BJP Mahila Morcha. The same has been rectified in the copy.]
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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