A video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral on social media with the claim that he called the people of Karnataka “sinners”. In the clip, Modi can be heard saying, ”Ye Karnataka waalon ne jo paap kiya hai, uski saza is chunav mein dijiye aur Modi aanewaale varso mein bhi aapko guarantee deta hai” (In this election, punish the Karnataka folks for their sins and Modi gives you guarantee for the upcoming years).
Sharing the video on Facebook, a user wrote, “Modi has clearly lost it. He is scoring goal after goal in his own post. He has now called the people of Karnataka sinners. Karnataka is known to respond to such insults with a tight slap! BJP will be wiped out in the state.”
However, after investigation, we have found that the video is out of context. Modi was actually criticising the Karnataka Congress, not the people of Karnataka.
The same video can be seen here and here too.
Fact Check
We started our investigation by conducting a keyword search on YouTube and came across a video on YOYO TV Kannada that was uploaded on 28 April, 2024. The caption of the video read, “PM Modi Best Speech at BJP Public Meeting In Belagavi | Karnataka Lok Sabha Election 2024 | YOYO TV”.
From timestamp 20:53, Modi can be heard saying, “The treachery done to farmers by the Congress party is a sin. When BJP was in power in Karnataka, an amount of Rs 10,000 was deposited in the bank accounts of farmers.
When the Congress government was formed, they stopped giving Rs 4,000. Since they got the votes, they have nothing to do with the farmers now. Farmers can get only Rs 6,000 that Modi provides. You will be getting the money under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, don’t worry. The sin that has been committed by the Karnataka people, punish them for that in this election. and Modi gives you the guarantee that the money sent from Delhi will continue even in the coming years.”
We have found the same video on the official YouTube channel of Modi, which was uploaded on 28 April, 2024. From the 20:41 timestamp, Modi can be heard giving the same speech as mentioned above.
A comparison between the viral clip and the original video can be seen below. It’s clear that the former is cropped.
Here’s a report on Modi’s election rally in Karnataka.
Therefore, it is clear that Modi did not refer to the people of Karnataka by saying “Karnataka waalon”, instead, he was criticising the Congress government of the state. The viral video is cropped and shared with missing context.
Conclusion
From our investigation we can say that Modi’s speech has been cropped and shared with missing context. He did not say that people of Karnataka committed a sin.
This story was originally published by Fact Crescendo as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.