No, Modi did not say Hindutva was an election card for BJP; doctored clip viral

A 13-second clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is viral on social media where he can be heard saying in Hindi, “Hindutva has never been Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral campaign, for us it is an article of faith. It is only a card to play for elections”.

X (formerly Twitter) Blue user Lubna Shiraz (@shiraz_lub), divisional coordinator of Congress Sevadal as per her X bio, shared the above-mentioned clip on October 27. The tweet has received over 1.15 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 1,300 times. (Archive)

हिंदुत्व हमारे लिए एक Article Of Faith है,

ये चुनाव जीतने के लिए एक ताश का पता है,
माननिय मोदी जी अपनी भावनाओं को व्यक्त करते हुए !!! pic.twitter.com/Tv5P9NnK4e

— Lubna Shiraz (@shiraz_lub) October 27, 2023

Another user, Manish RJ (@mrjethwani_ ), also shared the same video with the following caption: “Bhakton, there is no Hindu religion for Modi. For Modi, the Hindu religion is only a card. Shouldn’t have said so much truth”. The tweet has received over 43,000 views and has been retweeted over 1,000 times. (Archive)

Bhakton, there is no Hindu religion for Modi.

Modi ke liye Hindu dharm ek taash ka patta hai… 🤣🤣

Itna bhi sach nahi bolna tha 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Jqdi8DtoTi

— Manish RJ (@mrjethwani_) October 26, 2023

Several other users shared the same clip on social media. Some instances can be found below:

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Fact Check

After breaking down the clip into several keyframes we ran a reverse image search on a few of them. This led us to a tweet by Dilip Singh Rao (@Dileep4BJP), who, as per his X bio, is the BJP IT department state coordinator for Rajasthan. The tweet carried a video where a part of PM Modi’s viral clip could be heard. In the caption, the user said, “…An attempt has been made to tarnish the image of Honorable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji by editing the video…” The clip shared by @Dileep4BJP seemed to be footage from Zee News archives.

Fake Alert 🚨

सावधान @8PMnoCM के नाम से बनाए गए हैंडल्स से फेक एडिटेड विडियो पोस्ट किया गया हैं। चुनावी समय में अब्बा-डब्बा कम्पनियों से लोग पैसा लेकर भ्रम फैला रहे हैं।

06/12/1998 के वीडियो को एडिट कर माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी की छवि को धूमिल करने की कोशिश की… https://t.co/vmWJKAw95G pic.twitter.com/22cTzKm74K

— Dilip Singh Rao (@Dileep4BJP) October 29, 2023

Taking a hint from the above, we ran a relevant keyword search that led us to a video published by Zee News on September 17, 2022, on the occasion of Prime Minister Modi’s 72nd birthday. The caption accompanying the interview video said, “Today is the 72nd birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi has done many such things in his political life which are constantly in the headlines. In this report, watch 24-year-old Narendra Modi’s interview with Zee News.”

We found the same video on Zee News’ official YouTube channel as well. At the 10:27 mark of the interview, the viral bit begins. In the longer version of the video, PM Modi could be clearly heard saying in Hindi, “Hindutva has never been an electoral slogan for Bharatiya Janata Party, it is an article of faith for us. It is not a card to play in regards to electoral campaign”.

Hence, the viral clip where PM Modi seems to be claiming that Hindutva ideology is only a card for BJP to play for electoral gains has been altered. In the original video, the Prime Minister says that Hindutva is not a card that the BJP uses for their electoral benefit.