Social media users have shared a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi purportedly asking people to vote for the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing Indian general elections. In the viral clip, he is also heard saying that his party and his party-led INDIA alliance are “trying to destroy democracy and the Constitution”.
In the video, Gandhi can be heard saying, “Namaskar, this is Rahul Gandhi. This election is to save democracy and its principles. On one side, the Congress party and INDIA alliance are trying to destroy democracy and the Constitution. And on the other side, BJP and RSS are making efforts to protect the Constitution and democracy (translated from Hindi).”
However, the video is edited. The original clip shows Rahul Gandhi asking people to vote for the Congress party and not the BJP.
What are the facts?
Through a reverse image search, we found the original video shared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his social media accounts — on Instagram (archived here) and on X (formerly Twitter) (archived here) on 25 April.
The caption of the Instagram and X post read, “In this election to protect the constitution and democracy, in this election to form the ‘Government of Indians’ by leaving behind ‘Mitra Kaal (friendship era)’, do your democratic duty. Stand with the Congress. Press the hand button! Jai Hind (translated from Hindi).” The post is also pinned on his Instagram account.
In this video, Gandhi says, “Namaskar, this is Rahul Gandhi. This election is an election to save democracy and principles. On one side, BJP and RSS are trying to destroy democracy and the Constitution. And on the other side, the Congress party and INDIA alliance are making efforts to protect the Constitution and democracy.”
We found that some words said in this video have been interchanged to further a false claim. For instance: Around the 0:07-0:13 timestamp, the words “BJP & RSS” and “Congress party & INDIA alliance” have been interchanged to make it appear that Gandhi spoke against his party.
Similarly, the words Gandhi said beginning the 0:37 mark — where he says, “Narendra Modi has made 22-25 people as billionaires, while the Congress party is trying to make crores of women and youth as millionaires” — have been edited to make it appear as though Gandhi said that “Congress party made 22-25 people as billionaires, while BJP is trying to make crores of women and youth as millionaires.”
Words like ‘BJP,’ ‘RSS,’ ‘Constitution,’ and ‘Narendra Modi’ were selected and edited to make it appear as though Rahul Gandhi asked people to support the ruling BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
संविधान और लोकतंत्र की रक्षा के इस चुनाव में,
'मित्र काल' से निकल कर 'हिंदुस्तानियों की सरकार' बनाने के चुनाव में…
लोकतंत्र का अपना कर्तव्य निभाइए,
कांग्रेस के साथ आइए,
हाथ का बटन दबाइए!✋🏼
जय हिंद🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/jhVVVKX124
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 25, 2024
The original video was also cited by a report published by The Economic Times on 25 April. The financial daily said that Gandhi released this video before the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, appealing to people to vote for the Congress. Gandhi had also asked the voters to vote for the Congress’s hand symbol.
The verdict
Portions of a video released by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have been manipulated to make it seem that he appealed to the public to vote for the BJP. Hence, we mark this claim as false.
This story was originally published by Logically Facts as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.
Also read: Fact Check: Video of anti-AAP protest in Haryana is old, unrelated to 2024 Lok Sabha polls