New Delhi: As Narendra Modi kicked off his three-day-tour of poll-bound Gujarat Sunday, a video began circulating on social media – showing the prime minister’s speech being played on a large LED screen at an empty venue.
The video has been widely shared on Twitter and Facebook. Notable names included Congress member Jignesh Mevani as well as lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
Referring to the venue, Mevani sarcastically tweeted: “The growing popularity of the Prime Minister in Gujarat.” The 1.12-minute clip, which was shared by Mevani Monday on Twitter, has been reshared over 1,300 times and has 67,000 views.
गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री जी की बढ़ती लोकप्रियता। pic.twitter.com/Jv76A6vtiJ
— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) October 10, 2022
Bhushan also took a similar dig, calling it “Prime Minister’s huge election rally in Gujarat” indicative of his “growing popularity”. The truncated clip, also shared Monday morning, has been retweeted over 2,200 times and viewed nearly 3.1 lakh times.
प्रधानमंत्री की गुजरात में विशाल चुनावी रैली। उनकी बढ़ती लोकप्रियता का प्रतीक! pic.twitter.com/61XzWo9lEb
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) October 10, 2022
Few other Twitter handles linked to the Congress also shared the clipped video.
The national president of the Youth Congress, Srinivas BV, uploaded the clip with a tweet, “Massive! Massive! Massive Sea of Crowd. Guess the Speaker?”
Massive! Massive!
Massive Sea of Crowd
Guess the Speaker? pic.twitter.com/vkeSyZk4tk
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) October 10, 2022
Bajrang Bharti, whose Twitter bio says he is the Rajasthan social media state secretary, also tweeted the viral video along with the social media chairman of Odisha Congress’ Youth wing .
अपने गृह राज्य गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री मोदी जी की बढ़ती लोकप्रियता। pic.twitter.com/mFzNz6TBPR
— Bajrang bharti (@BajrangBharti10) October 10, 2022
गुजरात में प्रधानमंत्री जी की बढ़ती लोकप्रियता। pic.twitter.com/X7KO4qP2OJ
— Abhilash Pati (@Abhilash_INC) October 10, 2022
Fact check
There was an almost instantaneous clap-back, with detractors pointing out that it was fake news.
While the location is accurate, the timing is wrong. The clip was recorded after PM Modi’s speech was over and most people had left the venue.
The video of the speech, which was delivered in Gujarat’s Modhera village, is available on Youtube.
The village in Mehsana district in the state was declared India’s first solar-powered village and PM Modi announced Rs 3, 900 crores worth of development projects during his speech.
In the video, a nearly-packed venue can be seen, with empty seats spotted few and far in between.
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