Fact Check: Rahul didn’t promise Rs 1 lakh to all youth, video of his original speech was clipped

Video is being shared with claim that he promised to credit money to youth 'who spend hrs on social media'. In original speech, he was referring to Congress's ‘Right to Apprenticeship’ scheme.

A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking at a public event is being shared on social media platforms. In it, he can be heard saying, “Our youth, who are roaming the streets, using Instagram and Facebook, their bank accounts will be credited with Rs 1 lakh yearly and Rs 8,500 a month.”

Who shared it?

The post was shared by X users Megh Updates and Rishi Bagree and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) head of social media, Richa Rajpoot.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

An archive of the post can be found here.

This post had recorded 1.1 million views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What is the truth?

Portions of Rahul Gandhi’s speech have been clipped to pass misleading claims that he promised to credit money to youth who spend several hours a day on social media, in order to fight unemployment.

In the longer version of his speech, Gandhi was speaking about the ‘Right to Apprenticeship’ scheme of the Congress, which is mentioned in its 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto.

The programme will offer a one-year apprenticeship with a private or public sector company to every individual under the age of 25 with a diploma or a college degree. During this period, participants will receive an annual stipend of Rs 1 lakh.

How did we find out?

First, we looked for the longer version of the video. We divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them. We came across a livestream of Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting in Bhagalpur in Bihar on 20 April, 2024.

Team WebQoof then identified portions in the viral video. At the 9:30 minutes mark, Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi has made India the centre of unemployment. You can ask any youth what they do and they say that they do not do anything. They use Instagram and Facebook 6-7 hours a day. Why? Because Modiji has spread unemployment in the entire country.”

He then adds that those who used to provide employment have been destroyed by Narendra Modiji’s demonetisation and introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax). Due to this, employment cannot be created in India, said Gandhi.

He points out that the children of rich families enter the job market, where they get a one-year apprenticeship, get a temporary job, get trained and paid. At the 10:39 minute mark, he said that such a facility is not available to the unemployed youth of India. Apprenticeship can be done only by rich people.

At the 10:56 minute mark, Gandhi said, “The sons of rich people can do it but our youth, the unemployed youth, cannot do it. Hence, our second scheme, which we have called Pehli Naukri Pakki (Right to Apprenticeship).”

He then explained the scheme, in which all graduate or diploma holders of India will have the right to apprenticeship.

At the 11:37 minute mark, the Congress leader said, “Our next government is going to give the right to the first job to the youth, just as we gave the right to employment under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), similarly we will give the right to the first job to graduates.”

The 11:59 minute mark onwards, Gandhi said that for one year, all graduates and diploma holders will get an apprenticeship. They will get Rs 1 lakh for a year (Rs 8,500 a month), which will be credited to their bank accounts.

At 12:20 minutes, he said, “They will be trained and if they do good work in the first year, they will get a permanent job. These will be apprenticeship jobs, these will be in private sector and public sector units, they will be in government agencies. Youth will get training. The country will get a trained workforce.”

At 12:41 minutes, he said, “Our youth, who are roaming the streets, using Instagram and Facebook, will get Rs 1 lakh a year (Rs 8,500 rupees a month), our government will do this.”

This is mentioned in the Congress’s 2024 election manifesto as well.

Source: Altered by The Quint)

The Congress manifesto can be accessed here.

This story was originally published by The Quint as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint.